Using XML/RSS in Your Job Search

JobMetaSeek is the largest and most complete job search and career center on the Internet. If it is about jobs, or job hunting skills, you can find it here. We offer more than 100,000 links to all types of job and career resources for nearly every occupation, profession and industry. Take the Site Tour and see how this site can make any management, professional or executive job search more efficient and productive. In a nutshell RSS allows you to receive information from sites such as News or Job Boards without having to visit those sites each time you want an update. Not all web sites currently provide XML or RSS, but it is growing rapidly in popularity and many Job Sites and Career Boards do provide it.

What does it look like?

RSS is really just a standardized form of data based on XML. The data itself is processed by an RSS Reader or Aggregator into a human readable format like:

The real power of RSS aggregation is you can have all the feeds sent to one location. You can save a huge amount of time job hunting by sending all your favorite Job board feeds to one place.

What software do I need to use RSS?

In general, the first thing you need is something called an RSS Reader or Aggregator. There are many different versions, some of which are accessed using a browser, and some of which are downloadable applications. All allow you to display and subscribe to the RSS feeds you want. There are plenty on the market, some free, some commercial.

How do I get a News Reader?

There is a range of different news readers available and new versions are appearing all the time. Different news readers work on different operating systems, so you will need to consider this when you make your choice. To find a reader that fits your needs use your favorite search engine and search for “RSS readers.”

How do I add feeds?

Each product or service will have a similar way of adding feeds. It's pretty simple, you find a site that can provide an RSS feed, you copy their link which will normally be on an image which looks like this: . You paste the link into your RSS Reader. You can normally set how often your reader will check your feeds. When it comes to job sites it makes sense to have it check as frequently as possible, that way you stand a better chance at applying for a job early.

Build A Custom RSS Job Feed

If you want jobs specific to your needs, we have a useful method. Several Employment Sites have an extremely handy way of building feeds specific to your searches. Simply search or browse these sites in the normal way, and you will find an RSS link on the results page.

Lets say you searched a RSS Job Site for Human Resource Management positions in Dallas, TX and you didn't find anything that suited you. No problem! Simply paste the RSS link into your RSS reader and the site will inform you the instant a position matches your criteria. You can have as many of these feeds as you want so make sure that you have established custom feeds for all the possible combinations fitting your interests.

The RSS/XML Directory contains two categories and about 200 links. Several of the Job Meta Search Engines and the larger Career Sites offer XML services so most job seekers will find at least one or two sites that fit their requirements.