RJ and Makay

To maximize your chances of getting a job, it's more effective to apply directly through company websites than social media or job boards. That's what job candidate tracker Jobs2web found when it analyzed 1.3 million applications and 26,000 hires in 2010.

According to the analysis, companies end up perusing 219 applications per job from candidates responding to posts on major board such as Monster.com or CareerBuilder before finding someone to hire. However, they only have to read 33 applications per hire from job seekers who apply on the company's own career site and 32 per hire when candidates type the job they're looking for into a search engine.

When Gallup pollsters recently asked 1,000 Americans to name the biggest problem facing the country, 35% said "unemployment," making joblessness their number one concern for the second straight month. It's also the highest percentage of Americans to give that response in more than a quarter century, since October of 1983.

By contrast, the economy in general ranked second, with 29% of those polled saying it was the most important problem facing the country. Healthcare was third and dissatisfaction with the government, fourth.