Job Search Engines
When you use a general search engine like Yahoo!, Google, or Ask.com to do a search about something, it looks for information on the Web. It combs through thousands of Web sites to find what you are looking for. Job search engines work in much the same way general search engines do. You put in your search terms, usually the type of job you want and the location, and the job search engine will look through job listings on a variety of Web sites. Three popular job search engines are Indeed (
Indeed
According to information on the Web site, Indeed includes all the job listings from major job boards, newspapers, associations, and company career pages. After you search using your initial terms, you can then refine your search further by selecting key phrases, company names, location, and job type — for example, part-time, full-time, or temporary.
Anyone can search Indeed, but if you become a member you can set up job alerts that will be sent to you by e-mail when jobs that match your criteria are posted. You can also save your searches in order to run them again without having to type in all the terms. Membership also lets you save individual job listings. You can then add notes, visible only to you, to each listing. This can help you stay organized.
SimplyHired
SimplyHired claims to list “thousands of jobs from job boards, classifieds, and company sites.” This site allows you to narrow down your search by setting up filters. You can refine your search by job type, company, required education, or the date the job was posted. You can also ask this search engine to only display jobs with employers that appear on a ranked list, such as the
Signing up for a SimplyHired account gives you access to services similar to those offered by Indeed. For example, you can save your searches and set up e-mail alerts. You can also save individual jobs, rate them, and type in notes about them.
Next to each job listing on Indeed, you will see a link that says “more actions.” Clicking on that link will reveal a set of links to useful tools including a Google search on the company, a map, and general salary information for that job title.
Jobster
Jobster works like the other job search engines listed here as far as its search function is concerned. The similarities end there. The first noticeable difference is that when you do a search the results page tells you how long ago the job arrived on Jobster, and what job bank it came from. When you return to the Web site, Jobster remembers your previous searches — updated results appear on the front page. You must have cookies enabled in your Web browser for this to occur (use the Help feature of your browser to learn more about cookies).
Signing up for MyJobster lets you create a profile that highlights your skills and qualifications. You can choose whether or not to make your profile public. You can also set up job alerts to notify you, by e-mail, about new job openings that match your criteria.
The biggest difference between Jobster and its competitors is the networking opportunities it can help facilitate. Jobster operates on the premise that employers are more likely to hire candidates whom their employees recommend. In addition to listing job openings from job banks and company Web sites, Jobster has client companies for which it also lists job openings. If you know someone who works at one of these companies (or if you know someone who knows someone), you can ask that person for a referral. Once Jobster has that referral, it is passed along to the hiring team at the company. You can also receive “Insider Alerts” about other job openings with that employer.
