If you are currently in the middle of a job search (or have looked before), one thing you know is that there are an endless number websites that display job postings. There are generic sites (think monster.com), industry-specific sites (think mediabistro.com), level-specific sites (think theladders.com)… and of course, the actual career sites owned by each individual company. Depending on what you are looking for, those are a lot of bases to cover.
When job-seekers approach me and wonder where they should be looking at job postings, I consistently point them towards indeed.com. It is a website that you absolutely must bookmark during your job or internship search. This is why…
Job boards are great (especially ones that are industry specific). They can help you as job seeker be really targeted about the types of jobs that pop up when you visit their site. For employers, job boards can also be great. They help the company target an audience that is actually interested in their industry and what they do. However, most job boards are not free for employers to post on – which means that you are actually getting a limited sampling of that company’s open jobs.
What is (always) free for employers is their own company website. It is a place where the company has total control over the branding as well as the posting. If a job is being posted at all, this is the first place the job is going up. Generally, every other site where the job is posted is actually linking back to this original posting.
As a job seeker, it is important to understand the difference between the job sites that crawl the internet looking to present you with every job possible and those that only show you the jobs that a company has paid to be posted. Doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t visit both… but it is important to know exactly what you are getting.
The reason why I always recommend indeed.com above all other sites, is because it does the best job of “crawling” the career sites (PLUS all the other ones) and consolidates the information in one place for you, the job seeker. They offer an easy search function with filters you can apply to narrow down to what you are looking for. They also have a filter to show jobs from companies directly vs. jobs posted by search firms. If you are looking to apply to a company directly, you will easily be able to search for those roles.
The site also provides some tools to make your search easy and productive. Simple features like the ability to “save” a job and revisit later can be very helpful. As you browse through hundreds of jobs, you may want to revisit the handful you had initial interest in and then further narrow from there. You can set up “alerts” as well and the site will automatically email you any time a role pops open at a specific company or with a certain title. Indeed also gives you the ability to connect to your LinkedIn and see if you have any connections at the company of the job posting.
I am all about efficiency in the job search and that is why I love this approach. When browsing for job postings, checking one site vs. many saves a ton of time. Taking that time to improve your resume, practice for an interview, read up on the industry you are looking in, etc. is a much better use of your time than flipping between 50 job boards.
