Job Search Pitfalls
Does the following scenario sound familiar?if you pick my job board, I have millions of jobs and will post your resume for all to see. You will have unlimited choices and your resume will visit foreign countries too. Pick me and you will find your dream job. Pick me and for an additional fee your resume will be better, stronger, and able to leap a tall building in a single leap. Pick me and please be sure to include your life history, the names of your children, and your private information unrelated to your job search.
Does that sound familiar? The world of
online job boards is an essential tool in your job search but beware of the pitfalls.
Let's take a look, for a moment, into my online
job search. I log onto the internet and I type in the magic word ?jobs? and in a flash a list appears with thousands of job boards with links saying pick me. Makes me kind of wonder, how many of them are paid to be first thing I see. Well anyway, I don?t know how many pages I need to surf to see the millions of jobs I was promised, mostly because after about six pages I was dizzy, clueless and no further ahead than when I started. The outcome of my short search? Well first off, I have no idea how an online University has all of my information already filled in and I just need to click yes. Not to mention there are so many banners ads for one thing or another that I am not sure where to go; sometimes less is more. So I asked myself, what do I need a job board to do? My answer: to help me find a job. Better yet help me find the right job.
I don?t need to find a million jobs or jobs in cities I do live in nor am I planning to relocate to; jobs that I am not qualified for or jobs that no longer exist. And I sure don?t need my resume to be viewed in a foreign country since I can?t commute from here to there and I don?t plan on moving abroad anytime soon. But here are some things I do need from an online job board:
- Quick and easy navigation to what maters, like job search for example. Duh.
- Quick and easy job searches via keyword/s and location (city/state and zip) with type assist for people like me who are spelling challenged and can never remember their zip code and since viewing job listings in Portland, Maine when I lived in Portland, Oregon ? well thats not cutting it.
- Clutter free and easy to read job listings.
- Information about jobs, resumes, and interview tips. I can live without the infomercials just information I can really use and relate to.
- The flexibility to upload my resume as a word file or PDF (protects my information) or cut and paste as a text file. Also the ability to update my resume on the fly, as necessary is a plus.
- Tools to manage my job search ? jobs applied for, resume views, and my messages.
- Keeping me up date on current opening by enabling text message alerts. I can even text a job to a friend. Saves me time. I?ll take that.
With all these tools to get and keep me going, you are best positioned for success in your job search.