Job seeking from a hunters perspective Blog

How do I find jobs to apply for? October 13, 2009

There are many ways to find jobs these days. I am using a few myself.

Company web sites. I hope that you have a list of target companies that you really want to work for. You should go to their sites and then bookmark them. Then once a week revisit them. Stay up on the news bulletins and positions.

There are newspapers and magazines ( I don’t use these)

Online biz journals and techwires. If you are willing to relocate these are ways to keep informed about what is going on in your target cities or regions. It gives you information like who is getting funding, who is getting a contract, who is laying off, who is buying who and who is getting promoted. This information will tell you who might be hiring and who to not bother with for a short period of time.

Trade Publications ( You can find some good jobs in these)

The job boards, Careerbuilder, Hotjobs, Monster, Startuphire etc I have lost faith in them even though I use them)

The job aggregators, Indeed, Simplyhired, Jobradar,Linkup, etc ( I use aggregators it is like one stop shopping) These make your search effective and efficient.

Social Media; LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc (These are the top 3 by the way) ( I use LinkedIn heavily)

Networking; Online (See Social media), Chambers of Commerce, Professional organization meetings, Career Fairs, WIND ( networking meetings for unemployed professionals in Massachusetts), Safe Harbor (same as WIND but in  Colorado), etc.

Agencies and Recruiters. Make sure that you interview these two avenues. Remember they do not work for you!!!! But, they might be representing you to a client. You want to make sure that you will be represented in a professional and truthful manner. After all it is your reputation and you need to know that you can trust the person you are letting represent you.

Job Boards If you are using the job boards and you post your resume….DO NOT use the resume you posted to apply for a job on t he board. You need to tailor the resume to the job. The resume you posted on the board is a generic resume not a targeted one.

Job Alerts use the advanced feature and be specific as you can for the jobs you a re seeking. It will keep you from sifting through a number of jobs you do not want.  In a profession like mine I have found out the search engines are not that intelligent.

Job Aggregators These have the same features as the boards.

LinkedIn Has a job search section. You may also find jobs in the group discussion areas. Usually under groups that are associated with your profession or alumni.

You thought job searching was easy didn’t you? Wait until we get to researching jobs and companies.