A new study by researchers from Lehigh University and the University of Missouri found one of the attributes in job seekers most likely to lead to success in their search is an attitude focused on learning.

The study found job seekers who have a “natural disposition to learn from every situation in life” are likely to be more successful in getting their dream job and achieving some of their major career goals.

To conduct the study, the researchers focused in on 120 college seniors who were hunting for jobs. Subjects in the study who were identified as having a strong “learning goal orientation” (LGO) reacted to failures in the job hunt by searching much more intensely, whereas people with low LGO decreased their intensity. Interestingly, the same was true even when the job search was going well.

This indicates that people with high LGO respond and deal with stress better than other people, and are more likely to push forward and learn from their experiences in the job search, both positive and negative.

Fortunately, there are ways job seekers can learn to improve their learning attitude. The researchers behind the study say job seekers should spend some time every day reflecting on their successes and failures and what they have learned from the process rather than getting caught up in the emotional highs and lows.

It’s just one more study that shows that while attitude may not be everything when it comes to the job search, it certainly plays a major role!

When people write their resume, they tend to focus only on the content. And while it’s true that the content is extremely important in convincing potential employers of your competency, the appearance of the resume is just as important.

The reality is most hiring and HR managers don’t have the time to read through every resume they get in great detail, especially if they have numerous openings going on with many applicants for each position. They have to make a judgment call within only a few seconds as to whether they even want to continue looking. The way your resume looks could be the difference between whether you yourself get a closer look or get put into the rejection pile. It’s the paper version of a first impression, and first impressions are incredibly strong.

Consider some of the following questions before you send in your resume to a potential employer:

• At first glance, does your resume look appealing, neat and have a professional appearance?
• Did you use an appropriate margin width for your resume?
• Do you use a consistent, readable font throughout the whole page?
• Do you use bold, italics and underlines to help break up and organize your resume?
• Does the spacing between each section look appropriate?
• Is it easy to quickly scan over your resume and still get the most important information?

Taking all of this into account will help you ensure your resume looks professional and draws the attention of potential employers. It will make for an inviting document that wants the interviewer to get to know you better.

Every month there are millions of people who are looking for new jobs, even if they already have one. About ten percent of all of these job searchers swill switch employers in the next month. However, the majority of these people never report that they were looking for a new job. Therefore, it’s reasonable to conclude that instead of these workers actively seeking the jobs, the jobs actually found them.

This information came from analyzing job search and employment transition rates over the past 20 years. On average, it’s estimated that about 4.3 percent of people with jobs were actively searching for a new job. Recent college grads, at a rate of 9.6 percent, were more likely to be searching for new jobs while employed compared to people age 45 or older (2.3 percent).

The really interesting statistics, however, are about hiring probability. While research suggests people who search for jobs are more likely to find a new position, employed people who did not search for a new job made up about 25.7 percent of all new hires, compared to 7.4 percent for employed people who were actively searching.  Therefore, 77.6 percent of all employed people who changed employers were not actively looking for a new position. This is because there are so many more people who do not actively search than those who do.

So what does this mean? It would seem that a lot of these people are being attracted to new positions by corporate recruiters, by a friend alerting them to an opening or other similar tactics.  Bottom line is…recruiters are an important ally in helping companies find that hard to find, passive candidate who might not be actively looking on the job boards.

Let’s take a look at another key point from Tim Hoch’s Thought Catalog article “10 Ways You’re Making Your Life Harder Than It Has To Be.”

Point number nine is “you can’t/won’t let go.” This is a problem we all have at some point. Perhaps we feel someone wronged us, and we can’t forgive them for it. Maybe we feel shattered because of a failed relationship. Perhaps we have lost something or someone.

However, just like any other challenges we face in our lives, these have the opportunity to be defining moments for us. The way we respond to these moments gives us a chance to grow and better ourselves in new, exciting ways. If we close ourselves off and refuse to let go, we’re never going to move on emotionally and find the happiness we deserve.

While we can never completely forget the struggles we go through, we are able to manage them and learn from them. “Letting go” isn’t about forgetting, anyway — it is about forgiveness.  Forgiving someone is difficult because it goes against our nature.  Simply put…if you don’t choose to forgive, you become enslaved to the very person who you feel hurt you.

Consider what is preventing you from “letting go” of the baggage in your life, and what you can do to turn that around to find joy.

According to numbers published in a Gallup poll, less than a third of all American workers (approximately 31.5 percent) were considered to be “engaged” in their jobs in 2014. While this is the highest level since Gallup first began tracking employee engagement, the amount of employees who qualified as “not engaged” (51 percent) and “actively disengaged” (17.5 percent) still vastly overwhelm those who are engaged.

Gallup’s definition of engaged employees is an employee who is enthusiastic about, involved in and committed to his or her workplace. These numbers are based on interviews conducted by Gallup Daily between January and December 2015. There were 80,837 employees represented in the study.

Perhaps not surprisingly, engagement levels were highest among executives, managers and officers, who were engaged at a 38.4 percent rate. Employees that work in production and manufacturing were at the lowest levels (23 percent).

In terms of generations, Millennials were the least engaged group (28.9 percent) while traditionalists were the most engaged group (42.2 percent), followed by baby boomers (32.7 percent). Millennials are not as likely to be getting positions they desired out of college, and they also respond that they have not had the opportunity to “do what they do best” in their work.

Based on these numbers, one thing is clear: if a company is able to provide workers with a job that they can truly care about and engage with, it has an advantage in terms of attracting and keeping employees over approximately two thirds of the market. Engaged employees are more likely to do great work, so companies should make every effort to increase engagement in their teams.

Let’s take a closer look at another point from Tim Hoch’s great article on Thought Catalog, “10 Ways You’re Making Your Life Harder Than It Has To Be.” Point #8: “You let other people steal from you.”

It can refer to basically anything, but for our purposes we’re going to focus on not letting other people steal your time.

Your time is the most valuable item that you have in your possession. Chances are, you live a busy enough life without having to give your time to every person who asks something out of you. This isn’t to say that you should never help out a friend who is in need, but rather that you should be extremely careful about who you give your time to. You should never feel as though you’re obligated to allow people who are negative or disrespectful to steal your time from you especially if it’s doing something you don’t believe in or aren’t passionate about.

Focus on guarding your time as much as you possibly can. Only give your time to those causes you’re passionate about and to people who are important to you.  Ultimately doing things you’re not passionate about and surrounding yourself with people who you don’t have a meaningful relationship with is another way to make your life harder than it has to be.

Today we are going to look at one more point from Impending Crisis. It’s the idea that employees in today’s business world are more concerned than ever before about wanting to make a difference in their career.

The social values that people have are becoming increasingly important in the job market. People want to know that in addition to the work they do, they have the ability to make some kind of impact, whether it’s through the work itself or through additional opportunities that a job provides.

Therefore, it’s not surprising that more companies have become more heavily involved in their local communities. They might lend financial support to charitable organizations, or get involved at local charities. They could sponsor or participate in events like run/walks, food drives, clothing drives and more.

What’s great about getting your business more involved in charitable work is that there is no downside. You will strengthen the bond between your employees and your company.  Your employees will feel more connected and therefore more loyal to your company.  Finally, since this will help your employees see a bigger meaning/purpose in their work, they will be more engaged with their job, their company and be less apt to leave the next time a recruiter comes knocking on their door.  In addition, charitable work builds good will in your local community, provides some truly important help to people that need it and can act as a tax write-off if you contribute financially to nonprofit organizations.

Take the opportunity to make a difference in the world with your company. Your current and potential employees will greatly appreciate it, as will so many others.