How I Use the Oversaturated Internet to Find Career Opportunities

The Internet and generalized job boards are getting more and more saturated with resumes and thus, the competition is growing fiercer for job-seekers. I like to think about the Ladders.com commercials where the two guys are playing tennis and suddenly a bunch of crazy people storm the courts and interrupt play. The Voiceover actor comes in with a statement about how all the other job boards let anyone in to play, but with Ladders.com, they are specifically catered to those who make $100K or above. Well, it's sad but true. Below, I have compiled a list of some "other" sites that I think are beneficial for the job-seeker needing to up his or her Internet job-hunting game.

Company Portals
Almost all companies post their job openings on their company portal (or website). This is the spot on a company website where it says "Careers". When I worked in Human Resources, we always had to post our job openings on the company portal so the internal employees could apply to the opening. So we would usually just check the second box stating "share to company website" just to see if we could drum up some outside resumes.

I suggest searching all the portals of main industry players and also larger companies that hire your profession and click on that company’s “career” section. Create an online profile and post your resume so that company’s hiring manager or recruiter can find your resume. Also, set up an alert before you log off the company’s portal. Alerts are email triggers that are sent to your Inbox once a company posts a position matching your credentials. Not only does this help you get pulled up when a company’s internal recruiter is searching for resumes on the company database, but it also allows for you to apply to the job instantaneously. As a recruiter, we can become inundated with upwards of 1000 resumes for one job, so we sometimes can only get to the first 250 resumes. If you apply to a company’s opening while it’s still a fresh posting, your chances of your resume actually being seen are increased dramatically.

But remember, set up alerts on both company portals and niche and general job boards. Once a position opens up with your title, you receive an email instantly and you can have an edge on competitors by applying that same day the job was posted before the next 2,000 resumes come through.

Also, set up Google and Yahoo News alerts for your specific title/industry and general job-hunting techniques. Use relevant keywords such as "job hunting tips", "apply mechanical engineer" and "automotive production supervisor opening".

General Job Boards
As much as they have become flooded, continue to post your resume on CareerBuilder and Monster because that is where recruiters typically search for resumes first; and why not, when there are more job seekers on there than anywhere else in the world. Also use Craigslist, which is a great place to find local job postings in your area.

Niche Job Boards and Forums within Your Industry
Perform an online search with your industry title plus “job board” and review the results. Post your resume on those sites and set up alerts as well. Sometimes these sites display forums where you can participate in discussions on industry topics or trends. I had a client in the past that utilized a forum and networked his way into a new position, solely based on a discussion about a particular piece of equipment he had worked on and a hiring manager just happened to have been engaged in this discussion. The hiring manager was so impressed by my client’s knowledge, he offered him an interview the next day.

Association Websites within Your Industry
Most professional associations are easy to find online and by checking out an association’s website, you might find a job board or resume posting access. Even if not, you may find industry events being held, networking groups or even an opportunity to create a profile and join an online chat-board to stay in the loop.

Job Board Aggregators
Instead of going to the major job boards (e.g., CareerBuilder, Monster), start by using Indeed.com or SimplyHired.com which are called job board aggregators. These sites search jobs on all the other job boards including company web sites and local newspapers and pull the results into one, nice place for you to view.

In conclusion, some people are growing more tired because they think they have exhausted all of their online resources, but the truth is that there are so many companies that are hiring, you just have to be a little more savvy in finding those openings.