IT Hire Wire

Two years ago, after being laid off from my first post-college job, I began that frustrating journey on the path that many people travel, but few conquer: the search for the perfect job. Thankfully, after three frustrating months of informational interviews, day-long Starbucks sessions with my computer and a lot of mysterious interviewers who misplaced my phone number, I found the perfect job, or as close as it could be for a millenial.

What I discovered on this “journey” is that there is one tool that is vital during the job search: the Internet. That is not to say that the good-old fashioned days of networking (even using the telephone!) have passed, but with the ability to surf the web, the rules have changed. I realized while my parents were both brilliant people in their own respects, I needed to take charge of my job search and use the web to my advantage. Here are a couple of key bits of advice on using the web for your job search, based on my own experience:

Search engines are great, but sometimes, you got to go straight to the source!
I found many, many opportunities through job search engines including, careerbuilder.com and monster.com, but ultimately sometimes, you won’t find what you’re looking for unless you go straight to it. If you don’t find an opening from a company you’re interested in on a search engine, don’t get discouraged. Just go straight to the employers’ web site. Even if there isn’t an opening, you can submit your information to the right person.

Keep it small.
Use the job board filters to your advantage. Otherwise, you’ll end up being bogged down by jobs that you aren’t interested in. You’ll save yourself some time and frustration by narrowing your search.

Job alerts are your friend.
On most job boards, you’ll have the option to enter your preferences into an account and then have “job alerts” sent to your e-mail. Use these! I went on many job interviews through jobs I found in my job alerts. Think of it as letting the web do all the work for you, waking up from a fresh night’s sleep and having your job search completed for the day.

When in doubt, Google
How many times do you search for something in Google a day? Probably a lot, so don’t discount Google’s powers in finding your dream job. Just type in the exact job you’re looking for, and you might surprised at what comes up

photo by lolapaipro

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