Early in my search I was tempted to look at every job posting that showed up on a job board. Not a smart idea. Do you know how many hundreds, no, thousands of postings there are for just one website like Monster? You have to narrow your search.
One thing I discovered that job boards seem to do a very poor job of selecting jobs that fit me.Even narrowing my search down to an industry and a geographic area proved unproductive. I would register for free service and select the job categories I wanted. The job board would then send me daily notices based on my criteria. What I found was that I got a lot of junk job postings that I had to wade through to find the ones that might fit me.
What I finally discovered was that the best job boards were highly specialized. I joined a professional association for Trainers and Developers. They had their own regional website and a section devoted to training and development jobs in the Portland area. I also connected with the local HR network and likewise found great leads in the Human Resource field through them.
I read a recent article that detailed where were the best places to look for job postings. Would you believe it? In one study last year 20% of the people hired for jobs found the job on the company website.
When fishing on the Internet look for professional association websites and company websites for employment. They are more productive then the big job boards. It takes time and effort to find these smaller websites but its worth the time and effort.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Day 12 Better fishing holes for job postings
Day 11 Be productive, not just active
When I first started out applying for jobs I went to the job boards on the Internet. They posted hundreds of openings every day. Surely there are dozens of jobs I am ideally suited to fill. It surprised me and then dismayed me to realize that big name job boards generated very few leads. The job postings look promising, positions were within a reasonable distance from where I lived but I rarely resulted in a call or interview.
Do not mistake activity for being productive in your job search. Be careful what you measure. Eight hours in front of the computer looking at job postings is admirable but is it effective use of your time?
Responding to a hundred job postings may make you feel good but how many hits did they produce? How many interviews did they generate?
After weeks and months of fruitless hours searching the big boards I came to realize there had to be better places and ways to search for work.
If your Internet search isn't producing calls and interviews, then change strategy or tactics. Don't waste time, don't waste weeks and months hoping for results. I discovered that the jobs are out there but searching the job boards is not the best way to find out about them.