Most people concentrate on their resume and hope that they aren’t doing anything else wrong in their job hunt. It’s easy to look at your resume, but your job search technique is more than just fixing your resume.

Here are a few numbers to check yourself against. Most job searches take 3 months. A hunt for a job at the high end (over $100K) can take 5 months. A great job search technique should yield good results. You should contact about five people on average for an interview. Contact five head hunters, or submit five resumes and you should get one offer on average.

In about ten interviews you should get one job offer. For each ‘good’ job offer you get about three total job offers.

Of course there are other factors that change these numbers. If you work in a high demand field you can expect more offers. If you won’t move to a new location then you can expect less offers. But based on these numbers, you can get a feel for how effective your job search technique is working for you.

Now what? If you’ve found that your job search technique is less than effective, you can use these numbers to get a clue as to where your job search problem is. Decide whether you 1.) are getting too few good offers; 2.) are getting too few offers; or 3) are getting too few interviews.

If you are getting too few interviews, then make sure you aren’t just searching job boards and submitting all applications online. Make sure you are including customized cover letters–that use the keywords and the exact language that is in the job posting. Then check to make sure you are applying to jobs that you appear qualified for. If you are applying for the right jobs make sure that the language of your resume is not cryptic and clearly matches the language of the job postings.

You may be restricting your search by something like geography. Salary requirements may be unrealistic (see sites like Salary.com to check salaries in your area).

If you are getting too few job offers, look at your interview technique. Are you using real, detailed stories that clearly tie to your resume? Do those stories really show your qualifications? Stories should show increased responsibility, initiative, and your skillset. Do you appear confident or are you nervous during interviews? Practice your stories in front of someone. Learn to control your nerves.

If you are getting poor offers, you could be applying to the wrong jobs. Keep in mind that careers shift, maybe you need to reevaluate what current job you are the most qualified for. You could also be not showing your qualifications. Are you representing yourself in the best light?

A job search problem can be diagnosed and fixed with a little thought. These steps are a good start, but there is more you can do.For more free ideas about getting the job of your dreams join me on my blog at Think UpsideDown Books.

Check out my Amazon #1 Best Seller Kindle book, “Make Me an Offer” available exclusively on Amazon.

It’s so easy to mess up your job search that everyone does it. You will almost certainly find a technique that you have applied in your search for employment. You may even find your job hunt problem.

Job Search Technique #1: Do nothing, or mostly nothing. Assume that there are no jobs out there, or there are too many qualified candidates to conduct a successful search.

Job Search Tip #2: Say nothing. Never talk about being out of work or underemployed. The surest way to never get a job, is to never ask for one. The second surest way to fail a job search is to never mention to people you know that you’d like a job. If you really want to mess up your life, stay in your house and pull the curtains on the world.

Tip #3: Search online postings for 8-12 hours a day. Jobs are filled by people, not computers, so you must interact with people before you get the job. A successful job hunt might involve finding who the hiring manager and trying to contact him. But that’s a successful job search technique, so you wouldn’t want to try that! Heaven forbid that you doggedly call someone to find out who is in charge!

Tip #4: Apply for dozens of jobs a day. Is a numbers game, right? Nope. It’s a matter of conveying that you are the exact right person for the job. If you are applying for every job, then you are wasting your time and the time of the people whose jobs you are applying to. At the very least confirm that the job which you are applying to exists. An easy way to confirm that the job exists is to ask when the start date is. Sadly, not all postings are for jobs that actually are being filled.

Tip #5: Don’t bother to tailor your resume to the language of the post. Don’t bother tailoring your cover letter to the language of the posting. Its logic, isn’t it. As more and more jobs get posted on job boards, searching these millions of jobs requires a computer. How does a person search millions of resumes–by entering search words, of course. You resume should use the same language as the posting for it to show up in the search. Don’t lie, just use the same language to describe the same type work.

Tip #6: Give up. The average job search takes 3 months. If you expect to be paid more than $100K it can take 5 months. Some of the more effective job search techniques take a long time to work. Networking is best done when you still have a job, not started when you walk out the door. So don’t expect overnight results, because getting a job is about building the relationships that lead you to the right position.

Did you find your job search problem among these stellar, idiotic job search techniques? Most people looking for jobs today have one or more of these problems–and some won’t admit it.