EFFECTIVE USE OF INTERNET JOB BOARDS

With the advent of internet job boards and resume posting sites, the face of job search
has changed considerably.  While this presents an incredible opportunity for job seekers
of all professional and educational levels, it can also present problems for people who
don’t have knowledge of how these sites work and how the information is both
searched and presented to a potential employer or recruiter.

There are literally thousands of job boards to choose from.  While the most common
job board and resume posting sites, such as careerbuilder.com, monster.com, and
Yahoo! Jobs, offer a huge database of positions and millions of posted resumes, other
job boards and resume posting sites that are targeted to the needs of specific industries
and fields of expertise.  Some sites, for example, like are specifically for IT, HR,
Science, Biotechnology, Manufacturing, and other professionals, or cater to the upper
echelon of corporate job seekers, like dice.com, itjobs.com, biotechjobs.com, and
executivesonly.com.  Still others are designed to meet the needs of job seekers looking
for international employment.  A simple keyword search for job boards and resume
posting sites in your area of expertise should return a host of web sites that are suitable
for your particular needs.

The first thing you should do, when preparing yourself and your documents for an
online job search, is to make sure that your resume and cover letter are suitable for
copying and pasting into a text box or for sending in the body of an email.  If you
already have a professional prepared or self-written resume and cover letter you are
using, these documents should be converted to ASCII (text only) format with line
breaks set at no more than 60 spaces.  This will keep the resume in a readable form,
should a recruiter or potential employer decide to download and print or display your
resume for review. 

Next, you should be sure to start a list of job boards and resume posting sites that you
have or intend to submit your resume to.  Be sure to include all pertinent information,
such as the user ID and password for the site (you may not be able to use the same ID
and password for all sites), the date you first opened your user account, the site’s web
address (URL), the dates you last updated your information, and the keywords you used
when submitting your information.  For each job site that you submit to you should also
keep a record of the jobs you’ve applied for and inquiries you get, and what type of
response you received.  Please, feel free to save the following attachments to your
computer and print them for your personal use:  MY RESUME POSTINGS and JOB
BOARD AND POSTING RESULTS.

Now you’re ready to begin.  Go search the Internet and find the job sites that are most
suitable to your industry and professional level.  Follow the instructions on the
individual sites to submit and/or upload your resume and cover letter.  Select and set up
your job board notifications so you’ll receive regular emails with the newest jobs that
have been listed.  If you are serious about your job search, you should have new job
listings sent to you on a daily basis. 

You should spend at least 30 minutes reviewing and applying for positions that are
available.  In some cases, you may be required to create a user account and password,
and to post your resume, on company web sites in order to be able to apply for the job
listed.  If this is the case, it is often better to write down the company web address and
go back when you’ve finished your search and application process in order to complete
the application process.  It keeps you from losing your focus.

It is a good idea to only set up an account for one job board or resume posting site, each
day, for the first week.  If you try to sign up for too many in a day’s time you may get
overwhelmed and tired of inputting the same information over and over again and it is
important that you include all information for each and every site you post with, in
order for your accounts to be most effective.  Remember to explore and sign up with is
your state’s Department of Labor website, a resource that many people overlook during
their job search.   

Finally, once you have posted your resume to at least seven (7) sites, you should select a
day of the week to go back and update your information on each and every site that you
have posted to.  This is one of the most important steps you can take in conducting a
properly planned Internet job search.  In order for your posted resume to be effective,
you’ll need to keep your information at the top of the search lists.  Postings are
searched by employers and recruiters according to key words and according to the date
the resume was last updated.  If you haven’t updated your information in 10 or more
days, potential employers may not even see your documents.

One of the easiest ways to update your resume is to go into the text of the document you
have posted and remove a comma or period, save the page, then go back and replace
the deleted text and save it again.  While this may seem a very simple thing to do, it
has the effect appearing to the data’s query engine like a new resume and keeps your
information at the top of the search lists.

The other thing that is necessary, in order for an online job search to be effective is to
apply for jobs.  Just because you have your resume posted doesn’t mean your resume
will be seen by the employers that you would like to work for, in the positions that you
would like to have.  Most job boards have set up their pages so that you can “apply
now” just by the click of a mouse.  There are typically two responses you’ll get when
doing this.  Either you’ll be asked to submit your resume in the body of an e-mail or as
an email attachment, or you’ll be directed to a page where you can select the resume
and cover letter you want to include in your application, and an email or some other
type of submission will automatically be forwarded, containing this information, to the
person handling the job posting.

Many people make the mistake of thinking that once they have posted a resume on a
job board or resume posting site that that is all they need to do and they’ll soon have
interview offers flooding their email inboxes.  While this may be true for the first few
days, if you want to continue to have this type of response, you’ll have to keep your
resume and use accounts up to date and continue to apply for positions.

If you have found this information helpful or you have tried this strategy and it works
for you please do not hesitate to comment on the discussion board and send an email to
the author, at lea@gacareercenter.biz.