Job Hunting Sites: How to Find a Job in the Digital Age

Tweet

By Miranda Moore

It seems that every time I so much as mention Facebook I always get the same comment, “Be careful what you write on there. Employers are looking at employees’ Facebook profiles.” This is a warning for those that are employed because with the economy in the state that it is, job hunting can be a real pain. Thankfully if you need to find a job there are websites out there that can help you in your search. These sites offer useful services beyond job and internship searches, such as hosting and building resumes. So before you resort to craigslist ads, give these sites a try.

Internships.com: More than Just Internships

This is the site that made it happen for me. You can obviously tell from its name that it is a site for students to search and apply for internships. Employers are able to make an account and post internship listings. Students are able to make an account that includes their work samples, college information and resumes. All this is at no cost to students and employers.

Once the profile is completed, students are able to search for internships. The search engine enables you to search for internships by major, location, paid or nonpaid, college credit, and virtual or non-virtual. You also have the option of saving your searches.

Recently, the website expanded to not only display internships, but also student and entry-level jobs. Student jobs are similar to internships, but are typically paid positions. Entry-level jobs are your standard first job opportunities—typically retail and food service positions.

Employers must know that you are able to choose between offering a nonpaying internship or a paying one because there are certain guidelines that must be followed when establishing an internship with payment.

Experience.com: Great Resource for Employers

Experience has been around since 1996 and is similar to Internships.com. Employers post job listings that students and job seekers can search for on the site. The difference is that employers must pay a fee for posting these ads and a license fee as well, according to the Experience website. Experience also provides additional help for students looking for work.

Potential employers may be wondering why they should post ads on Experience when they can post ads for free on Internships.com. With Experience, employers are paying for features that provide more bang for their buck.

There are two different types of posts an employer can make: Value and Proactive. “Value Posts” are the less expensive of the two and start at $95. Employers that use Value Posts are able to narrow down the candidate pool by geography or school type. The job posting will be visible to students and graduates through their school’s career center. When using Value Post, the average time to start receiving applications will be 5-7 days. The average number of times a single job shows up in a search will be around 2,000. “Proactive Posts” cost more, but the advantages are fruitful. Proactive Posts cost employers $299 per location. Employers are able to select students based on location, school, degree, GPA and personality traits. Experience’s ranking system saves companies time by delivering applicants that are a perfect fit for the position they are seeking to fill. The application process is much faster when using Proactive Post. Employers will start receiving applications in 1-2 days. The average number of times the job post will be viewed increases to 2,300 as well.

Accounts for students are free. Students are able to post useful tools on their account such as resumes, contact information, career interests, experience and references. There is also a way for you to link your experience account to other professional social networks such as BranchOut and LinkedIn. Experience also offers useful articles on resume building and job interviews, as well as a number that students can call anytime to access a career coach.

Moreover, Experience created the software used by some universities called eRecruiting. The software allows students to post profiles similar to that on the Experience website. The difference is because eRecruiting is linked to your school the job offers come from your school’s career center. With all of these useful features, Experience is definitely something worth looking into.

BranchOut: Facebook’s Job App

It turns out Facebook can help you with those career plans. BranchOut is a popular app on Facebook that allows users to browse jobs and internships as well as connect with, and add references. BranchOut launched in July 2010 and since then has grown into the largest professional networking application on Facebook. BranchOut has a standing of more than 25 million registered users and over 400 million professional profiles, according to the BranchOut website.

BranchOut works by finding connections through your extended-friend network. When you search for a certain company on BranchOut you will get a list of friends and friends of friends who work at that company. You can use these connections to better access jobs and employers can find potential employees. BranchOut also offers recruiting products for job seekers and recruiters—RecruiterConnect, CareerConnect and Social JobBoard—that help them search more efficiently.

With RecruiterConnect companies search BranchOut’s database and target specific employee friend graphs for more qualified referrals and with CareerConnect users can publish job postings on a company’s Facebook page. The Social JobBoard displays inside connections within a single job post, as well as shares these posts with other social networks such as Twitter.

LinkedIn.com: Connect with Friends of Friends

LinkedIn is another professional social networking site. It was founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003. As of February 2012, LinkedIn reports more than 150 million registered users in more than 200 countries and territories, according to the company’s website.

The purpose of the site is to allow users to maintain a list of people, who they at least know to some degree, and their contact information. Users can invite anyone whether they are a member or not to become a part of that list. However, if the person you are inviting selects “spam” or “I don’t know” on the invitation it can actually hurt you. If the inviter gets too many of these responses, the account may be restricted or closed.

LinkedIn provides many of the same services the others provide. You can search for jobs, make connections, and upload your resume. One cool feature is that you can actually design your own profile to showcase your work and experience. LinkedIn also supports the formation of interest groups and has a mobile version of the site.

Carbonmade.com: Portfolios for the Artists

The last one on the list is for the artists out there. This site is refreshing as it caters to those of us with a creative side. Carbonmade allows users to make their own online portfolio to showcase their artwork. But the possibilities don’t stop at just art. Photographers, fashion designers, web designers, graphic designers, stylists and writers have been known to use Carbonmade.

Carbonmade is simple because all you have to do to create your profile is to simply post your work, but you can do more than just post artwork. Users are able to post videos as well, which will be useful to the aspiring filmmaker. Writers often copy their published articles onto their portfolio.

If you are unsure about making a Carbonmade account, the site allows you to view and search for different types of portfolios. Just type in what you plan to use the site for and you can see what others are doing in your field.

Social networking has taken on a life outside of high school. Facebook profiles can be used for more than checking your friends’ relationship statuses. There are also many other professional networking sites out there that can be used for many professions. Always remember to keep any profile you own—whether social or professional—clean because you never know who might stumble on it.

Tweet

More To Read: