Your Online Job Search By Susan P. Joyce The good news is that there is plenty of very good (free!) information and assistance available to help you find your next job. The bad news is that it will take time to sift through all of it to find what works for you. But, you can, and you will! Let's get started (below)! First, bookmark this page (or save it as a Favorite) so that you can easily return, and continue reading. The links below will take you to tutorials, articles, and many other Web sites, so you may find yourself "lost" when you try to come back. Advertisement Three Stages of a Job Search: Part 1 - Preparation - the 8-steps that lay the foundation for an efficient and successful job search. Skipping this foundation step can make your job search substantially lengthen the time it takes you to find a job. Part 2 - Implementation - a 5-step process to find your next job. Part 3 - Suspension/Maintenance - after you land your new job, you can suspend your search efforts, but don't shut down completely. Stay active on LinkedIn, and keep your network alive to help your succeed in your job. It will be much easier to re-start the next time if your Profile is up-to-date, you are active on LinkedIn, and your network is still "warm." Next, Get Comfortable with Your Computer and Being Online. You won't spend all your time in front of your computer (and you really shouldn't!), but you need to feel comfortable. It may also increase your job market "value" and market competitiveness. Need help or practice? Try these: The Ohio State University Library's net TUTOR provides excellent information if you are just getting started, use the Internet only for email or music, or are just a little rusty. It covers everything from how search engines work to using email, social networks and e-books plus how to search and how to evaluate Websites. Great starting point! Doing e-mail properly is more important to you now than ever before because it's frequently how you will introduce yourself to a potential employer. Read Job-Hunt's "Effective E-mail" and "Avoiding Spam Filters" articles for tips on making e-mail work for your job search. To help you with other business research issues, in addition to company research, see Job-Hunt's Guide to Company Research, written by genuine experts in online research. Note: Be sure to purchase and install anti-virus and anti-malware software for your computer, and be sure to keep it up to date. Most antivirus software comes with an update subscription that needs to be renewed annually, well worth the price! An e-mailed resume with a computer virus attached won't be read and won't make a good impression, so keep your computer virus-free and malware-free. You will survive this process, and you will succeed at finding a great new job! If you're lucky, you will also learn a lot about yourself and make a bunch of new friends in the process. Now, go for it!! Good luck with your job search! NEXT: Step 1 - Preparing for Your Job Search For more great information every week, sign up to receive our newsletter! About the author... Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. A veteran of the United States Marine Corps and a recent Visiting Scholar at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. Since 1998, Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt.org. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg and on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+. By Susan P. Joyce [This is Step 1 in Part 2 of Job-Hunt's Online Job Search Tutorial.] These tasks that will focus your job search activities for success. Do NOT skip Part 1, Starting Your Job Search! Skipping the important tasks in Part 1 will not save you time. Rather, your job search will be longer than it needs to be because it won't have a solid foundation and direction. Now you shift your focus to the real work of your job search. 1. Choose Your Target Employers, Research Them, and Plan Your Approach At the end of Part 1, you shopped for employers. Now, focus on those employers. Your employer list can have 10, 20, 50, or more employers on it. Initially, focus on the 5 or 10 who are your top choices. Learn about their products and services, their locations, their people, their plans, their finances, etc. LinkedIn Company Profiles plus your LinkedIn Connections can be a very big help. See Job-Hunt's free Guide to Company Research for how-to information. And, of course, Google can be a big help, too (see 50 Google Searches to Avoid Layoffs and Weak Employers). This information you find will be useful for: Networking into the organization. Identifying opportunities, hopefully before others find out about them. Customizing your resumes and cover letters. Impressing interviewers with your knowledge of the organization in job interviews. Helping you develop good questions to ask in job interviews. Assisting you in determining which part of the organization would be best for you. Eliminating employers who turn out not to be as good as you initially thought. Using your job search tracking system (see Step 3 of Part 2, below), and plan your job search campaign. Through your network (off-line as well as online), find the people who work at the target employer and reach out to them. Do NOT bluntly ask if they know of any jobs open, unless you know them really well. Read Job-Hunt's free Guide to Job Search Networking and Guide to LinkedIn for Job Search for more tips, and see 7 below for more resources. 2. Shift Your Networking into High Gear With your list of target employers, focus your networking efforts on reaching them. Use your personal network, LinkedIn, Google, Twitter, and all your other sources of connections. Data and people tell us that networking is THE way a successful job search ends for most successful job seekers. Yes, you will hear stories and know a few people who found a job through CareerBuilder or Monster. That definitely happens, but it is estimated to happen less than 10% of the time. Every year, the # 1 way employers fill jobs is through employee referrals. An employee knows someone who would be a good fit for the employer, and they hand the resume to the hiring manager or the recruiter. The new employee lands a job, and the employee who made the referral is usually rewarded with $$$ by the employer. A win/win! So start reaching out to your network and expand your network.If you belong to a professional association, look for a "career center" (or something similar) on the association's Website, or go to a few meetings to see if you can connect with other job seekers. Read the excellent series of articles in Job-Hunt's free Guide to Job Search Networking, including the tools and tactics to help you succeed, written by experts. Job-Hunt's free Guide to Social Media & Job Search contains a series of articles to help you understand and leverage the emerging social networks like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. Check the LinkedIn and Facebook Groups, too, for wonderful ways to connect and re-connect with people in your profession, industry, or past (and future!), like Job-Hunt's Job-Hunt Help LinkedIn Group. 3. Increase Personal Branding, Personal SEO, and Online Reputation Management Efforts Your best tools: LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter As mentioned in Part 1, without a solid LinkedIn Profile and smart activities on LinkedIn, you are at an increasing disadvantage in the job marketplace. In 2012, a Jobvite recruiting study has shown that 92% of recruiters are using LinkedIn and other social media for recruiting. Can you afford to be invisible for all those recruiters? No, you really can't. For ideas: For concrete suggestions on personal branding, read Job-Hunt's free Guide to Personal Branding. Also, download the free Job-Hunt ebook, Executive Branding and Your LinkedIn Profile for more ideas, even if you're not an "executive." Job-Hunt's Social Media & Job Search Experts offer excellent ideas for leveraging the social networks for your job search including LinkedIn (a must!), Twitter (really!), and Facebook. Learn how to effectively practice personal SEO, an essential skill today. Read Job-Hunt's free Guide to Personal SEO for Job Search and Careers, including Add Misspellings to Your LinkedIn Profile for ideas on how to be found if you have an uncommon name, have changed your name (via marriage or some other method), or have a name that is just often misspelled. 4. Select a FEW Job Sites to Use It has been estimated that there are 80,000 Web job sites. And there are thousands of other sites that have job openings - company Web sites, professional association websites, Chamber of Commerce websites, college alumni/ae websites, etc. That's more options than you could probably use in a lifetime! How do you navigate through all of this to your new job? Pick the ones that are best for you - that have the jobs and employers you want in the locations you want. 1. Finding the Jobs Read this article to learn about all the many places that jobs are listed, and the advantages and disadvantages of each. You'll want to check them all out to find the ones that work best for you. 2. Choosing a Job Site Don't post your resume or leave a profile on any site until you have read this article. Not every job site is a good, or even a safe, place for you to post your resume or to leave contact information! So, learn how to spot an unsafe site before you get started. 3. Using Web Job Sites Then, read Job-Hunt's article to see how Web job sites usually work, what services to use and what services to avoid. 4. Watch Out for the Scams Take this quiz and then read the answers to see how well you can spot the job scams. On the Internet, even on otherwise trustworthy sites, you will find that bogus jobs have been posted by bogus employers. Be careful! 5. Dirty Dozen Online Job Search Mistakes Job-Hunt's famous list of pitfalls (with some solutions, too). 5. Carefully Apply for Jobs This is the step that ruins many opportunities - sloppy job applications and poor job interview performance based on limited preparation. Employers are buried under with resumes and job applications for every job they post. This is why customizing your resume and cover letter for each opportunity is critical, as discussed earlier. Your focus on a limited number of employers will make the customization easier to accomplish. For more excellent research ideas, read Job-Hunt's free Guide to Company Research. Then, check the employer's website. Again! Look for news or new announcements. 6. Thoroughly Prepare for Interviews An invitation to an interview is not a guarantee of a job offer. It's an opportunity to impress the employer and to gain sufficient information to determine if the job and employer are right for you. Be prepared to succeed by reading the articles in Job-Hunt's Guide to Successful Interviews like: How to Answer the Most Common Job Interview Questions The Top 4 Job Interview Success Tips 45 Good Questions to Ask in Job Interviews 45 Questions You Should NOT Ask in a Job Interview 10 Deadly Job Interview Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them) How to Interview for a Temporary Job How to Handle Telephone Interviews How to Handle Lunch Interviews 5 Tips to Ace Your Skype Job Interview Smart Research: Check Out the Hiring Manager The Winning Difference: Pre-Interview Preparation There are many more helpful articles to assist you in preparing for interviews and completing them successfully. 7. Follow Up Relentlessly and Politely (Online and Off-line) Follow up tells the potential employer that you really are interested in working for them. When you have identified a job you want or a company you want to work for, customize your resume for the opportunity and send it, with a targeted cover email message, to the recruiter and hiring manager. Follow up using paper and a postage stamp. Don't assume that every e-mail message you send is received and read! Currently, spam (bulk unsolicited commercial e-mail) and computer virus-generated messages in circulation comprise an estimated 90% of all e-mail traffic. Companies and people have responded to this deluge of junk e-mail by using filtering software in an attempt to separate the "good" mail from the "bad." So your message and resume may be deleted or diverted by one of these electronic gate keepers. See Job-Hunt's articles on successfully using email for job search. Following up via phone and "snail mail" is a necessity. Be politely persistent. Immediately send a unique thank you after an interview to each person who interviewed you . It makes a big impression since fewer than 5% of job seekers bother with this step. If you are rejected, further distinguish yourself from run-of-the-mill job seekers by sending a thank you for the dreaded thanks-but-no-thanks rejection letter, when you receive one from an employer you really liked. Sometimes the person hired doesn't work out, and the person who sent the thank you after being rejected gets the offer next. See Job-Hunt's article on Turning Rejection into Opportunity - it definitely works! See Job-Hunt's Pro-Active Job Search article for more ideas. 7. Spend More Time OFF-Line than ON-Line >> Off-Line Is Where the Jobs REALLY Are! The Internet is an awesome information source, but think of it as a "tool" in your job search toolbox. You will be hired by a person who will probably want to meet you and talk with you before offering you a job. So, use the Internet's vast information resources to help you, but don't limit your efforts to this on- line world. Reality is that the vast majority of jobs (estimated at 75% or 80% of them!) are NOT posted on a Web site or even advertised in your local newspaper. They are never advertised at all! These jobs comprise "The Hidden Job Market." The people hired in the Hidden Job Market jobs are known to the organization before a job opportunity has been documented or, sometimes, even recognized. They are the "friends of the friends" of the hiring manager or of another employee. Don't be discouraged! You can find those jobs, and the Internet can help you get started. Your personal network is one of the best ways to find that next job (and the job after that, and the job after that!). Read Job-Hunt's Guide to Job Search Networking and the "Tapping the Hidden Job Market" articles for ideas and information. Millions of people are job hunting right now. We have some recommendations for how you can Stand Out From the Crowd. And, you've probably heard this message hundreds of times, because it's true, back to the first task on this page - networking is the most effective way to find a job. Implementing Your Job Search, Finding Jobs Online Today [This is Step 2 in Part 2 of Job-Hunt's Online Job Search Tutorial.] So, where do you find the jobs NOW? Even if you had a successful job search 2 years ago, don't assume that what worked then will work now. Spending your time polishing your resume and then applying for every job you find with that resume does NOT work today for most job seekers. Technology is rapidly changing -- used a pay phone, a BlackBerry, or a paper map recently? Those changes have a very big impact on how recruiters recruit. And, changes in recruiting dramatically change effective job search strategies. [MORE: 5 Ways to Land Your New Job Faster.] Today, it is very easy to get overwhelmed with options when you are searching online for a new job. To avoid wasting your valuable time and energy searching for job postings, start here: Focus Your Job Search Choose a target job and target employers where you would like to work, and focus your efforts on that job and those employers. Unfocused job seekers apply for anything and everything. Consequently, they train employers, resume databases, and applicant tracking systems to ignore them. FACT: You are spinning your wheels and wasting your time until you focus on a particular kind of job and a group of target employers. You are not, as many believe, increasing your options by being vague and generic in your approach to your job search. If you don't know the job you want, you will have a much more challenging job search. Read 9 Steps to a Shorter Job Search and Successful Elevator Pitch in 7 Steps from WorkCoachCafe.com. Unless You Are Qualified, Don't Waste Time Clicking the "Apply" Button Fewer than 20% of jobs are filled by someone responding to a job posting, although many job seekers focus all of their efforts on applying for every job posting they find. FACT: Recruiters use the term -- "resume spammers" -- to describe people who apply for every job they find. Resume spammers are ignored. Don't be one! Because of the very large number of applications usually submitted by unqualified applicants in response to most posted jobs, job postings are NOT employers favorite way to fill jobs now -- too many resume spammers. Be "Find-able" Online Being find-able online is essential today for two very important reasons: 1. Recruiters will find you when they search online for qualified candidates. Because of resume spammers, searching for qualified job candidates is an employer's favorite way to fill jobs. Called "sourcing" it is also often the quickest way to identify good candidates. When you are appropriately visible online, employers searching for qualified job candidates will find you, particularly on LinkedIn. When you know what you want to do next, preferably with a list of 10 to 100 target employers, you will be able to focus your online visibility on the right keywords in the right places. Those right places include: Your LinkedIn Profile and other activities on LinkedIn (your LinkedIn Updates and LinkedIn Group activities). Your other social media visibility, like Twitter and Facebook. Your resume and job applications. If you spend time applying for jobs online, customize the application or resume you submit so it includes the keywords used in the job description that are appropriate for you. 2. Recruiters will be able to verify the facts on your resume or application and to get a sense of your "fit" with their organization. Without appropriate online visibility, you are effectively invisible. And that makes your job search longer and more difficult because... Recruiters and employers are generally suspicious of invisible people, assuming that the invisibility is because the person is out-of-date (no understanding of how to use the Internet for business) or has something to hide. Neither of those assumptions will help your job search succeed. Research has shown that more than 80% of employers and recruiters search the Internet to learn more about you before seriously considering you for a job or inviting you in to an interview. If they can't find you, you are usually not considered for their jobs. Read Get "Sourced" to Get Hired, and Job-Hunt's Guide to Personal Search Engine Optimization and Guide to Personal Online Reputation Management for more details. The 10 Best Sources of Jobs Assuming that you know what you want to do and where you want to do it, you'll find millions of jobs posted online. Start with 1, and go through the whole list. Some will work better for you than others, but don't spend more than 20% of your valuable time completing online job applications: 1. Networking No one wants to read this advice, but networking is the quickest way to a new job. Networking doesn't mean attending events in big rooms full of strangers! Networking means staying in touch with people you know, and meeting new people. I've seen people connect with new jobs at a funeral, and they also connect at football games or over coffee with friends. You are five (5) times more likely to be hired if you have been referred by an employee than if you apply without knowing anyone. Employers really prefer to hire someone known to a current employee than a complete stranger off the street. Connecting with people at your target employers or choosing to work for an employer because you already have friends or family who work there is the most effective method of landing a new job. 2. Employer Websites Visiting your target employers' websites and finding the jobs posted there is a clear option. Often, you will find a link to "Current Jobs" on the home page. Sometimes, the link to job postings is labelled "Careers." While you are on the employer's website, you may be able to sign up to have new jobs sent to you. Check out the employers' sites so you are familiar with what they do (products, services, senior management, locations, etc.), and use that information you collect in your interactions with the employer. 3. LinkedIn LinkedIn is currently the most powerful and effective professional social network. LinkedIn also has job postings (see the "jobs" link below the search bar at the top of every page). Also check out the Jobs tab in LinkedIn Groups (you can join up to 100), and the company profile pages for your target employers. LinkedIn is one of the best online venues for connecting with people who work at your target employers (and who worked there in the past). Use it to vet the employer, too. You can use the "company page follow" to stay up-to- date with what is going on, including members of your network who work for that employer and job postings. And, of course, you will find jobs posted on LinkedIn, too. 4. Job Aggregators The aggregators are powerful and very useful, including sites like Indeed.com, a Job-Hunt sponsor, which is the largest source of job postings in the world, aggregated (collected) from employer websites, job boards, association websites, publications, and more. Indeed and the other aggregators like LinkUp.com show you job listings. When you click on a job listing, the link takes you to the job source which can be an employer, a job board, another website, or the job posted on the aggregator's site. Jobs posted on Craigslist sites aren't usually included in an aggregator's site unless the employer cross-posts the job. 5. Social Media In addition to LinkedIn, job postings are available through both Twitter and Facebook. In Twitter, follow your target employers' Twitter accounts for news and look for a Twitter account for jobs, too. Many employers also have Facebook pages for both marketing and, often, also for recruiting. 6. Job Boards Job boards are still very popular, but, as employers have increased their recruiting on their own websites and as the aggregators have made those jobs more visible, the general job boards are perhaps not as effective as they once were. Look for niche boards like Dice.com (for IT) and Idealist.org (for nonprofits). Be careful to avoid the imitation/scam job boards that exist to collect your personal information but offer you no benefit. [Related: Guide to Avoiding Online Job Scams] 7. Recruiters, Staffing Firms, & Head Hunters Recruiters are the traffic cops in the process of hiring people. They can help or hurt you. The important thing to remember is that they don't work for you. They work for the employer. [Related: Working with Recruiters] 8. Classified Ads Online classified ads, particularly on sites like Craigslist.org, can be very effective for job search because they are very low cost to use, and free in many locations. That low cost attracts small employers who can't easily post jobs on their own websites. But, do be cautious! Because the price of posting is very low or nonexistent, scams are posted. [Related: Using Craigslist to Find a Job] 9. Associations and Alumni Groups Associations and school alumni groups are very effective for networking, and often their websites have job postings for members. If you have worked for an employer in the past, look for an "alumni group" for that employer. You'll find many ways to connect with other alumni -- both school and corporate -- in LinkedIn Groups. [Related: How to Engage More Recruiters and Employers with LinkedIn Groups.] 10. Google Google has many hidden talents plus excellent tools for finding job postings as well as helping you with your job search in many other ways. This is a list of the top sources of job postings online, roughly in order of the number of job postings available. Do remember the job postings may not be your quickest way to a new job. Direct/Offline Can Work Well for Local Small Businesses If you want to work at the local mall or in the local McDonald's restaurant, go to that business and ask for an employment application to complete. Dress nicely, be polite, and complete the form neatly and legibly, and you'll probably end up with at least an interview the next time there is a job opening. Lastly, Be Careful Out There! When you are looking at job postings, be sure to keep in mind that many scams are published on all job posting sources. So, you need to be relatively cautious and skeptical about applying for jobs you find online. Read 9 Characteristics of a Job Scam for more information. If you currently have a job, be sure to keep a low profile for your job search so you don't get fired (YES, they can fire you for job hunting in the USA!). Check Job-Hunt's Guide to Stealth Job Search. Remember - no matter what Website you are visiting, even one listed in Job- Hunt, be sure to protect your privacy, watch out for scams, and avoid the Dirty Dozen Online Job Search Mistakes as well as the Dirty Dozen Dangerous Assumptions! NEXT: Step 2 - Keeping Track of Your Activities For more great information every week, sign up to receive our newsletter! About the author... Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. A veteran of the United States Marine Corps and a recent Visiting Scholar at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. Since 1998, Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt.org. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg and on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+.