Here are the keys to successfully navigating a career or job fair. Follow these simple rules and you will achieve success in this important strategic tool of job-hunting.

Of course, every employer has a specific set of skills it seeks from job-seekers. Some of those skills are job-specific while others are defined as soft skills. As a job-seeker, you’ll need to know the hard skills -- the job-specific skills -- you need for the job you seek. These skills typically come from your education and work experiences.

If you probably lock a bunch of career professionals in a room and ask this question, you will get dozens of different answers. But we think that there are three critical elements to successful job hunting. If you understand how to best use these three things, your job searches should be much easier and more successful.

Career experts estimate that the vast majority of job openings are never advertised or publicly announced, but filled through word-of-mouth or networking, known as the "hidden job market." The likelihood of a job opening not being advertised at all increases with the level of the job. Yet, even with this knowledge, most job seekers fail to fully utilize networking for all it's worth.

Whether you are happily entrenched in a job, engaged in an active job search or thinking about a career change everyone who is working today needs a current updated resume even if the job you are at is your first! It is worth the time and effort to update your resume at least once or twice a year.

When applying for employment by mail a job application letter must accompany your resume. Often times an employer may be flooded by perhaps a stack of a hundred or more resumes on any given day. In such situations, getting an interview can represent a major break-through for the job applicant. The job application letter you write can and should be used to substitute for that all-important interview that you may not otherwise get, regardless of your qualifications. So, construct it wisely.

Finding the right job is more like a road trip than a Sunday drive

Think of your resume as an advertisement. It is what will bring the customer in the store. Once they have arrived, it is time to sell them the goods. You have scored an interview, and now it is time to prepare.