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How to Land a New JobWhether it's rewriting your cover letter, reviewing the way you approach interviews, or rethinking what kindof job will make you happy, here are some tips for landing a new job in the new year. You'll hear fromauthors, career experts, career coaches, and even entrepreneurs. P

osition yourself as a thought leader in your industry. Create a professional blog and writeinsightful posts about industry trends and advice. Comment on other top blogs to increase yourvisibility within those communities. Join and participate in niche communities, such as LinkedIngroups related to your expertise and skills. Share relevant articles (and your own content) onTwitter, Facebook, and Google+. Not only will this help to develop your online presence, but you'llinadvertently network with people who might lead you to your next job opportunity.

Heather R. Huhman is a career expert, experienced hiring manager, and founder & president of ComeRecommended, a content marketing consultancy for organizations with products that target job seekersand employers.

Let a job find you. If you are a job seeker, you need to shift your focus. Instead of spending all ofyour time identifying jobs and applying, you should also think about how to help people who wantto hire you, find you. Ramp up your networking efforts. A Jobvite study showed 89 percent of U.S.companies will use social networks for recruiting in 2012 and 73 percent of social hires are viaLinkedIn. In its job-seeker survey, Jobvite found 78 percent of job seekers who credited theircurrent job to social networking named Facebook as the key factor in landing their position and 42percent mentioned Twitter. Ignore any of these key social networks at your own risk.

Miriam Salpeteris a job search and social media consultant, career coach, author, speaker, resume writer,and owner ofKeppie Careers. Write a new cover letter. If you're still using a generic cover letter that simply summarizes your

resume, you're missing out on one of the most effective ways to get an employer's attention. In2012, throw out that old letter and start writing new ones for each job for which you apply. In this job market, you can't afford to squander an entire application page repeating what's on yourresume. Instead, use your cover letter to provide information about how you're fit for the job;information that isn't available on your resume, such as personal traits, work habits, and why you'reexcited about the position. For instance, if you're applying for an accounting job that requires top-notch organizational skills, and you're so neurotically organized that you color-code your bills everymonth, most hiring managers would love to know that about you. And that's not something you'dever put in your resume, but the cover letter is a perfect place for it.

Alison Green writes the popularAsk a Manager blogwhere she dispenses advice on career, job search,and management issues.

Bring questions to a job interview. When an interviewer asks you if you have any questions,make sure you do. And make sure they're good ones. Having smart questions will show aninterviewer that you are discerning about the company for which you work, that you have preparedfor the interview, and that you're familiar with the company. Spend some time looking at companyreviews online and reading the latest news about the company and about the industry overall.Possible question topics include: corporate culture, organizational structure, day-to-dayresponsibilities of the position, the company's standing in the industry, and the company's five-yearplan.

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Luke Roneyis content manager forCareerBliss, an online career community dedicated to helping peoplefind happiness in the workplace.

Follow up after an interview. If you are genuinely interested in the job after the interview, make ahabit of sending a follow-up note of appreciation. While a thank-you note doesn't guarantee you'll

get the job, it certainly won't hurt you. Not only is it a gesture of common courtesy, it's a perfectplace for you to reiterate your interest and show the hiring manager why you are the right personfor the job. It also gives you the chance to add a detail about your background that you may havenot had the opportunity to explain in the interview or to just simply reinforce the connection.Sending a follow-up note via email is acceptable and quick, however, a hand-written note will setyou apart from the competition.

Lindsay Olson is a founding partner and public relations recruiter with Paradigm StaffingandHoojobs, aniche job board for public relations, communications and social media jobs.

Create your own business. When you look at the history of business over the last 100 years, youwill find that many of today's most successful companies started in the 1930s--the same decade as

the Great Depression. The fact is, innovation and business growth comes out of downedeconomies because entrepreneurs are problem solvers (and there are certainly enough problemsto be solved in times such as these). We are in the age of the entrepreneur. The new economy hasforever changed the social norms of yesteryear, so 2012 is as good a time as any to join theentrepreneurial revolution. So break free of the resume life, start something small that can groworganically with hard work and undying passion, and make it in this world on your own.

Scott Gerberis the founder of the Young Entrepreneur Counciland co-founder ofGen Y Capital Partners.

The 50 Best Careers

Tips for Landing Jobs on Our Best Careers List

It pays to be smart when choosing your career, particularly now that the job market is (slowly) improving.With the recession officially over, anyone who's out of work or eager to change jobs is on the lookout foropportunities. But where, exactly, are the jobs? Which occupations offer decent salaries, quality of lifeandare likely to stick around for the next decade?Our list of 50 Best Careers answers those questions. We've highlighted dozens of high-opportunityprofessionscareers you may want to consider as you decide where to look foryour next paycheck. Basedon job-growth projections, salary data, and other factors like job satisfaction, these occupations span avariety of industries, so you can find the right position for you no matter what your interests.

What's on the list? Several of our picks reflect the recent uptick in the economy, while others are long-timecontenders that finally muscled their way onto the roster. With an aging baby boomer generation,healthcare continues to make a strong showing. All of the healthcare jobs on the 2010 list have made thecut again in 2011, plus two new positions: massage therapist and athletic trainer. While the field of athletictraining doesn't offer the sheer number of positions as nursing or dental hygiene, it outranks nearly all otherhealthcare occupations for expected job growth.

Technology positions also account for a good chunk of our top-choice careers. Computer support specialist joined the ranks with upward trending employment numbers. Education administrator, which ranked

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particularly high for job satisfaction, made it onto our lineup ofsocial service jobs. In the business category,we added sales manager, an occupation that's making a comeback along with the economy.

On ourcreative and service jobs list, heating air conditioning, and refrigeration technician is new, largelybecause of its high expected job growth. Interpreter/translator, an occupation that's increasingly in demand

as a result of globalization, also made the cut.

To come up with this list, U.S. News considered job-growth projections from the Labor Department,estimates for 2008 to 2018, the most recent data available. We narrowed it down to occupations that areexpected to add jobs at an above-average rate over the next decade, as well as those that provide anabove-average median income. Sales manager makes the highest median annual salary on our list, nearly$97,000. Computer software engineer, physician assistant, meteorologist and education administrator allbring in median average salaries in the mid-$80,000 range.We also considered, where possible, data on job satisfaction, turnover, and impending retirements, whichcrank up openings in jobs that may have only slightly above-average employment growth. We talked withlabor and industry experts as well, gathering anecdotal evidence about employment prospects and job

satisfaction. We excluded careers that lack a statistically significant number of positions and thereforeprovide opportunity for only a small number of workers. When necessary, we favored jobs that would helpdiversify our list in terms of category and educational requirements, since not everyone wants to work inhealthcare or go to school for six years.

Most of the jobs that were cut from the list this year showed a higher-than-average unemployment rate orshrinking employment numbers during the last few quarters. From the creative and service jobs category,funeral director, plumber, security system installer, and landscape architect got the boot. In business, wecut market research analyst, loan officer, and cost estimator.Of course, no one job is best for everyone, and everyone has their own ideas about what makes a jobgreat. "You have to like what you're doing or you're not going to be successful at it," says EmilyBennington, who helps college graduates transition into careers through her company, Professional Studio365. At the same time, "if you're not getting paid to do it, you're not going to love it for very long."Qualities that make a job desirable also change with the times and circumstances. Tom Smith, director ofthe General Social Survey, conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University ofChicago, expects his next set of job-satisfaction data to show that workers value stability more than theydid before the recession. "Occupations that have greater job stability perhaps have improved in the public'sevaluation," he says.

Even as hiring picks up, the odds can seem daunting to job seekers. In a struggling economy with a 9.6percent unemployment rate, competition is stiff even for some jobs that made our list. For every jobopening in September, there were about five unemployed people, according to the Labor Department.While that's an improvement from 6.2 people for every job opening in November 2009, the most recentpeak, "it's still a very tough job market," says Steve Hipple, an economist at the Labor Department. Duringthe three years before the recession, the rate averaged 1.7 unemployed people for every job opening.Others like John Challenger, CEO of outplacement company Challenger, Gray & Christmas, are moreoptimistic. "The whole environment has changed," says Challenger, who talks daily with companies that arehiring, as well as job seekers. "(It's) certainly not gang-busters by any means ... but it feels like springtimecompared to last year's winter in the job market."

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Whether you're out of work oryour job has simply fallen out of favor, you'll likely find an occupation on ourlist that suits you. For each profession, we've offered a summary of what you can expect on the job, as wellas advice from hiring managers and people who work in that industry about how to land one.

Here's our list of the 50 Best Careers of 2011click each job to learn more:B

usiness Jobs:AccountantActuary Financial adviser Financial analyst Logistician Meeting planner Public relations specialist Sales manager Training specialist

Creative and Service Jobs: Commercial pilot

Curator Film and video editor Gaming manager Heating, air conditioning and refrigerationtechnician Interpreter/Translator Multimedia artist Technical writer

Healthcare Jobs:Athletic trainer Dental hygienist Lab technician Massage therapist Occupational therapist Optometrist Physician assistant Physical therapist Physical therapist assistant Radiologic technologist

Registered nurse School psychologist Veterinarian

Social Service Jobs: Clergy Court reporter Education administrator Emergency management specialist Firefighter Marriage and family therapist Mediator Medical and public health social worker Special-education teacher Urban planner

Technology Jobs: Biomedical engineer Civil engineer Computer software engineer Computer support specialist Computer systems analyst Environmental engineering technician

Environmental science technician Hydrologist Meteorologist Network architect