John Lees is a UK-based career strategist and the author of “How to Get a Job You Love.” In a recent HBR IdeaCast podcast with the Harvard Business Review, he offered some great tips for how to conduct a smarter job search during this tough economic climate. How do you find a job you like during a recession? What is networking – really? What are some common mistakes people make? Read on.

Get off the computer

Even with mobile technology, there is still a residual trend to stay at home and do job hunting from there. “The reason, of course, is people want to stay in front of a screen,” says Lees.  “Whether it’s applying on job boards or sending off your (resume) electronically, there’s this great temptation to use the Internet to solve all your career problems.”

Lees recommends tasks like researching a company or refining job contacts wait for evenings.  During the day, he says, job hunters should get away from their computers and talk to people face to face. “It’s a simple principle, yet it’s something we are constantly reminding people to do on a daily basis,” he says.

It’s alright to be (a little) picky

People think job satisfaction is something of a luxury in a tight job market.  Lees says that if you accept a position that isn’t a great match for your interests and skills, it could mean you don’t last in the job for long or you have a harder time explaining the position when another employer is reviewing your resume in a few years.

He says it’s not self indulgent to try and find a good fit, it makes sense.  Work smarter, not harder, at finding the right job. “The smarter job hunter has to be more thoughtful, more creative, they have to bend or reshape the rules in their direction,” says Lees.

What is networking – really? The curiosity factor

We all have tremendous misconceptions about what networking is, says Lees. “All it is, in fact, is following your curiosity, finding opportunities to talk to people; that could mean starting with people who you know and trust and then working up to people who hold real jobs that you want.”

When you start networking, it helps to focus on other people, not yourself.  Go and find out what other people are doing and how they got into the line of work they are doing.  That curiosity gets the 60-70% of people who are not natural extroverts moving in the right direction, Lees says. Later on, you can develop sharper networking skills and put yourself in front of an important decision maker.

Thoughtful job hunting means to slow down and do things more carefully and slowly.  If you have important contacts, Lees says, don’t use them up in the first two or three weeks of your job search; wait until you have a more refined message.

Refining your message

A critical part of the job search is learning how to present yourself to perspective employers, what to highlight about your experience, skills, interests, and special talents. The first rule is: don’t be long winded.  “If somebody is going to recommend you and you are not in the room, they are probably only going to say three or four things about you,” says Lees. “An interviewer will probably only remember three, four or five things about you at the end of an interview. So it really does come down to short bursts of information.” One exercise Lees does with his clients is to get them to put down their resume and simply say what they would like someone to remember about them.

To hear more of the interview with John Lees, click here.