By Edward Johnson
Online job boards come with specific advantages. Search for employment at online job boards and you gain access to hundreds of jobs in a matter of minutes. Pay attention to salaries associated with specific jobs, and you could also discover pay ranges for jobs that interest you. Identifying responsibilities aligned with work roles, noticing the signs of a stable company versus a company that’s struggling to get a handle on its cash flows and getting an idea of how long a role has been open are other advantages you get access to when you search for employment using online job boards.
Bringing your dream job within reach
Those are the good points. Searching for quality employment at online job boards are brings challenges. For starters, you could spend hours, weeks or months applying for jobs that have already been filled. As hard as it might be to accept, some jobs listed at online boards are old, but remain up because recruiters haven’t gotten around to taking the job ads down yet.
That shared, there are steps you can take to boost your chances of getting jobs whether you use online employment boards or not. Be willing to revise your job cover letter, especially if you haven’t been hearing from recruiters. Other steps you can take include:
- Submit a cover letter with your resume. Edit the cover letter so that it’s unique to the specific job you’re applying for. At the least, include the name of the company and the position you’re applying for in the cover letter.
- Provide contact information (i.e. cell phone number, email address) on your resume and in your cover letter.
- Follow-up with a telephone call to recruiters. Don’t badger recruiters. That shared, a follow-up telephone call could set you apart.
- Ask recruiters why you didn’t get a role if you’re not hired. Listen to what recruiters share. Use this information to approach your next job search differently.
- Study companies and markets you’re applying for work in. It’s a turnoff to recruiters and hiring managers to find out that you don’t know anything about their firm or their industry.
- Consider working internships at companies you want to build a career at. Keep in touch with recruiters at companies you intern with. Definitely let the recruiters know when you’ll be graduating and apply for open roles when you see them at the company’s career boards.
- Contact former colleagues and hiring managers at companies you want to work at, requesting that they refer you for employment.
- Give employment agencies a chance. Just make sure that you work with reputable agencies.
- Search for quality employment every day until you get the job you really want.
- Attend corporate job fairs or recruiting events. These can yield better results than attending statewide or regional career fairs. You could also learn about higher paying jobs at corporate job fairs or recruiting events that are hosted by one to four firms.
- Keep your skills sharp. You can learn a lot by taking online training programs and by watching free training videos.
- Practice interviewing. On this point, you can learn new ways to interview each time you engage in a telephone or in-person job interview. From this perspective, no interview is a waste.
As with any tactic or strategy, monitor the results of your efforts. Pay attention to how many emails or telephone calls you receive from recruiters after you send them your job cover letter and resume. See if certain keywords attract different recruiters. Be open to making changes until you land the quality job that you really want, a job you’ll enjoy working for years.
