People tend to stop looking for work between Thanksgiving and the first week of January. They believe that no one is hiring during the holidays. Not true, according to Clark. December is one of the best months for job hunting. So how can you maximize this supposed downtime? First, go to holiday parties and network. Tag along as the guest of a friend who works at a specific company of interest to you. People hire people they know or they know of, Clark says. Networking is the key. The payoff is miniscule when you apply for jobs online. Second, during December the "gatekeepers" are away and the real decision makers are more likely to answer their own phones. Direct contact with key hiring managers is the way to go. And finally, this is the best month for job hunting because there's less competition out there right now!

Clark used to run a program called Career Action that taught job-interviewing skills, among other things. He was stunned at how rare it was for an applicant to research the company they were interviewing at. Now it's so easy to do research with the Internet. Be informed when you go to an interview. Don't be a know-it-all, but learn to ask targeted questions.