1. Posting your resume without worrying about privacy.
   
   Protect your identity and your existing job, if you are employed, by limiting access to your contact information (name, address, and phone number).
   
   While suppressing your contact information may make you a bit more difficult to contact, some recruiters view it as a positive sign that the job seeker has a good job to protect. Other recruiters are annoyed. Many won't care as long as there is some method to reach you through the job site or an anonymous personal email account.  
2. Using only the big name Web job sites.
   
   Many of the "big names" are great sites, but they can also be expensive for employers to use. So many employers save money using smaller, less expensive sites or "niche" sites that may have exactly the applicants they want, like an industry or location specific job site or even the Web site of a professional or industry association.  
3. Using the "fire-ready-aim" method of distributing your resume.
   
   Posting your resume at hundreds of job websites or "blasting" it to hundreds or thousands of recruiters and employers is a self-defeating strategy. You won't be able to customize it for a specific employer or opportunity, which reduces your chances of being called. And, you won't be able to follow up the resume with a phone call or an e-mail to establish contact and move your application forward in the process.
   
   Most recipients of an e-mailed resume probably view it as spam, and in the unlikely event that someone receives your resume who might have been interested in you, they know that everyone else has a copy of it, too.  
   
   All of this negatively impacts your "market value."
4. Limiting your job search efforts to the Internet only.
   
   Even if you have a job and can only job hunt in your spare time, don't focus all of your attention online. People are hired by people, so the Internet is only useful as a way to reach the people with the job opportunities. Use the Internet as a part of your job search toolkit.
5. Applying for jobs without meeting the minimum qualifications.
   
   It's so easy just to click on that "apply" button, even if you don't really qualify for the job, just in case they might see something in your resume that interests them. But, it's a self-defeating strategy. You will be training recruiters and employers to ignore you. And, you won't look very smart, either.
6. Depending on e-mail as your only method of contact.
   
   Spam, defined as unsolicited bulk commercial e-mail, comprises up to 75% or more of e-mail traffic in 2005, and has become a significant expense for many companies. Most employers have "spam filter" software screening e-mail before it reaches recipients and your messages may look like spam and be deleted, unread, without any notice to you. So, always follow-up your e-mail message with a phone call - or, better, call first and ask to be added to the "friends" list of addresses allowed through the spam filter.
7. Assuming that you have privacy with e-mail and Internet use at work.
   
   Again, it may cost you your job, if you have one, by inappropriately using company assets (the computer and software you use, even the Internet connection), by violating the company Internet "acceptable use" policy, and/or simply by revealing to your employer that you are job hunting.
   
   This may apply even if you do your job hunting outside of your normal work hours, during lunch, or during some other authorized "personal" time.
   
   In addition, using your company e-mail address won't impress a future employer with your loyalty or trustworthiness, and, if you do lose your job, you will lose access to your e-mail address and account. Set up a personal account on Yahoo or Hotmail to keep contact outside of your employer's email system.
8. Not leveraging the extensive Internet research resources to find potential employers or to stand out from the crowd with a resume and cover letter customized to the employer.
   
   Company Websites, even the bad ones, are fabulous sources of information about a company. Use the Internet to identify potential employers, evaluate them, and contact them. Customize your resume and cover letter based on your research, and then dazzle them in the interview with your insight into their products and services, their market, their competitors, etc.
9. Assuming that e-mail is an informal, private, temporary medium.
   
   You can quickly sabotage yourself by sending business e-mail using a crazy, cute, or weird e-mail address (e.g. "hotstuff@yahoo.com" or "2good2btrue@hotmail.com"). Those informal addresses undermine your credibility and almost guarantee your message will be deleted or ignored by a recruiter or employer who doesn't know you.
   
   Be very careful of the content of your messages. Apply The New-York-Times rule before you hit the Send button: would you be comfortable having a potential employer read your message on the front page of The New York Times (or The Trinidad Guardian)?
10. Sending a virus-laden "surprise" with your e-mailed resume.
    
    An e-mail message containing a virus is usually quarantined and deleted, and never viewed! And, it leaves a very bad impression of the intelligence, computer-skills, and Internet-savvy of the sender. Buy and use anti-virus software, and keep it up to date. Microsoft Word documents, a popular format for resumes, are often virus "carriers," so they are frequently viewed as potential threats and stopped or deleted without being opened, even if they are apparently virus-free.
11. Expecting someone else to do the work (the job sites, your outplacement counselor, etc.).
    
    Job hunting is a do-it-yourself project! No one is as invested in your future as you are, and no one else knows what you want as well as you. Hire professional help if you need it - professional help with resumes and/or a job search coach can be useful for some people, but are not always necessary.
    
    When you have identified a position that you want and submitted an online application, follow up! Contact the employer or recruiter directly yourself, via telephone as well as regular mail and e-mail. Passive job seekers get left behind in the current market.
12. Forgetting that a personal resume is a business document.
    
    Stick to business-related information that will help your job search. Focus on skills and accomplishments that are relevant to job you want.
    
    Demonstrate your writing skills and skip the vacation photos, even if you look great in your swimming suit (unless you are looking for a job as a model or photographer). Animated fluttering butterflies may amuse your friends, but they probably won't impress employers unless those graphics are relevant to the job opportunity you are seeking.
    
    And, remember your readers - yellow letters on a dark navy blue background may look great to you, but your resume probably won't be very legible when printed.

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