Find a great job with these job search engines
Job searching as a college student or recent graduate can seem arduous and difficult, especially if you’re not sure what you’re looking for yet—or how to find it. Luckily, the plethora of job search engines out there means that it’s easier than ever to find great jobs and make important connections at your dream companies, all from the comfort of your home computer. This overview will clue you in to the biggest, best, and newest up-and-coming job search engines out there to make your job search easier and more effective.
Let’s start with SimplyHired, Indeed, CareerBuilder and Monster. These four sites are probably the biggest job search engines out there, with complex keyword search features, value-added content like blogs and job search checklists and the ability to save your searches, receive alerts and even create your own profile and resume so employers can search for you. No job search should fail to include these search engines. And although it’s not very feature-rich, you should also use your local Craigslist and newspapers to find job listings. You never know what you’ll find and, in some cities, there are hundreds of new posts a day!
Next up is LinkedIn, which has a powerful job search feature built into its website. (By the way, if you’re not on LinkedIn, make sure to sign-up—it is the best place to position yourself as a candidate, catch up on industry and company-specific news and become more visible to employers).
You can also use your LinkedIn login and tap into Jibe, a job search engine that leverages your Facebook and LinkedIn connections to help you find jobs at top companies that you’re already connected with through those social media sites. A lot of the newer search engines leverage all the information you give out on those sites to help deliver a personalized experience – and yes, you can opt out of sharing everything if privacy is a concern!
Current students and grads can benefit from engines catering to them, like iGrad Job Genius, a job search engine created especially for students and recent graduates, with the option to search exclusively for entry-level jobs or internships. And membership (to view premium listings) is completely free. While you search, you can drag and drop your ideal jobs into the “Resume Optimizer” so you can start optimizing your resume with keywords that head hunters, recruiters and scanners use to locate candidates.
If you’re not ready for a full-time job, or want to juggle a few things at a time, FlexJobs is a professional search engine for people who are looking for flexible hours, telecommuting jobs, part-time jobs and more. There are also boatloads of extra features for members, like career aptitude tests, blogs, the ability to upload multiple candidate profiles, etc.
LinkUp is another unique resource for job searchers because, rather than search all the “pay-to-post” boards, it searches actual companies’ websites for job listings—over 20,000 companies, in fact. There is also Yoomly, a job search engine that lets you create a cool profile that specifies, among other things, your minimum hourly salary. Jobfox is another great choice. The Jobfox engine uses its proprietary Jobfox Mutual Suitability System™ Q&A to match you with opportunities that fit your unique skills, needs, and wants, giving you a closer fit in your search results.
Finally, there are also job search engines that target specific careers, fields or job types. There are too many to name here, but to point out just two, Mashable’s job board focuses on social media and web jobs, from software development to marketing jobs, and USAJOBS.gov lets you search all available federal government jobs.
Having your resume and profile up-to-date on several of the job search engines can be a great way to automate your career search. Don’t forget to sign up for keyword alerts, too—that way, you’ll never be last in line to apply for your dream job!
Unsure of what to wear for an interview? Find out in our lifestyle section!