After the popularity of ‘How I Approach my Job Search Parts I, II, III, IV I decided to venture into a part V, not because I’m full of job search ideas, but because I came across an e-book that takes exactly what I’m trying to accomplish and conveys it much better than I ever could. The e-book was written by Charlie Hoehn and is aptly titled The Recession-Proof Graduate. You probably don’t know Charlie, but he’s a 23 year old who has worked with the likes of Seth Godin, Tim Ferriss and the infamous Tucker Max..yeah, he’s 23.

How did he do it? You’ll have to check out the e-book which has been viewed over 75,000 times and packs a lot of actionable content. Here are some of the major takeaways:

• Step 0 – Stop acting like you’re entitled to a paycheck – you may have earned a college degree, but you haven’t earned the right to get paid a lot of money, yet.
• Step 1 – Choose a few areas you’d like to work in (and a few people you’d like to work with) – you can sidestep your way into almost any industry if you meet with the right people and work with them.
• Step 2 – Get some skills under your belt – you need to have actual skills that are both in high demand in your industry and slightly difficult to learn. You’ll be extremely valuable if your skill is both rare and in high demand.
• Step 3 – Build your online presence – you can bury bad search results and create good ones by having a blog and being active on social networks.
• Step 4 – Find a way to pay the bills and cut costs – even if you have a boring day job you can make a little extra money on the side using the skills you’ve learned.
• Step 5 – Research your target and reach out to them – approach the “high-hanging fruits” that no other graduates will be going after. Less competition means a better chance of you getting the work.

I highly recommend you take the time to check it out for yourself, you can read the entire e-book.

What do you think?