Even though it is difficult in the current economy for many people to find a job, people should not settle for any job that does come along. Even in this economy, people must find a job that they will enjoy doing, and that offers not only long-term employment with competitive wages, but also opportunities for advancement.
The internet offers many tools to allow the job seeker to find just the right job. For example, there are plenty of sites that show people how to craft resumes, what to wear and how to act in interviews, and so on. But before you have that face-to-face interview, you need to find these potential employers. And that is where the best job search engines come in.
Best Job Search Engines
Country Wide Versus Local Job Search Engine
There are two main types of job search engines. The first type is the over-arcing variety, that covers the entire country. Examples of this type of job search engine is Monster.com.
The other type of job search engine is the local one – a search engine typically sponsored by a state or city’s employment department, which carries jobs available only in that particular state.
In today’s job market, it is necessary for a prospective applicant to be flexible. Although you want a job that you will enjoy, that is long term, and that has opportunities for advancement, it would be foolish to turn down a job simply because it would involve moving across country, or because it would involve certain tasks that the applicant doesn’t like to do. For example, if a job requires that, in addition to all the duties one likes to do, one must also speak in public, something that one hates, well, it may be time to bite the bullet and enroll in some Toastmaster classes to overcome that fear of public speaking.
Best Job Search Engines – Countrywide
Finding a Great Job
The best job search engines will serve two purposes. They will provide jobs listings, of course, but they will also allow the prospective applicant to post their resume online, so that even if they don’t apply for certain jobs, a prospective employer can search through all online resumes, and see their resume for themselves. This is an invaluable service.
The best job search engines will also provide tips, hints and instructions on how to apply for any job.
Two Sample Countrywide Job Search Engines
Take Monster.com. When an applicant visits that website, he or she will find a wealth of information. There is a link where one can post their resume. There is the link where one can search for job listings using a variety of criteria – by Company, by Location or by Categories & Industries.
And because Monster.com is a smart job search engine, it knows the ISP from which you are searching for jobs, and will even have a “Featured Job Section,” listing jobs in your particular town.
But there’s more on the website. Monster.com provides a social media application called BeKnown which allows you to network on Facebook. (These days, networking via Facebook and Myspace and social media sites of that ilk are crucial.)
The site has links for career advice, for those needing financial aid to take classes, sample job interview questions, and so on. They also have a message board for people to talk to each other and give encouragement and advice.
Career Builder.com is another countrywide job search engine, although like every such search engine, it does track the ISP of all people visiting the site, so that it can offer a targeted list of job positions for that person’s particular city.
Career Builder’s website is less cluttered than that of Monster.com, but it offers many of the same services – posting resumes, advice and so on.
Its search engine allows the job seeker to input keywords (for example, “nurse” or “sales manager”, job location desired, as well as category (“entry level,” “skilled labor,” “consultant,” and so on.)
State and Local Best Job Search Engines
As we have seen, the over-arcing, country-wide search engines invariably have a spot on their website for “local jobs.” However, these local jobs are not necessarily all the local jobs in the area. Many businesses don’t post their listings on such sites, they only want to deal with people who already live in the area, so they post only to local job search engines.
All states, and most large cities, have a portion of their website set up to help job searchers (called something like “Department of Work Force Services”). Local businesses post their job listings there, and prospective employees can find them easily.
These local job search engines will typically have all the smaller, more intime jobs than would appear on a country-wide site.
Reading Job Listing and Submitting Resume
When a job seeker inputs his or her search criteria and sees the resulting listings, what is he or she to do?
The listing will have the following information:
- Location
- Base Pay
- Employee Type (full-time or part-time)
- Industry (electronics, retail, e-commerce, etc.)
- Manages Others (yes or no)
- Job Type
- Education (whether or not a college degree is needed)
- Experience (how many years of experience are needed)
- Travel (whether or not the job will require travel)
- And finally a description of the job.
In this economy, and with people so desperate for jobs, it is not unheard of for people to falsify their resumes, and claim experience and education that they do not have…or at more elite institutions than they actually attended. This is always a bad mistake, because if the applicant is given the job and then found to have falsified their resume, they will lose the job no matter how good a job they are doing.
This does not mean, however, that an applicant can’t apply for a job that requires more education or experience than he or she has. He or she must simply be up front about it in his or her resume. Many times a potential employer will post more stringent requirements than they actually feel necessary, merely to discourage the extremely unqualified from applying. But if the applicant is qualified – for example is it really necessary to have a four year degree to write copy for a sports apparel store? – then that requirement may be waived.
The best job search engine is the one that will help the prospective applicant find a job. Because they are able to target specific job categories, they are invaluable for the job seeker.
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