The College People

Making The Most Of The Internet When Job Searching

Ah, the internet. Where would we be without it? It is hard to imagine that just twenty years ago, the internet was a tiny portion of the size it is now. We didn’t rely on it like we do presently, and many people weren’t even connected to it.

And the internet is an amazing resource that we cannot take for granted. By using the internet for a job search, we can take advantage of many more opportunities that could arise which we otherwise wouldn’t have known about.

You don’t need to go around and knock on people’s doors to ask for a job (although sometimes, this can help,) instead, you can check out company websites, contact their HR department with an email, and even use Skype if you are located some distance from the company’s location.

Here are some tips when using the internet to conduct your job search:

Narrow it down

There are thousands of jobs advertised on job sites online. The National Careers Service explains that to avoid checking through hundreds of vacancies, it is important to make your search as targeted as possible. So, try playing around with the search criteria. If location is important to you, make sure you reign in your job search for the nearest 10 miles, for instance. This can help you to locate vacancies that you know will be easy for you to travel to. If travelling isn’t a problem, or you are willing to re-locate for the perfect job, then put a specific search term or job title. Perhaps you want a specific salary; if this is the case, you can use the sliders on most job sites (reed.co.uk, monster.com, indeed.co.uk, etc) to find jobs with a specific salary on offer.

Then, widen it out…

Not finding anything with your search terms? There is also such a thing as being too specific. Start to widen your search criteria slightly and see if it yields any more results for you. Try and be flexible where you can. Of course, you don’t want to settle for a job that you really don’t want. However, by being too narrow minded, you could miss out on opportunities.

Look on Expert Online Career Sites

There are some great online services which you can use to gain access to expert advice. For example, tenminuteswith.co.uk is a site offering graduate jobs. They also offer expert opinion specifically for the industry that you wish to work in, making it easier for you to research the field you are interested in so that you can have a better chance of securing a job if you are invited to interview.

Set up Alerts

You can’t sit on your PC every hour of the day waiting for opportunities to come up. Set up alerts on various job sites which get sent to your email address. Link this email address onto your phone, so that you are able to see them as they come in. If you see something which catches your eye, you can jump on your PC to read about it in more detail and apply if you want to.