Career Advice Talk

Sourcing Opportunities (Online Job Search)

23rd June, 2009 - Posted by Robin Ogden -

Guest Post by Matt LeBlanc –

In today’s job-search world it’s unfortunate that the Internet rules, even though it is not a very effective way to land an opportunity. Since most job-seekers will never change their habits and focus on networking it is important to understand how to best incorporate online search into your job-search plan (notice I did not say consume your job-search plan).

Here are a few things  to consider to help improve your time spent online -

JOB BOARDS

* Everybody knows about CareerBuilder, Monster and HotJobs so we are not going to beat that dead horse anymore. Instead we are going to focus on several other places you should be looking for opportunities.

* Indeed and SimplyHired are two of the many job-search aggregators out there that index a huge number of job sites, including corporate employment pages, newspapers and Craigslist then makes the jobs searchable based on keyword(s) and (optionally) location.

* LinkUp is a unique job search engine that lists jobs taken directly from over 16,000 company websites (no third party recruiter postings). Some of the jobs posted here could otherwise be difficult to find because they are typically unadvertised outside of company websites.

* Search agents are a great way to keep up with what is getting posted on a continual basis to save you a lot of time and energy. Most job-boards allow you to adjust your settings within your account to have job-alerts emailed to you on a daily or weekly basis.

OTHER PLACES TO FIND JOB OPPORTUNITIES

* LinkedIn has a very useful job function that is powered by SimplyHired and allows you to search thousands of job listings that can be searched using keywords, title, company, and location.

* Professional association sites (both local and national) are a great way to find opportunities. Many allow their members to post jobs (or have jobs posted) for free. The real advantage here is that all of the jobs will relate to the profession that the association focuses on.

* TweetMyJOBS is a very interesting service that brings recruiters/employers and job seekers together on Twitter. The site has established Twitter channels for major cities and job types and once you create accounts on both job openings can be set to either be texted to your cell phone or emailed to your Twitter account.

* Facebook, LinkedIn, & Twitter status updates can be used in any number of ways, including to source opportunities. There are many companies that utilize all three to get information (including their job openings – click here and here for companies and here for recruiters that you should follow on Twitter).

* Google is a great place to search for opportunities. You can search out niche job boards, organizations in your area, recruiters, and a host of other things that would benefit a search. In addition, there are a set of Google search functions (click here for more information) that you can use to find specifically what you are looking for.

IMPROVING YOUR SEARCH RESULTS ONLINE AND ON JOB-BOARDS

* LinkedIn’s JobsInsider is a great tool to use to utilize your network in your online search. Read our previous post about JobsInsider here.

* Boolean search is an effective way of searching through vast amounts of information built on a method of logic developed by 19th century English mathematician George Boole. Today, Boolean search techniques can be used to carry out effective searches, cutting out many unrelated documents and most online databases and search engines support Boolean searches. For more information on Boolean works and how to use in your search, click here.

Again, I am not a big fan of online job-search as it is less effective than other methods but do feel it should be a minor part of your plan to find work as long as its done when everyone else is asleep.

Now its your turn to contribute. Where do you go online to find potential job postings - leave a comment and lets see how comprehensive a list we can generate. Look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Until then, good hunting and good luck!