In brief: “Looking for a job has never been an easy task. Fortunately, these days, the Internet is an effective tool for online job search. Since the past few years, the Internet has invaded almost all facets of our life. The internet has touched and enhanced every aspect of our life. You name it – entertainment, information, knowledge as well as business. There are several activities that have become easier simply because the Internet exists – and finding a job online is just one of them.”
The practice of an online job search (i.e. looking for a job online) is quite an easy task if a job seeker knows how to land at the right places on the Internet.
This article provides a beginner guide on where to look for jobs online and the basic information on how to look for a job online using social media sites, online job search engines and other job portals.
First Steps to looking for a job
All of us have searched for jobs at one point of the time or other. In fact, depending on your job and your job satisfaction, you may be looking for a new job even after you are gainfully employed.
Here are some steps to keep in mind for a successful job search:
Define you target jobs:
What Job? It is said that unless you do not know what the destination is, the journey is as difficult as you make it to be. Therefore, make sure that you know what kind of job you require. This basically means that you should know what scope of professions you would like to go into.
Once this is done, you should look for jobs you can get with your experience, qualifications and expertise. Without taking these things into consideration, it would be very difficult to have a long standing job. Hence, prioritize the jobs positions that you can fit and define your targets.
Refer to – what career will suit me.
Resume the Resume:
One of the fundamental requirements of a successful job search is a resume. Without a resume, you can as well be in the high seas without a boat. Basically, the resume can be described as your clone – the clone that can go to places where you cannot. So, a detailed, concise and well prepared resume is the need of the day if you wish to look for a long term job.
In addition, the entire job market has become so competitive with the current market scenario that anyone who does not seem to have it all in order and place will not even be looked at for a relevant job proposal.
Having a resume tells the prospective employer that you are serious about your job searching activity.
Refer to – how to build a resume category.
Enhance Your Skills:
One of the biggest disadvantages of being in a technical line is that your knowledge and skills can become obsolete over a period of time. The best way to survive is to enhance your technical skills whenever it is possible.
Refer to – career goals and objectives.
Everything becomes local:
It is necessary for you to define the geographical location and boundaries in which you would be looking for jobs.
Come to think of it, as finance play a big part in the decision whether you would be working or not, so it is only right that finance should play a role in deciding which area you would be looking for a job in.
Be sure that you look for local jobs at first. There are several ways that you can look for local jobs: First off, newspaper and bulletins then, there are other local institutions that offer information about local jobs. Refer to – how to find a job in your area article.
Use the Internet for networking:
The internet made a revolution in all our life aspects and the same goes with looking for jobs. Using the Internet, you can find relevant jobs right in the comforts of your home.
Another important aspect that you should remember is the aspect of networking. In today’s world, it is almost impossible to get anything done without networking. Even the best professional today would have to be in contact with the other people who are a part of his profession.
Not only in real life, one should also network in the online world and make their profiles on any platform that allows people of the same profession to meet and interact.
Be Prepared:
Looking for a job is tedious and may or may not bear fruit on an immediate basis. Therefore, you have to be ready for either success or being unsuccessful. The only thing that you have to remember is that you have to try till you strike the right chord. A good idea is to start the preparation for the first job interview.
Where to look for a job online: 4 Methods for Online Job Search
The main methods when it comes to looking for jobs online are as follows:
1. Social sites: With the advent of Web 2.0, the Internet has been opened up to the people. User generated content is what is running the Internet today. Today, the Internet is used by any and everyone to interact with people for a common requirement – here come the popular social media sites.
People use the platform of several social sites to looking for jobs: the famous are – LinkedIn, Twitter, Flaxo, Facebook, Craigslist and JobFox.
The next section of this article includes some basic steps for using the main social sites for a job search.
2. www job-search.com, Online job search engines: A list of the top job search engines is located at the right sidebar of this blog – refer to the Blog N Roll Links.
These sites provide large scale of job search services for job seekers.
3. Job boards niches: These job boards serve for a specific professional area. Type ‘job boards niches’ at google.com
4. Local Job Portals: Across the world, there are many local job portals that offer all the information you would require about jobs in your profession. You may find job opening in other areas that you are interested in. Most of these job portals offer a free membership to people looking for a job, while they charge the companies to put up a job offer on their websites.
How to look for a job online using social media sites?
Networking is quite an important job search technique. You have to do your homework deciding on which social network site you are looking into.
The importance of your online profile
The first thing to do is to make sure that your online profile and resume is shown properly. Without your profile/bio/resume being visible in the virtual world, it would not be possible for the right company to get you at the right time.
Obviously, without networking, your profile will be lost in one of the many profiles that are all around the internet.
Here are some tips using the main three social sites for a job search:
Look for a job using Linkedin
Social sites like Linkedin are normally used by recruiters and HR departments to look for prospective employees. The job seeker has to prepare very carefully his strategy on social sites like Linkedin. Here are some tips:
Your user profile: For one, these websites are open domains and the user profile can be viewed by every user. The users that may view the profile are users that you have never had any interaction before. Therefore, the first important advice is to prepare a professional profile that is serious enough for a person to consider you for a job. An incomplete profile may be the only reason why a company would not pay attention to you as a potential job candidate.
Join groups: Linkedin contains many types of groups that you can join – recruiters groups, job search engines groups and local groups. You can search for groups using the keywords: jobs, career and human resources. After joining these groups, browse to the job listings sections in each group.
Contact key managers: Most corporate professionals have a profile on Linkedin, wherein you can get in contact with them. If you are looking for more complicated and tailor-made jobs, the best way is to contact individuals in the company directly. While this was quite tough few years ago, with the advent of social networking, it is easy to contact even a CEO or a company founder. This method is called ‘network’ and the request form is “I’d like to add you to my professional network”.
Look for a job using Twitter
Twitter becomes a new tool when it comes to looking for jobs online:
Design your profile: Prepare an impressive profile, link to your Linkedin profile and even to your bio or online resume.
Follow people and companies: Start following potential recruiters, key managers and companies. These members might have jobs to offer.
Start twittering: Follow the conversations and carefully start twittering. Start providing valuable info and then raise your questions about specific jobs that you are looking for. Be ready with a link to your resume upon request.
Job feeds: Follow industry-specific job feeds for finding job openings in your country and even in your region. Type ‘twitter job openings posting lists’ at Google.com
Using Facebook for a job search information
Facebook is not the site that is generally used by companies to look for prospective employees. However, there are several Facebook groups (like – employment) and other local area groups that you can join and find useful information about job openings.
