How to Use the Internet to Get Your Next Job

How to Use the Internet to Get Your Next Job

Contributor(s): Gore-Layton, Nikole (Author)

ISBN: 1601382391 EAN: 9781601382399

Having recruited and provided job search advice to college students for more than 30 years, I have observed many aspects of the process that have largely remained unchanged. The resume and interview continue to separate students into tiers. Employers continually seek the "cream of the crop," and their efforts to identify the best have not changed much.

The most significant change in the job search process over the last 10 years is the impact of the Internet on the recruiting process both for college students and employers.

I know that each student reading THE BLACK COLLEGIAN has significant experience in searching the Internet. By now, you realize the enormity of the resources on a vast array of topics. Here are some ideas on navigating the Web to help job seekers improve their chances of succeeding in the job search process.

Career Planning

You have access to interest and skills inventories to help you match your interests and skills. One paid resource is Careercruising.com, but you may well have free access to it or others through your career services office or state employment office, so ask your career advisor. Be honest when answering the questions since you want to present a true representation of your interests and skills. This inventory like many others will suggest 20 to 30 potential matches with jobs.

Explore numerous career options. Not only can you be looking at a job, but investigate qualifications, responsibilities and career paths. You can find people who do the job and what they say about it. Research what people say is exciting about the job, but also what a bad day is like.

Using Job Boards

In just one source titled "The Riley Guide," various job boards are listed, including faith-based organizations, Hispanic/Latino, African American, women, diversity and not-for-profit. Each has job postings pertaining to the targeted population and other useful information. For each board, you can search for jobs, post resumes, review employer profiles, and access career management tools including a job agent which can notify you of new jobs as soon as they become available. Also, valuable listings are separated by industry, such as healthcare, education, banking, pharmaceutical and retail.

Another grouping exists for specific job types, such as nursing, finance, investment banking, secondary ducation, and hundreds more.

Specific Employer Information

One of the most important questions of any interview is, "Why do you want to work for our company?" Your answer for each company is on their website. I encourage each of my students to have three specific reasons why they want to work for a specific company. Employers are very good about taking the time and space to promote themselves and answer this question for you. Companies believe they are different from their competitors-if you wish to work for them and impress them during the interview, you need to articulate the differences. The wrong answer to the question "Why us?" is "You are a large company, you are a bank, and you are located in Chicago." JPMorgan Chase, BankofAmerica, Northern Trust and many others all meet this description. Your answer will not impress the recruiter and will not earn a job offer.

Regional Information

Online jobs are often listed by region of the U.S., then by state, and then by city to make it easier for the job seeker.

Additionally, valuable information about the location can be found online, such as the cost of living, industry growth, weather and professional organizations in the area.

Developing Your Personal Job Search Strategy Using the Internet

* Start by doing an interest inventory to identify potential careers or verify the career that you had begun pursuing.
* Gather as much information as you can about the career options that you are pursuing-remember, you want to know more than the other job seekers. Go beneath the surface. Talk to people who do the job. Get on blogs where professionals discuss all aspects of the job.
* Post your resume on job boards such as THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online, Monster, Career Builder, and USA Jobs (the job board for virtually all federal government agencies).
* Investigate "verticals," which are resources that gather jobs from many newspapers, other search engines and other resources. "Simply Hired" boasts that it has access to more than 6 million jobs. "Indeed" is another such a goldmine for job leads and information.
* Seek out job boards consistent with your career-DMA-Jobs (Direct Marketing Association) for marketing majors; Social Psychology Network for psychology and sociology majors; hemistryjobs.com for chemistry majors; Nursingjobs.org for nursing majors; and Teachers.net for teaching positions. The benefit is that there is a multitude of job boards in each of these fields. One thing to keep in mind: Do not list your name and resume with every site in your field; what will an employer think if they see your resume listed on six different sites? While you want to find a job, no employer wants to hire someone who appears to be in a desperate situation.
* Use "job agents" offered on many of these job boards. You can ask the board through this job agent to notify you when a specific kind of job is newly added. This request can be for a specific geographic location, employer or job title, or for opportunities that contain keywords such as "programming" or "research." The advantage here is that you hear of the position before thousands of other job seekers. Then, you must act on it immediately or lose your advantage of early notice. This also assumes that you check your email daily. To this point, your job search has been reactive. Now let's get proactive. My final suggestion is going to allow you to separate yourself from 96 percent of the other job seekers.
* Start by identifying 20 employers that you really want to work for. Go to each company's website for jobs. It may take some time while you are navigating the site for the first time. When you find the area for jobs that you are interested in, bookmark the site. Now do it for the other 19. While this research will take a while the first time, the benefit is that each week, you can use your bookmarks to check each company's site in minutes! Keep in mind that the employer will usually list jobs on their own site first before posting it to the external world. The advantage for you is applying before 96 percent of the other job seekers see it. Your cover letter and resume have already been received and you could get an interview before others see the job. Or, better yet, it may never be posted externally if you can get the job. Once completed, add 10, 20 or 30 more target employers that you want to work for.
* Complete a target mailing of your resume and cover letter to employers that you wish to work for, even if there is no job opening. The strategy here is that employers that do not have a publicized job listing are not attracting large numbers of resumes. Target your cover letter to someone by name so you can follow up by phone. Your in-depth research into companies will ultimately reveal names and titles of key contacts. Avoid human resources staff or recruiters - they do not return phone calls. I know because I used to be one of these recruiters.

Now, go out and use the vast resources of the Internet to get valuable information, learn about job leads, execute your job search and get your next job offer.



Lee Junkans, currently the Director of the Career Development Center at Chicago State University, has spent 11 years as a corporate recruiter including eight years managing a college recruiting program for a Fortune 100 company. Over the last 23 years he directed career centers at major universities including Duke University and the University of Notre Dame.

Paperback

2010

Careers | Job Hunting
288 pages

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