It’s time to spice up your job-hunting strategy. You know the external routes to getting hired by heart: CareerBuilder, LinkedIn, Indeed, and all the other search engines and job boards out there. But that ignores one very effective method to use in the job search: the employee referral. 

In SilkRoad’s 2017 Sources of Hire research, they found that hiring professionals prefer internal hiring more than external because it’s easier to find the right hire. And 45% of internal hires result from employee referrals. 

So, while Indeed does create the most interview opportunities, it’s employee referrals that remain the top source of hires. 

Of course, that begs the question, “Why isn’t everyone going wild over the greatness of referrals?” 

The main issue for job seekers is that they have no idea how to even receive an employee referral. After all, there aren’t job boards out there that just list opportunities at your friends’ companies. So you feel like to get referred for a job you have to sit and wait for someone to think of you. It gives you less control over your job hunt.

But in reality, there’s a lot you can do to move the process along and up your chances of getting an employee referral. You just have to know how to go about it. 

Here are three ways to get referred for a great job:

You spend hours crafting the perfect resume for each job you apply for. Careful thought goes into the words you choose to show that you are a professional and the right person for the position. But then you never hear back from employers.

Does this sound familiar? Chances are, you might be going about resume writing the wrong way. Job seekers and hiring managers have very different perspectives on certain words. A phrase that might seem perfect to you, could be meaningless to the person reading your resume, or worse, a deterrent from reading any farther.

Up your chances of getting your resume noticed by avoiding words that hiring managers and employers dislike. Here are four types of words you shouldn’t use in your resume writing:

There’s great news for job seekers: employers want to hire you! And in order to peak your interest about their company, many employers are starting to offer some creative and awesome benefit packages.

A 2016 Society of Human Resource Management survey found that between 2015 and 2016, 33 percent of companies increased the number of benefits they offered. And in many cases, those new benefits are more than the traditional health insurance and vacation policies

With so many great perks to choose from, it can be easy for a job seeker to get distracted. But it’s important to remember a job should offer you more than its benefits package. Avoid being mesmerized by the extras by knowing which ones will actually fit your needs or lifestyle.

Here are five trendy employee benefits and what they can tell you about the company offering them:

In today’s interconnected world, the majority of professionals are increasingly using technology in the office, but there is debate over the impact of smartphones in the workplace.

A recent CareerBuilder study found eight out of 10 workers have smartphones, and 82 percent of those people keep them within eyesight at work. It comes to no surprise that 55 percent of employers feel mobile devices are to blame when it comes to lack of productivity in the office.

While smartphones might land you in a pinch in the office, if not used with professional restraint, a 2015 Pew Research study found 28 percent of job seekers — of which 53 percent are 18-to-29-year-olds — have used smartphones in some way to successfully assist in their job search.

Here are some do’s and don’ts for using your trusted phone to land your dream job:

Over the years, job-hopping amongst young employees has been associated with laziness and a lack of drive and commitment — all negative traits employees want nothing to do with. When done strategically, however, job-hopping is more beneficial for a long, prosperous career than once thought. 

After all, Akumina research acknowledged that 50% of the American workforce would be made up of millennials in 2021, and 75% of millennial managers in 2019 believed frequent job-hopping helps advance careers. With such a popular consensus, it is evident that there is a method to this job-hopping madness. 

Here’s why job-hopping is advantageous for your career — and how you can use it to impress future employers:

You’ve been on the job search for a while and aren’t having any luck. You’ve been using job board after job board, but you haven’t been successful yet. Why? You’re looking in all the wrong places.

A new survey conducted by SilkRoad found that while job search engines lead to the most job interviews, employee referrals lead to the most hires. You may think your job search is on track, but to get hired, employers need to be able to find you where they’re looking. So where are they looking for talent?

Here’s a look at the sources employers turn to for their talent needs and how to use them to up your chances of getting hired:

Appearance can make or break your chances of landing a job in an instant. An April 2015 study from the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology found that 52 percent of interviewers make their decision about a candidate in the first 5 to 15 minutes of the job interview.

When considering the presence you want to exude, you have to find a balance. It’s crucial to look at every detail of your appearance and behavior, but you also don’t want to overthink things too much.

You want to be honest and authentic, celebrating who you are while feeling good about your appearance. There are no wrong answers when it comes to your appearance because every interviewer is different. However, you do want to dress to impress and carry yourself confidently so you stand out as top talent.

Pay attention to two very important aspects of your presence — attire and body language. Here’s how to present your best self and nail your next job interview:

It’s no secret that social media is a crucial element to hiring these days. In fact, a shocking 82 percent of recruiters sign into LinkedIn to screen candidates during the hiring process, according to Jobvite. But if you’re simply copying and pasting your well-crafted resume into your LinkedIn profile, you’re doing yourself a career injustice.

While your resume and your LinkedIn profile should share similarities, they are not one in the same. While your resume can have you cutting back on your professional narrative, LinkedIn allows for a 360-degree view of your experience.

Put down your resume and use these six tips to breathe life into your LinkedIn profile:

An April 2014 report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) asked companies to identify the top competencies they consider to be an “essential need” in college graduates they are looking to hire. Among the top four career readiness competencies, critical thinking and problem solving topped the list.

Critical thinking is a vital skill to have in order to succeed in your career. It is in high demand because you use it frequently throughout each day in almost every aspect of your life.

Critical thinking is when you systematically process information to make the best decision and to gain a better understanding of things.

If you can develop this crucial skill and put it to good use, you will be among the top candidates in the talent pool. Here are a few simple steps to becoming a critical thinker:

Aristotle said it best — “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”

Habits define our daily life. These small decisions and the lifestyle choices we make have large impacts on our personal and professional life, so it’s good to develop a sense of awareness of what’s working for you and what’s holding you back.

Bad habits in the workplace are common and can be detrimental to your career. Bad behavior and immaturity can cost you that next promotion or keep your friends from referring you to employers for that next great opportunity.

An August 2015 study from CareerBuilder found that 77 percent of workers have witnessed some type of childish behavior among colleagues in the workplace.

Your habits and behaviors are extensions of your character, so what you do regularly and almost involuntarily can either be favorable or detrimental to your career growth.

Start to notice and develop a sense of self-awareness to avoid falling into bad habits like tardiness, negativity, using bad body language like slouching and not making eye contact, showing a lack of confidence, and throwing temper tantrums when emotions start controlling you.

These bad habits can be broken with some simple changes to your everyday life. Here are three good habits you can start developing now to improve the quality of your life and help you succeed in your career: