Looking for a job in the 2o15 involves a lot of time on the internet. Yes, you should also be talking to people and trying to network and all that stuff, but good old fashioned applying is now done online. That means job boards. They are wonderful and terrible at the same time and I’ve taken it upon myself to review some of the most popular.
I have a feeling this site is great for employers but not as great for wannabe employees. The keywords they have are very specific so you can’t put in something like “writer” or “journalist” and have results. It may just be geared toward people in other professions, but for anyone creative it is not the place. Once I finally get choices, it’s all for the same organization, so there must be some sort of sponsorship happening. I think chugging a Monster energy drink would be more helpful than using this website.
Indeed is my go to, I check it first every time I sit down to apply. It’s easy to search, you can put on tons of filters like “relevancy” or “date.” These make it easy to find new posts everyday. Most of the time the search is really accurate even when you’re vague, but every once in awhile it brings up completely random and unrelated jobs. This happens to me about once a week, and I don’t know if it’s just the algorithm freaking out or if the site is trying to tell me to give up on the careers I’ve chosen. Either way it makes for a strange time. Another thing to keep in mind is that because the site is so popular a lot of people use it, so that means more competition, which is good or bad depending on how confident in your skills you are.
This is an odd one. It feels a little quieter than the other two. Probably because they don’t have ads all over the place like Monster (Bro, what are you trying to prove?). Another site that can bring up just wacky results. Today I entered “Writing in Portland” and it brought up a biologist in Boston. Of course I opened it, but quickly closed the tab when the number one qualification was a degree in biology, who’d have thought? Like Monster, you see a lot of the same company, which is always a bummer to me. Many of the posts lead to other job boards which is annoying. If I wanted to see what those sites had to offer I would go to those sites, but they have a cool logo.
I have many thoughts and emotions about Elance, and they are mostly negative. For those who don’t know, it focuses on freelance and short time writing gigs. Something that is perfect for someone who needs some extra cash. However, they make it so impossible to apply to anything that I give up once a week. You have to make a profile, and unless you check the correct boxes you can’t apply to the posts. So you go back and change your profile the way they want it and they deactivate your account for two weeks to make the changes. I’m not a technology genius but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t take two weeks to update a website. Of course all of this pain and suffering can be avoided if you pay $10/month for a premium account. Elance, if I’m looking for jobs that pay $25 for 2,000 words I can’t afford to give you money every month.
Not many people know that LinkedIn has job postings, but it does. It makes it really easy to apply because you can connect your profile directly to a job post and even mildly stalk the person who posted it. In my experience, these posts are usually for people with more experience than this entry-level gal. So far I haven’t found any I’m qualified for, but it’s a good one to check.
There are many more, some that are job or region specific, and I’ve just gone over the ones I’ve used. Put your favorites and why in the comments.
Someone Call A Grownup 