For those of you that are currently seeking for a new job, either actively or just browsing the web for a potential new opportunity I have put together a list of places where jobs can be found. Some ideas like online job portals you know for sure, but not everybody knows how recruitment agencies work or the unemployment office. Since finding a job is taking enough of your time already, I will not waste any more and start the list. Here’s where you can start searching for a new job:
1. Online job portals – the most famous international ones are: www.careerbuilder.com, www.simplyhired.com, www.indeed.com, or www.monster.com; there are also thousands of local ones – just start searching for the keyword “jobs” and search engines will return local results first; to apply on a job portal most of the times you need an account, then you need to create or upload your CV, search for jobs and then apply and wait to be contacted by companies that you applied for. If they don’t contact you, it means that you probably weren’t accepted. Don’t expect a reply for each CV you send. Companies normally contact suitable candidates only because sometimes they have hundreds or even thousands of CVs for a single position;
2. Companies’ websites – make a list of companies you would like to work for, search for their websites and then open the “Career” section. Most websites have such a section – if it’s not visible right away, try on the bottom of the page or in the “About us” menu. Search for jobs in your area or in your field and then follow the instructions to apply. If no job is available or you don’t fit any of the available profiles, try to see if you can apply anyway for their database. Sometimes companies don’t even post a job online before searching their database first – which means that being already in the database can be a big plus;
3. Social networks – create an account on LinkedIn(www.linkedin.com) or Facebook – these two really work. On LinkedIn there is a dedicated section for jobs or you may register for various groups where local jobs can be available. The Jobs section is not free for companies while posting jobs on the board of a group is, so companies will prefer the latter. On Facebook, try searching for groups related to jobs and hiring. I can suggest a few I am member of: “Now Hiring!!!” or “Facebook Jobs”;
4. Universities and Student organizations – since most of them are willing to help companies for free in order to get their students or graduates a job and increase the University’s rating, there will be a lot of jobs for students and graduates available there – where can you search? University portals, Facebook groups for students, student forums, student presentations organized by companies, student events;
5. Recruitment agencies – a lot of people don’t know how these companies work (you can find a full article about them here: What Does a Recruitment Agency Do?). Recruitment agencies can help you for free. They receive jobs from companies (which also pay them to help them find good candidates), search the CVs they already have in their database, post jobs, interview people and try to place the best candidates on all open positions they have. For candidates, being in the database and being interviewed and recommended is free. Just contact them, send them your CV and tell them about your availability. Some recruitment agencies are: Lugera & Makler, Trenkwalder, Manpower or Adecco. Search for recruitment agencies in your area to find more. You will be surprised to see how many they are;
6. Unemployment agency in your area – in some areas companies have to send all job openings to the unemployment agency; the role of this agency is to send unemployed people in their database to be hired on those jobs (after interviews and a proper selection process of course – companies don’t just have to hire these people if they are not suitable); the point is that the unemployment agency in your area may have job openings available, openings that are not published yet elsewhere;
7. Public organizations in your area – local town hall, local agencies like the retirement office, the unemployment office, labor office, you know what’s available in your city; contact them and check if they have anything available – sometimes they don’t publish the jobs online, just in newspapers, on their website or just displayed at their headquarters;
8. Friends, family – ask everybody in your family or among your friends – you may never know who knows useful details about some job openings in their company or a friend’s; some companies offer bonuses for their employees if they recommend good candidates that can successfully fill open positions. Talk to your friends – you may be surprised to see that the company they work for does that and that you can become a great recommendation;
9. Your personal network - create a personal network on Facebook, LinkedIn or any other network you use – ask everybody to check maybe someone can help; I personally recommend LinkedIn here – you can see your connections’ CVs and see who has which position and where – you may never know who can recommend you somewhere or tell you about some openings;
10. Newspapers and magazines in your area or the area you are interested in – online channels are used more than printed ones, but try the latter as well; you may never know;
11. Job fairs – local or virtual – get informed about these; their role is to gather companies together and present job openings – you also have the opportunity to discuss with their representatives and ask for more details or make connections;
12. Conferences, seminars – you won’t see any jobs available there most of the times, but these are a great opportunity to make useful connections in the field you are interested in; sometimes seminars and conferences can be a hidden recruitment event; I can tell you about such an event in my city – a certain company was actually searching for SAP specialists. They organized such a free seminar where SAP specialists were invited to learn about what’s new in the SAP field. The company managed to gather in one room the best SAP specialists in the city. At the end they gave flyers away and asked the participants to send CVs if they were interested in new SAP opportunities. The company I worked for lost if I remember correctly 2 SAP specialists then;
13. Company or online magazine newsletters – some companies or magazines offer the possibility to register for their newsletter containing company news and job openings – don’t miss these;
14. Shop windows – if you are interested in working in sales, in a bakery, in a fashion shop or anything similar, sometimes these positions appear on the windows of the shops or offices location. Just take a walk and look around. Windows may surprise you with interesting ads;
15. Online portals for various ads – they are not designed for jobs only but include jobs as well – Craigslists is a great example;
This is all that I can think of right now. Should you have any additional ideas (maybe unconventional places where you saw job ads), please write them here as comments to the article. Please help me make this article as useful as possible for the job seekers out there.
Thanks a lot and take care,
Geo