Truth is, we all want to present ourselves in the best light and impress potential employers. It’s a natural thing to want to get that great job and there are ways and means to make yourself look like the candidate that they want.

But, and it’s a big but, lying or glossing over black spots on your resume isn’t the way to go about doing so. There are lots of ways you can make the most of what might be considered a challenging time in your career or life.

And, you know, we all have them. Times where we did not cover ourselves in glory. Times where it went wrong.

If they are deep into finding fault and seeing failings or mistakes as ‘bad’ things, then, fact is they are letting themselves down, not you.

If you try to cover up areas in your work history, most likely they’ll be discovered later on down the line, costing you a potential job and creating the need for even more excuses further on.

And there’s a limit to how much you can spin, to be honest.

Look at the positive sides of less-than-desirable work history. If you were unemployed for a period, what did you do in that time? What did you learn? What did you occupy your time with?

Put a constructive positive spin on things and present your history in its best light.

That’s not only honest, but it’s creative and dynamic and open and straight. All characteristics of what a great employee might be.

And that should be enough to get you the job you need.

More tips riding along to the rescue quite soon!

It can be a huge challenge to seek out the right opportunities, however much time you can put in. So here’s a secret. More people get jobs through people they already know than from applying cold.

So, you didn’t know that, did you…and, you don’t know anyone huh?

Truth is we all do! We all have networks that we’ve developed since we were little kids, so it’s time to get others involved and fighting on your side.

Tell your friends; tell your colleagues and (grit your teeth!), your ex-colleagues; tell your family. Even be prepared to tell just acquaintances. Folks you find in the bar; people on the bus.

Get into conversations, whenever and wherever - because you never know. You just never, ever know who you are talking to.

You see, it’s not just the 50 people you first think of. On the one hand, it’s the next 200 where you make the extra effort, but it’s also about the hundreds of people they each know too!

Indeed if you get this right, you’ll have thousands of people all on your side, helping you out. You might be surprised at how vauable this asset is for you.

That’s leverage, a wonderful tool that builds networks like crazy and saves you a ton of time, by getting your name mentioned in all the places you need it - without you even knowing it!

Social networks are the most important job finding tool - it’s said that 50% of all jobs are easily gained through people you already know and in some cases it’s way higher.

Next up is another great tip, that will make the difference between your approach and those of others in a similar position much more dramatic.