by Alesia Benedict, CPRW, JCTC
Technology is embedded in our daily lives and should be an integral part of your job search! The time you spend planning how to use technology will pay off in results and will help you feel more in control of the resources available on the Internet. Simple changes to your use of search engines, company websites, and email alerts can make your job search more efficient and effective.
Company Websites
Corporate websites are a valuable resource for your job search in many different ways. You can conduct traditional research to help you learn more about the company in preparation for the interview. You can also tailor your cover letter by discovering the name and title of the person with whom you’ll be interviewing.
In addition, company websites can be an excellent source of job postings. Links to these postings typically have headings such as “Employment” or “Jobs.” However, even if no obvious links are listed, you can use search engines to find openings with companies of interest to you. Use the format below with search engines such as Google, Yahoo, or Bing to expand your search.
- company name.com jobs
- company name.com careers
If uncertain about a specific company, you can also search by job title:
- (job title) : jobs
- Project manager : jobs
To limit your search to a certain geographic region, simply add in the location:
- (job title) : jobs New York
- Project manager : jobs New York
If your search still yields no results, there may not be any openings at this time or the company may be using one of the major job posting sites instead. If all else fails, you can obtain contact information from the corporate website and pick up the phone to call HR and inquire about current openings.
Job Posting Sites
Searching each individual job posting site can become quite time consuming. To take advantage of technology, you can use search engines to find the openings for you on major job sites as well as more obscure listings. Target your search to a particular position or skill set, and you are likely to discover listings that may be hidden to the competition.
The search terms you use will be similar to the examples for individual companies as noted above:
- position title apply
- nurse administrator apply
Effective Searches
Search engines are only able to be as effective as the ways in which we use them. To increase the effectiveness of your search, you may need to try different strategies. Some basic tips to improve your searches include:
- Vary the search terms you use by trying both singular and plural terms (e.g., job and jobs) or using acronyms as well as spelling out company names.
- Switch the order of terms. Try Nurse Administrator and Administrative Nurse.
- Broaden or narrow your search by excluding quotation marks or using them to include only exact phrases, such as “executive-level chef.”
- Search engines sometimes include a “similar” designation at the end of each entry returned in your search. Clicking on that link will give you additional entries that are “similar” to your search terms, thus broadening your search results with little additional effort on your part.
- Once you land your interview, you can also use online maps to help you find the location of the company even if you have never been there.
Email Alerts
One sign of a successful job search is that your inbox is going to be full! A great problem to have, but an overflowing inbox presents its own set of problems. You don’t want to miss the email asking you to schedule an initial phone or Skype interview.
Each email system is different, but most have options available to flag or redirect email about certain subjects or from specific sources into a separate file. You can set up a folder labeled “Jobs” and create a message rule to automatically move any correspondence from job posting sites or specific companies into that folder. While this extra step does ad a bit of time, it definitely pays off by keeping you on top of critical job search messages.
Using technology to streamline your job search is an effective time management tool that may also give you job leads that the competition hasn’t been able to find. Being able to find those hidden jobs will give you the advantage in today’s job market. Add technology to your job search arsenal and take advantage of the information at your fingertips to make your job search pay off!