Using Employment Sites in Your Job Search

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Employment web sites have been the greatest advance in the field of recruiting since the creation of the resume. Since their first appearance on the World Wide Web, job boards and career portals have connected more organizations to more talent more efficiently than any other single medium in existence. Both employers and recruiters now consider these sites a critical component of their sourcing and recruiting strategy. Today, job boards and career portals serve virtually every profession, craft and trade, in every industry, in every country of the world.

Employment Site Services & Features
Access to employment opportunities and job postings in your hometown and around the world.

Private, automated notification by e-mail or RSS/XML of job openings that match your employment objective.

Information about effective job search techniques.

Resources for a successful job search, such as resume writing assistance, interviewing advice, salary and compensation information.

Links to additional job search and career management resources at other sites.

Skills for effective career self-management.

Resume databases to announce your availability to potential employers and recruiters

Selecting Employment Sites
With so many career related sites to choose from you really must find a way to narrow your focus. Most people check out the big Employment Super Sites, like Monster, Hot Jobs and CareerBuilder. But, they are not the only, or even always the best, place to look. Smaller, more focused sites can often be much more useful to you.

Specialized Industry or Occupation Employment Sites
These specialized sites focus on a specific niche, usually an industry, profession, or a combination of both. These sites are highly targeted toward the professionals of the specific industry it serves. The specialization means the site is smaller, fewer jobs and fewer resumes and less competition for the posted jobs. Some employers will only use these sites because they are usually less expensive than the Super Sites and their job postings don't get lost in the postings from other companies.

Regional and Local Employment Sites
There are also local and regional job sites that can be effective in finding a job in a specific location. Again, many of these sites include listings from local employers who may not be inclined to post on the major jobs sites.

These sites focus on a specific geographic area, usually a city or state. The upside on these is that the jobs should be located where you want to work. The downside is that there may not be thousands of jobs listed. Local and regional employers don't always post on the major jobs sites like Monster or Hot Jobs. Instead, they will advertise on their local employment site to avoid being overwhelmed with applicants and, often, because they are not interested in paying relocation costs.

Visiting a Super Site such as Monster and using the location filter, for example, Dallas, Texas will not result in the same results you get from using TexasJobs and using Dallas as your search criteria. Even if you are conducting a national job search it is worth visiting the regional and local sites.