No Work Times

Paper to Pixels

It’s an unfortunate but true fact that print is dying a slow death and the web has taken over as king of content for quite some time now. With the steady decline of newspapers and advertisers bailing on magazines, job seekers have to rely heavily, if not totally, on the internet for their job hunting.

Most consumers in the U.S. already know about and utilize the free, mainstream job board sites such as Monster and Careerbuilder (kudos to their marketing campaigns and Superbowl commercials). Other less-flashy online classifieds which have proved to be gig gold mines include Craigslist and Indeed.

Contradictory to the popular view that Craigslist is a flea market for junk, jokes and juveniles, I’ve personally landed some of the best jobs of my life there. Many startups and entrepreneurial groups post great opportunities that add to your career path and offer fun and laid back environments. Surprisingly, Fortune 500 agencies and companies like to cast their lines in this pool as well. They understand that the Craigslist crowd is a different demographic: younger, web savvy and intelligent. There are thousands of marketing, creative and technical positions posted daily worldwide.

Indeed is also a great tool to add to your list of job sites. In one simple search, Indeed gives job seekers free access to millions of employment opportunities from thousands of websites. The site is easy to navigate through and the links take you straight to where you apply; no silliness with ads and page redirects. These are just two out of hundreds of alternative job sites out there I recommend for your daily search. The next three may come as a surprise as you might think these are the last places you’d look.

Everyone and their mom has a Facebook profile now. Half of those people also have Twitter accounts. However, only a handful realizes how to tap into their existing online social resources for job leads and referrals. Facebook is a great place to connect with former colleagues, coworkers and family. Why not post an update about what kind of job you’re looking for? Ask around and you might be surprised what people may come back with. As the sociologists say, we’re all separated by six degrees; and your friend or cousin’s friend may know someone who needs to fill a position that only you can fill!

Twitter works in a similar way; the only difference is your updates are limited to 140 characters each. But so what! You can tweet (update) a hundred times a day if you wanted to (caution: you may lose some followers, but if they weren’t your real friends in the first place, who needs ‘em?). Tell the Twitterverse what kind of position you are looking for. Boast about your professional skills and include a link or picture of your work. There are thousands of twitter postings about job openings and referrals daily. Just like Facebook, you have to do your part by being proactive and engaging in the online conversation. They don’t call these sites “social networking” for nothing. You’ll be surprised at how many people will respond and try to help you out. It’s a great feeling and motivation. More importantly, you’re making yourself visual to the community that matters most to your career path. 

Lastly, one crucial and professional social networking site that is a-must is LinkedIn. I cannot stress enough how it is imperative to have a LinkedIn profile. Other than Google, this is one of the first places recruiters go to look up your name. Think of this as your primary and public online resume. Just like Facebook, you can be connected with former coworkers and organizations. A nice unique feature of LinkedIn is the “Recommendation” option. Basically, you can recommend a connection as a colleague, a service provider, a business partner or student. In return they can leave you a recommendation (or you can request one), which you can approve or delete. A lot of LinkedIn job postings require applicants who have at least three recommendations. You can also customize your profile with applications that showcase your blog, professional presentations, polls and company buzz.

If you apply all the resources mentioned here, it shouldn’t be long before you hear of a potential opportunity. While the world moves from paper to pixels, we have to adapt and teach ourselves new tricks. Sometimes that includes changing the way we spread word-of-mouth and learning new ways of communication. Good luck and happy searching!