Finding jobs on the Internet

Finding jobs on the Internet by Scott Boyd
The Internet is a great resource to find jobs.

You can find anything you want if you just know how to look for it correctly. This article will offer up some suggestions as to how to go about using the Internet as a search tool to find jobs.

Let's dispel the myths!
You will not get a job over the Internet! OK, you might find some jobs advertised. You might find some recruitment agencies that have jobs advertised. But if you want to get a job, you will have to do the ground work offline.

Here's why:

It is hard enough for you to transfer your skills onto a single sheet of A4 for your CV. When you register your CV online at web based recruitment agency site, it goes into a database from which employers can search.

That's fair enough. But employers have to pay for this privilege (and most don't!).
Then they have to find your CV amongst tens of thousands (a recruitment consultant has a similar task on a smaller scale, but at least they look at the CVs they reject!).

Apart from the fact that your CV has lost the last pieces of humanity that it had left, you're competing with everyone on the planet! Think about it!

OK, then why is the Internet such a great resource?
Information.

Information is the key to your success! You can use the Internet to augment your search for a job, but by all means do not rely on it!

You can find the address of good old fashioned, brick and mortar recruitment agencies. You can find advice on how to proceed with your job hunt (on sites like this!). You can contact employers and ask for information. You can take tutorials and increase your skills base.

Right. So how do I find stuff?
Don't worry. There are only several hundred million websites out there. It's easy enough to find what you want!

Firstly, use Google. It's the largest search engine in the world and every month it updates it's searching process to provide you with the most relevant results to your process (you don't get the big names or the jazzy sites - you get the sites with the best content and information).

Next, you need to know what you are looking for. Simply searching for "jobs" is going to return way too many results. 33,700,000 websites to be precise.

Tip: If you are looking for lists of recruitment agencies then search using the phrases "directory", "listings" or "information" with the term "recruitment agencies" (and the regional area that you are looking for work).

And don't be fooled into thinking that the ones up the top must be the best (Google have a good ranking system, but it has its flaws). When you are talking about such a general search phrase, the results are irrelevant.

What you need to do is to enter at least three phrases into the search box.

1-The subject area, eg, "IT"
2-The main term you are looking for, eg, "recruitment agencies"
3-And the region that you are looking to work in, eg, "Scotland"

This means that you return more relevant results.

Tip: If you don't get what you want first time, try varying the order in which you enter the terms. For example, "IT recruitment agencies Scotland" returns different results to "Scottish IT recruitment agencies".

The main thing to remember is the more specific you are when searching for something, then the more relevant your results are!

Now you are fully equipped to find whatever you need on the Internet!

One final piece of information!
Just because a website has nice little animations or is number one for a search term, or has copious amounts of radio and TV advertising, doesn't mean it's any good!

Look at this site. It is run by volunteers on their spare time - and costs very little to do so. In my humble opinion it has better information and advice than a lot of sites out there that spend millions on their site and marketing efforts!

Don't be fooled by the corporate gloss! Information is free and can be given freely by anyone - that's the beauty of web design!
Good Luck!

Regards
Scott Boyd - Webmaster and Founder - Jobseekers Advice