Like many things in life, your job search has been affected by the advancement of technology. By adopting these changes, you can greatly improve and speed up your ability to find a new employer. Fight against it and you will quickly find that your competition has quickly overtaken and outmaneuvered you. In today’s job market, you need to take advantage of all the advantages you can, including using the wide range of technology-based options available to you.
The Internet is a wealth of information, including tons of high-quality job search websites. Names like Monster and CareerBuilder are well known, and many newer niche job search websites continue to emerge. Introducing “job search” to Google returns over 1.4 billion hits! The real challenge is not finding the sites themselves, but sifting through all of them to find the few that will suit you and help you change your search.
Try some of the bigger/more popular sites first to get an idea of the number and type of jobs (or job search services) they offer. Also, talk to co-workers or friends and family and find out what they’ve used in the past and what they liked or didn’t like. Many people you know probably have experience using the Internet for job hunting. Learn from their experiences to improve your job search.
There are also national specialized job search sites. These websites are targeted at a specific group or industry (ie technical or sales positions). While these sites will likely have fewer job openings, for the specific job seeker they cater to, they are often a great resource for quickly finding potential suitable jobs.
One of the best methods of finding a job was networking with family, friends and former co-workers. In the past this was achieved by each person maintaining their own “human” network of people. This has changed with the popularity of social networking websites where people can collaborate and communicate with others anywhere in the world.
Millions of people belong to Facebook, making it one of the most popular social networks in the world. For job seekers, the fact that so many people belong to a website is an invaluable networking resource. While many people use this site to reconnect with old college classmates, a resourceful job seeker can also use it to connect with previous co-workers or managers. There are many pages on Facebook created with the sole purpose of making connections with previous co-workers at a particular employer. Even long-lost friends may have insight into job opportunities that you may not know about yourself.
Along with some of the more well-known sites (such as Facebook), there are also sites that focus exclusively on business networking. On these sites, networking with people who work in the industry or even the company you would like to work for can be an invaluable advantage over other people. These websites can offer you experiences and insights that you would be hard pressed to find on your own, especially if you are making a career change. As with any website, be careful where you go and who you communicate with, and protect your privacy.
There are also many smartphone and tablet apps that can help today’s job seeker. Using iTunes (or Amazon, etc.), you can find a wide variety of apps, including some of the big job search sites like CareerBuilder, Monster Beyond, or Craigslist, that match job search options from your mobile device. Other useful applications include those popular on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Other apps can help with resume writing etc, but overall the ones that notify you of new offers etc when you’re away from your computer seem to be the most useful. With the recent increase in new tablets (i.e. iPad, Kindle Fire) and technology, the options and offerings should only get better.
Use technology in your job search and improve your results!
