I had the pleasure of discussing online job searching with Indeed.com's co-founder and CEO, Paul Forster. Paul and his partner Rony Kahan previously founded Jobsinthemoney, a leading site for finance professionals.
In 2004, they founded Indeed to help provide job seekers with a comprehensive job search solution. Paul explained to me that they wanted to radically improve online job searching. The goal was create the best job search experience - a site where job seekers could go to one place to find all jobs, overcoming the limitation of the job boards which have a finite number of listings.
Job Search Made Easy
There are more job sites than you can count, ranging from the top job sites like Monster and CareerBuilder to small, niche sites in just about every career field you can imagine. Indeed, and other job search engines like SimplyHired and Jobster, have made it easy for users to find jobs. With a couple of clicks of your mouse, you search the major job sites, company sites, associations, and other online job sites by keyword and location to get job listings that match the criteria you selected.
Comprehensive Job Searching
That goal of providing a solution to online job searching and applying search engine methodology to jobs has been achieved. There aren't enough hours in the day to search every site that's relevant to your job search and using a job search engine can help expedite your job search and save countless hours of job searching time.
Paul notes that "Indeed provides a comprehensive job search experience with results from thousands of different online job sources." He adds, "Indeed helps users find job listings they otherwise wouldn't have found." In addition, it's easy to apply for jobs. You can simply click through from the job posting on Indeed to the original site where there job was posted.
Job Search Suggestions from Indeed's Paul Forster
Paul shared his suggestions for how to best use a job search engine to help with your job search. In addition to techniques to help you search more efficiently, there are job search tools you can use to make sure you receive the latest job listings, either by RSS, email, instant message, or directly to your home page.
Drill Down
The most effective way to search is to drill down so you are searching as specifically as possible and getting to the right jobs. Paul suggests using your skills, interests, and location to search. That way you can narrow your search so the results include only the most relevant listings. He also recommends tracking and saving your searches, so you can stay on top of the most current listings. Click on Advanced Search and search by:
- Keywords
- Words in title
- Company Name
- Type of Employment
- Location
Set Preferences
Use preferences to choose which jobs you want to show on your results list. You can select only jobs with a certain distance from a zip code and jobs that have been published within a certain period of time.
More Actions
Use the “More” link under the job posting to view all the listings from the same company or city, research salary information, read the company’s profile, and join forums related to the opening. You will also be able to find contacts at Facebook or LinkedIn who may be able to help you connect with the employer. Click the “Email” link under the job posting to email the job to yourself or a friend.
Use Tools
Indeed has job search tools you can use to help manage your job search and to ensure you get the job listings that match your interests. Set up a my.indeed account to access your saved jobs, searches, and alerts from any computer, and download job search plugins for Firefox, an application for Facebook, a button for your Google Toolbar, and other applications to help expedite your job search.
Indeed.com Forums Read and participate in discussion forums, research companies and find people working for companies of interest through their online social networks.
The Right Job
Paul and I also discussed the passive job seeker and the role a job search engine, like Indeed, can play for those who aren't actively seeking a job, but, would be interested if the right opportunity came along. That's probably most of us at one point, or another, in our career.
Using tools like IM, Email, and RSS to display news listings on your my Yahoo page, for example, will bring job listings to you that you may not have otherwise found. It's a great way to stay on top of the job market and to use technology to help grow your career.
Disclaimer: Indeed.com is an About.com partner and powers About.com's job search.
