Every day, it appears as though another job board is born. Whether or not you flock to some local employment site a treadmill from the "biggies," like Monster or CareerBuilder, theres something every one has in common; they protect the identity from the hiring managers and decision makers youre applying to.
Initially, this might appear to be no problem. Why does it matter whom you submit your resume to, right? Today, I want to show you why it matters just how you utilize a job board, and discuss the very best practices you are able to implement today, to make your entire job search process fine tuned.
Job Board Guidelines
1. A great source for employment leads.
webjobs
Employers spend lots of money to publish their jobs on these employment websites. Visit them regularly, and search for your next position, by keyword and placement. Sift through the outcomes to determine whether you need to submit your resume and cover letter. Seek information concerning the company, before applying.
2. Get new job postings emailed to you daily or weekly.
The aim here is to automate this task whenever possible. Go to your favorite job board, and check for the target position. On this web page, there will be a choice to have your research results delivered via email, or RSS feed. Based on your personal preferences, choose either the email or even the Feed option. Now you will have fresh job leads that match your specified search criteria.
3. Consider using an aggregator.
What am I talking about? An aggregator compiles the entries from all of the major job boards, and places them on a single website. The very best example, and the most popular aggregator is definitely.com. Why bother using Monster, Career Builder, and all others, when you can go to Indeed, perform a search, and have ALL results either emailed or sent through the RSS feed we previously mentioned. Now thats automation!
4. Avoid posting your resume.
Employers are moving away from paying to access the job board resume databases, because they can find quality candidates using the social networks, like LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, etc. If you wish to connect with the right hiring managers and recruiters who still access job boards, consider choosing the board that are experts in your niche. Of course, if you are currently working, you are able to seriously jeopardize your employment status by posting your resume on any job board, because your boss may be the one to think it is. Much more doubt - expect to target your employers; not the other way around.
5. Your first choice should always be to apply directly through an employers website.
Have you ever applied for employment on the major job boards, you realize theres usually no contact information provided. There may be some history concerning the company, although not nearly enough to determine you want to develop a career with this particular employer. Once you have determined what organization is hiring, immediately visit the corporate website. Find out around you are able to about the position, and the stability from the employer. When you apply via a job board, this is one additional layer your resume and contact information must go through, before reaching the desk from the decision maker. What if theres a technical failure? What if the job boards server is down for that short period of time when you are uploading your information? I recommend going right to the source, and applying directly through the hiring organizations website.
Regardless of how you slice it, the social networks are slowly taking the host to the task boards - just like the job boards took the area of the traditional classified advertising. While its still vital that you utilize employment and career websites like a supply of leads, they dwindle important in actually connecting with the decision makers.
