In this technological age it’s no wonder that job seeking has joined the online generation. With hundreds of thousands of vacancies online and the added bonus of being able to search anywhere, anytime; online jobs websites are thriving with the influx of jobseekers in the current market. But for those of you who, like me, have to constantly call the IT department because you forgot to plug the laptop in, it can be quite a daunting concept. I’ve compiled a list of my top tips to get the best out of your online job search.

The Search

You will find that all jobs websites operate using the same principles, and although I shall be using examples from my friends at AllTheTopBananas.com, you should find that each site will have similar features to help make your job search that little bit easier.  

Search by Keywords

Most jobs websites operate a keyword search, which means that whatever information you choose to input, the search results should match your criteria. This gives you the chance to enter anything from job role- (Journalist), job sector- (Sales), education- (Chemistry Degree) or your skills (Report Writing), in order to tailor your job search to suit your needs.  

In order to make the most of your search, try and fill in the most information you can about your job seeking needs. If there are extra fields to fill in, and you have a fair idea of what you’re after- go for it. Fill in extra details such as your preferred salary, location and job type to get much more specific results.

Make sure to take a look at the suggested keywords that appear when you do a search on AllTheTopBananas, if you type in something generic like ‘sales’ its suggested keywords should help you to hone in on a specific job title. So instead of searching every job in ‘sales’ you could be more specific and search for ‘telesales’ or ‘sales manager’ etc.  

Sorting your results

Whatever website you are using, there will be a way of sorting your results. AllTheTopBananas.com allows you to sort by the following categories:  

Relevance- The search will work out how relevant each job description is based on your search criteria, and order it with the most relevant jobs first.

Distance- You can order the jobs by distance, which means that the jobs nearest to your chosen location will appear first, and the jobs of greater distance will appear lower down in the results. If you choose a specific radius for your jobs, you will see no jobs that are of a further distance.  

Date Added- If you sort by date then the top results will be the most recently added jobs. This enables you to see brand new jobs first.

Search by Location  

It’s all very well and good finding the perfect job, but if it’s in the Highlands and you live in Bognor Regis, it’s probably not that feasible. Some people’s lifestyles may allow them to travel the breadth of the country in search of work; you may be up for a new challenge and a new start. If you’re prepared to do this then you might choose to leave the field blank and see what’s on offer.

Most people probably won’t be job seeking that far afield. All jobs websites will give you the option to type in your location, and ATTB will let you be as specific as typing in a village and narrowing your radius to within 1 mile of your preferred location. Putting in a desired location will make your results more relevant and targeted, which should increase your chances of finding a suitable job.  

The Technicalities of Searching

Merely typing in the words you wish to search for is just one of the many ways you can search. For more accurate results, you may want to try one of the following:   

“Exact Phrases”- If you put a phrase in quotation marks within the search box, you will find that exact phrase matched in your results. So if it is a phrase or particular job title/description, use quotes to ensure direct matches. For Example if you want to work as a "Sales Advisor", the use of quotations would ensure you can avoid loose matches such as sales manager, sales executive, marketing advisor etc.

word AND word- If you use the word ‘AND’ in between your search terms the search conducted will include both terms in the results. Not quite the same as above, as the quotations match the words and the order. An ‘AND’ search is useful in case the exact phrase you are after is not in the job description in that order. For example, you may wish to search for ‘web developer’, but the description may say: ‘we require a VB developer to work on our web site’. In which case, the exact search would not pick it up, but searching for ‘web AND developer’ would.

Check back tomorrow for Part 2 of the art of job seeking!