In the past, the only way to find a good job was to buy several newspapers, scour the classifieds for jobs that might be a good fit, then spend countless hours calling, mailing resumes, and going on endless interviews in order to find that perfect job. Now – there is a better way.
The internet has created a world of new and exciting ways to find a career. It is now possible to search thousands of jobs instantly, and send your resume off with the click of a button. Finding that perfect job is easier than ever, as long as you know where to look.
The first step is create a profile on job sites such as LinkedIn, Monster.com, Indeed.com and even facebook and Twitter. This will let your friends, co-workers and other contacts know that what you are looking for, and you would be surprised how useful using your own contacts can be!
After you have created your profiles, head on over to Monster.com and Indeed.com and search. Don’t be too specific in the keywords you search for. It’s better to use generic terms so that you can see the most jobs possible. If you use too specific of a search, you might miss the job that you are looking for. For example: Let’s say you are looking for a job as a first grade teacher. If you were to use the keywords “first grade techer”, you might miss an opening that is listed as ‘elementary school teacher’, or ‘grade school teacher’. You would be much better off just using the term ‘teacher’ to search, and see what comes up.
All of the search engines allow you to narrow your search by location, and this is extremely important to do. At first, narrow your search as close to home as possible, your own zip code is a great place to start. From there, slowly expand your search. The reason for doing this is that it’s easy to get overwhelmed if you search too broad of an area. There are thousands of job listings for each specific job type, and if you don’t narrow your search carefully – you could spend hours searching through jobs that aren’t even in your area.
When you do find a jon that you are interested in, don’t be too hasty when you respond. Take your time and make sure that the job does in fact fit your needs. Many people tend to just fire off a thousand resumes to any job that loosely fits what their looking for. When you rush off your responses, it shows. Take your time. Make sure that this is a job that you really want, and then put some effort into your application. Explain why you are a good fit for this job. Use search engines to find out more about the company, and use some of that information to make your application stand out. Employers get hundreds of applications for jobs, and if you spend 5 minutes making yours unique and stand out, it will put your application at the top of the list.
Above all else, don’t give up. Check the website of your local papers. Check the websites of companies that you wish to work for. Make sure to check for new postings every single day, and it won’t take long at all to find that perfect job.