If you’re an executive and you’re job searching, the last thing you want to do is completely sabotage your chances of getting a new position. It’s easy to accidentally misstep, though, and end up ruining your chances of getting a certain position.

It’s not always your fault when you can’t get an executive level job; it may be the economy or a number of other things. But it’s also a good idea to look at your own actions throughout the process to see if you may be sabotaging your own efforts. Here are a few ways to help avoid this from happening …

Create a Quality Resume

At the executive level, creating a quality resume requires more than just writing one that is action-driven, you need to prove that you’ve made a true impact on your previous employers. By showing in numbers what types of profits you’ve helped the company make, as well as any types of initiatives you’ve started and followed through on, it’s important for companies to see through your resume that you would be a great return on their investment.

Spend Time with Forward-Thinking People

When you want to make big moves in life, you have to think big. Try to find and stay and contact with anyone who has the same big goals that you have. It’s important to be able to share ideas and information that can benefit everyone as you all progress through your careers. But it’s even more important that you keep company with people who feel confident and positive about their futures, not those who feel “stuck” and believe there’s nothing good to look forward to.

Don’t Worry about Being Perfect

You may feel that you simply can’t send out a resume or contact a lead because you haven’t come up with the “right” things to write are say. While it’s not a bad idea to be concise and clear in your communication, perfection is something you can never achieve. While it may be possible to improve certain wording, you’ve also got to make sure that it’s out there–even the best written resume and cover letters won’t do you any good if they’re just sitting on your desk.

Get Organized

When you’re in the midst of a job search, it’s critical that you successfully follow up on your leads, interviews, etc. Getting organized during your job search essentially means keeping track of who you’ve talked to, who you plan to talk to, what you’ve discussed (or want to discuss), etc. Make a spreadsheet to keep track of these kinds of data.

Step Away from the Computer

With blogging, networking and researching capabilities right at your fingertips, it’s not uncommon to want to spend the majority of your job search behind the computer. For executives, face to face networking functions are more important than any online job searching. The Internet and computers can certainly be helpful for some job searches, but nothing will help an executive more than face-to-face contact with prospective employers.

If you can keep these ideas in mind when conducting your executive job search, you may find that the process will move a lot smoother than expected. What’s the worst that could happen if you change your approach to incorporate a bit of common sense?