ALT-2 Assessing the Efficiency of Job Search Websites
A bright young woman I know recently went from having no job to having three! She had suddenly lost her long-term position as a bookkeeper and accountant after a personality clash with the new manager of the company she'd been with for years. With a mortgage and a new car payment, she had been losing hope of being able to manage. When I spoke with her last winter, her prospects were bleak, and she was feeling depressed.
She had been depending on tips from friends and word-of-mouth references for her job-search, relying heavily on her professional reputation and friends' knowledge of her capabilities. It wasn't paying off. She turned to the Internet and job-search web sites, and soon she was juggling her work schedule! The listings made her aware of how many businesses were looking for top-notch, experienced bookkeepers.
Her hours, fortunately, could be arranged because of flexible schedules for the jobs she found, and she needed the extra income to catch up on bills after her extended unemployment. When we spoke again a few months later, she was doing very well and had found work that both suited her skills and her goals. One of the positions included a beautiful working environment in a rural area that she described as we talked. The turn-around, according to her, was when she began looking online for employment opportunities.
Comparing the various job-search web sites this week, I've seen how valuable they can be. They offer options within driving distance from home and are a great way to find a job or career match, especially for people with specific job skills. The frustration and disappointment of newspaper ads that have already been filled, hours of resume tweaking and submissions by mail, putting in applications at various establishments, and tips that don't pan out are all things that lead to discouragement.
But the efficiency of web sites that match employers with people to fill vacancies in the workplace is sometimes underestimated. The search can be handled so much more productively through these job-search web sites. Use more than one site if you're not having success at first; there are many to choose from. A few I reviewed this week were Simplyhired.com, Careerbuilder.com, and Monster.com, but there are many more job-search sites on the Internet. Simplyhired is my recommendation for a good start.
A word of caution: Beware of scam ads that manage to get into job-search sites. These are fewer now, but still can be found online. Anything promising such extreme income from a job that it sounds too good to be true is probably not going to be legitimate. Also, take care to note how long the job has been listed with the web site. Those ads with more recent listing dates are better bets.
For serious results in your quest for work, take a good look at the opportunities in a long list of job-search web sites, and use this valuable tool to find satisfying employment!
