Every fresh college graduate has experienced rejection based on lack of experience, but eventually most graduates obtain enough experience to move past an entry level position and into a position with more responsibility and higher pay. Having experience is usually a good thing, but lately having too much experience has become an obstacle that thousands of seasoned job seekers face every day. The reasons for this vary. For starters, according to a recent Tribune Media Services report, the talent pool is overflowing, thanks to mass lay-offs of people with 15 to 20 years of experience. This means older professionals with lots of experience, which brings a higher price tag, are now competing with younger professionals with some or enough experience, which means a lower price tag.

The potential price tag of someone with too much experience isn’t the only reason employers might take a pass. Many employers also believe that someone with so much experience might move on as soon as a better opportunity presents itself or they might get bored. Fortunately, there are ways to position your qualifications, says Maribeth Kuzmeski, author of “And the Clients Went Wild: How Savvy Business Professionals in Win All the Business They Want,” and it doesn’t involve downplaying them.

Job applicants should never downplay accomplishments. It’s better to position your qualifications as assets—which they are—rather than drawbacks. Job applicants should tailor their resumes to reflect  skills and achievements, not a laundry list of former employers and job titles.

Steve Langerud, director of professional opportunities at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind. adds that “presenting job titles and years of experience provides just enough information for an employer’s imagination to run wild, and not in the favor of the job seeker.”

Kuzmeski points out that job seekers should spell out other important benefits of their experience, such as the life experience that makes them more capable of handling difficult client situations or coworker conflicts. They should also be the first to bring up the topic of being overqualified. This is especially the case if an interviewer seems hesitant or keeps bringing up past experience, Kuzmeski says.

If this is the case, just ask what the concerns might be. By asking, you’re again showing that you are proud of your achievements and you care and want to hear what the employer thinks. It’s actually a great way to build on the relationship.

Whether you’re looking for contract work or a full-time position, there are a number of different websites that can be useful in your search. If you’re looking for a full-time, permanent position, you can search through career clearinghouses to find useful links to career and job information on the web or you can search job banks and reliable government sources for job openings.

If you’re interested in careers in the military, you want start your own home-based business, or you would like work as a freelancer or independent contractor, there are a number of resources you can tap into as well. Try My Future (military website), U.S. Small Business Administration, and HomeworkersNet.com. For regular full-time job seekers, the next section is for you.

Searching Job Banks and Government Sources for Job Openings

There are so many job banks and government websites that it would be tough to list them all here. What we can do is list ten of the most popular sites, which also happen to be the most user friendly and hassle-free of the bunch. For example, some websites have easy search functions that allow the user to enter only a few criteria to get relevant results. In many cases, these sites do not have a lengthy registration process. All that’s needed in these cases is a name and email address.

Other sites may ask for more information than you are willing to give in order to search their database. These sites typically require a large amount of information to compile demographic information and to attract more business from advertisers and employers. In these cases, it’s best to study the sites privacy policy before going through the lengthy registration process.

Besides the usual suspects such as CareerBuilder.com (23 million visitors per month) and Monster.com (75 million visitors), there are a number of lesser-known job banks that offer:

• -A respectable amount of job listings
• -Posts for people from all walks of life, age groups and skill levels
• -Much less traffic than the most popular banks

Less traffic is actually a plus if you prefer not to waste your time competing with thousands of applicants for a single position. Just a few alternative job banks that are well worth the effort are:

1. 1. NationJob.com
2. 2. Vault.com
3. 3. NowHiring.com
4. 4. AfterCollege.com
5. 5. TrueCareers.com
6. 6. CollegeGrad.com
7. 7. CoolWorks.com
8. 8. Dice.com
9. 9. MarketingJobs.com
10. 10. SeniorJobBank

NationJob.com allows users to either search for a job on your own or sign up to have P.J. Scout, your personal online job search assistant, search for you. Whenever scout finds a job that matches your background, he will email it to you.

Not only does Vault.com allow users to search through jobs in more than 70 different industries, it offers “insider” information on more than 3,000 companies. The site features the Internet’s first collection of company-specific message boards for employees. Here, anyone can network, find out what its like to work for any given company, and ask for job advice.

NowHiring.com is a unique job search engine that caters to teens, students, and young adults. The site features seasonal opportunities, hourly positions, and entry-level job opportunities as well as a wide variety of job articles, tips, and advice.

AfterCollege.com caters to recent college graduates or those looking to get their foot in the door through entry-level positions. The  site lists more than 200,000 jobs and an abundance of job related articles and information about everything from the top 50 popular jobs to the top businesses.

Sponsored by Sallie Mae, TrueCareers.com is targeted towards degreed professionals in search of higher pay and jobs that are more satisfying. The site has a number of job and resume posting features as well as career articles, company profiles, a diversity center, and an “ask the expert” discussion forum.

CollegeGrad.com is devoted to entry-level job information only. The site offers job listings from top entry-level employers as well as internships. Job seekers can also browse through a number of sections on interviewing, job planning, resumes, salaries, and more.

CoolWorks understands that not everyone wants to wear a suit and tie everyday. There are a number of job seekers out there that would prefer to saddle up and hop on a horse to patrol a gorgeous national park for the day or slather on some sunscreen for sunny day serving Mai Tai’s on the deck of a cruise ship. CoolWorks features job listings for jobs in great places from cruse ships and ski resorts to parks and Buddhist retreat centers.

If you’re an IT professional, Dice.com is the place to search for a position. Dice.com features a number of regular full-time positions, as well as a large number of contract positions. Users can search telecommuting positions only, or they can search by the amount of travel required. Job seekers can also create a profile and resume or use a personal search agent.

In today’s economic climate, a move into marketing or to the marketing department of your company wouldn’t be a bad idea. As companies continue to struggle to stay afloat, they are also beefing up their marketing efforts. This is where MarketingJobs.com comes into play. MarketingJobs.com focuses on jobs in sales, marketing, and advertising. Job seekers can search state, job function, or keyword and they can also create an anonymous career profile, which will allow employers to find you.

SeniorJobBank.org caters to the seasoned and talented 50 and over set. The job bank allows job seekers to search for jobs by industry, location, job category, and type of employment (short-term, contract, full-time). Users can also create up to three resumes and choose an option to let potential employers view your resume or have a personal job agent send job openings to your email.

If you’re looking for jobs through government sources, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s America Job Bank site at www.ajb.dni.us or America’s Service locator at www.servicelocator.com. America’s job bank has more than 2 million job listings and America’s Service Locator features state by job openings as well as information on unemployment insurance, job training programs, education opportunities, and career services.

Using Career Clearinghouses to Find Links

One of the quickest and easiest ways to find career and job information is to check out career clearinghouses for links to the most relevant websites. A career clearinghouse is an index, directory or listing of other Internet sites. Career clearinghouses are much better than Googling (which can return more than 760 million results for “careers”) mainly because they allow you to narrow down your topic. An added benefit is that career clearinghouses are usually maintained by one individual or just a few so the results are more focused and the lists are  usually in alphabetical order.

Some of the best clearing houses for career and job information are:

• –Internet Career Connection
• -Careers.org
• -JobHuntersBible.com
• –The Riley Guide
• -Job-Hunt.org
• –Quintessential Careers
• -Workindex.com

For more career websites, read “30 best Web sites for job hunters,” by CNN Money.

While the healthcare industry still holds the crown for most jobs created for the 2008-2018 projections decade, the leisure and hospitality industry is showing strong signs of bouncing back from the recession.

Buffalo Business First analysis of new federal data indicates that 30 states and the District of Columbia have experienced increases in leisure and hospitality employment during the past year. Buffalo Business First is a sister newspaper of the Birmingham Business Journal.

Florida registered the biggest gain, adding 21,400 jobs in the sector. Alabama came in 12th, adding 4,800 jobs over the previous year. Alabama ranks seventh for its 10-year change of 16 percent or addition of 24,500 jobs since 2000.

The nation lost 505,000 leisure and hospitality jobs between November 2007 and the same month in 2009 as the recession drastically reduced discretionary spending. But the sector has rebounded during the past year, regaining 150,000 of those jobs.

Other large increases belong to Texas (up 19,100 jobs), California (up 13,400), Pennsylvania (up 11,000) and Minnesota (up 10,400).

The leisure and hospitality industry includes arts organizations, bars, entertainment services, hotels, motels, recreation services, and restaurants.

If you have been searching for a job in your state that will allow you to “utilize your skills and education,” but you have had zero success, you might want to consider relocating. Although employers overall are hopeful about hiring in the first quarter of 2011—a promising 9 percent expect to be hiring, some cities are in a much better position to do so than others. At the top of the list of best cities for jobs is none other than Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

A recent Manpower Employment Services survey of 18,000 employers in 100 metropolitan areas revealed that Baton Rouge has an 18 percent net employment outlook. This figure is based on the number of employers that expect to add employees, which is actually 22 percent, minus the percentage who expect to reduce the number of employees (4 percent). Even better news is, the city that rarely dips below 50 degrees is enjoying growth in construction, digital media, and wood products. The city also plans to build three new hospitals in 2011, so there will be plenty of health care jobs to go around.

Baton Rouge is not the only city that will enjoy exceptional job growth in the first quarter of 2011. The Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington metropolitan area has a net employment outlook of 15 percent, followed by Milwakuee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wisconsin at 14 percent. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Arizona; Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio are tied for fourth place with a net employment outlook of 12 percent. The Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tennessee metropolitan area; San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, California, and the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C./Va/Md./W.V. area are tied for fifth place with a net employment outlook of 11 percent.

So what are the worst cities for employment this winter? According to a recent Forbes report:

The net employment outlook in metro areas like Boise, Houston, Los Angeles, and Providence, R.I., is flat at 0%–and they aren’t even the worst. Akron, Ohio; Colorado Springs, Colo.; and Columbia, S.C., are tied for the No. 1 spot on the list of the worst cities for finding a job.

Only 8% of surveyed Akron employers plan to hire more employees between January and March, while 11% expect to reduce their payrolls. Seventy-nine percent expect to maintain their current workforce and 2% are unsure about their plans. This yields a net employment outlook of -3% for a city that relies largely on traditional industries, like Goodyear Tire and Rubber ( GT – news – people ) and Roadway Express. The same goes for Colorado Springs and Columbia.

The good news is, overall, the U.S. has seen five straight quarters of survey results that indicate an uptick in hiring activity, according to Melanie Holmes, Manpower’s vice president. Holmes also states that “the trend is in the right direction, but we would all like to see employer confidence improve and the pace of hiring pick up.”