By Chelsea Babin

Whether you’re just staring your first job search or you’re an old pro at hunting for a new career opportunity, your frame of mind can dramatically alter your results. Does this mean you need to completely change who you are in order to get hired? No! But it does mean that, if you can adopt these 9 traits, you’ll be the best job hunter you can be and seriously increase your chances of getting that coveted job offer.

1. Self-awareness: This is the most crucial trait you can have both before you apply to a job and during an interview. Why? Because knowing what you’re looking for in a company will help you waste less time going on interviews for jobs you don’t really want. Because knowing how you come across, from your body language to your attitude, can help you present your best self in an interview. The best way to increase your self-awareness is to spend a little time evaluating what it is you want in a job and practice interviewing with a friend or in front of a mirror to see how you come across. If you don’t take the time to become more self-aware before you start your job hunt you could easily end up with no job offers or no job offers you actually want.

2. Tenacity: It’s hard to be a successful job hunter if you give up too easily. That’s why you need to have more tenacity! When the going gets tough, tenacious people don’t break down, they find solutions to problems and continue to be persistent in their efforts.

3. Creativity: You could be interviewing for the most run of the mill technical job in the world but, without creativity, you’ll rarely thrive. Creativity is the trait that helps you bring new ideas to the table when you’re on the job and, when you’re in the middle of a job hunt, creativity can help you answer puzzling interview questions, present solutions that blow your interviewers away, and even find unconventional ways of discovering opportunities that may be right for you.

4. Curiosity: People who want to know the answers and never stop asking often learn a lot and advance quickly in their chosen careers. When you’re a job hunter, you need to use this curiosity to evaluate the opportunities in front of you. Before an interview you can dig a little deeper into a company, its employees, and what your job might entail and, during an interview, curiosity will help drive you to some clever end-of-interview questions that are sure to impress hiring managers and get you valuable information about the job before you accept their offer.

5. Resiliency: No one wants to deal with difficult situations but, sometimes, they’re unavoidable. Being resilient as you’re hunting for a new job will help you look at a difficult situation and either find a solution or a positive spin that will keep you motivated, moving, and getting closer to your next big opportunity. Plus, when hiring managers see how resilient you are they’ll want you on their team!

6. Honesty: Lying on your resume or in an interview is never a good idea, but it’s becoming an even worse one. With ever present social media and companies becoming more open-book by the minute, it’s impossible to guarantee that you won’t be caught in a lie. When it comes to your job search honesty is always the best policy.

7. Bravery: Putting yourself out there and facing the unpredictable is a necessity if you want to be the best job hunter you can be. Interviews are always uncomfortable situations but, if you’re brave, you’ll find it easier to overcome the discomfort and be successful. If you’re not typically a brave person, try stepping out of your comfort zone a bit in your personal life by driving a new route home, going to a place you’ve never been, or speaking to a stranger in line for your coffee. These little acts of bravery will help build you up so that, when your next big interview comes around, you’ll have the confidence to face it head on. Preparation also helps you be more brave so always make sure to prepare for your interviews ahead of time!

8. Passionate: If you’re passionate about what you do it will be infectious and easy to pick up on during an interview. But passion also comes into play on the job hunt when you’re evaluating which opportunities to apply for. Whether that means pursuing jobs in a certain industry you love, at companies with a culture you love, or looking for some other element that you know would make your work days better, letting your passion drive your job search, at least initially, can result in some amazing opportunities.

9. Hard Working: Strong work ethics are one of the most requested traits by employers everywhere but, if you’re hard working, it could also come in handy while you’re searching for a job. Whether you’re in between jobs or still working somewhere else, a job search takes a lot more time and effort than most people anticipate. Instead of working hard for the sake of working hard, being a hard working person while you’re job hunting means being efficient, productive, and diligent. When you’re hard working you can fit in the right amount of research before applying, preparation before interviews, and effort to do the same thing all over again until something clicks without sacrificing all of your free time and your sanity.

Being the best job hunter you can be is challenging but, once you have that shiny new job you’ve always wanted, you’ll realize it’s worth it. If you’re looking to make this job hunt successful, try adopting one or more of these 9 traits and see how much it improves the process. Plus, most of these traits are the qualities employers are looking for so you’ll make yourself a better job hunter and a better job candidate at the same time!