The first step in the job search for most people is to go to a career site and check out the local listings. Job board networks can be useful tools in finding the right job, and some can be more helpful than others. The key to maximizing the potential of any job site is to figure out how to utilize its key features in finding jobs and posting resumes.

In 1999, two of the first and most popular job sites on the web merged to form Monster.com. Today, Monster is the largest job search engine in the world, with more than one million job postings, over 150 million resumes and 63 million job seekers visiting the site every month.

Monster.com is one the twenty most visited sites on the internet. The site is used primarily by job seekers looking to find positions that match their skills and location.

Monster connects employers with qualified candidates at all levels, and they provide all different kinds of career advice to applicants, such as interviewing tips, resume suggestions, and helpful information on salary negotiation.

One advantage of Monster.com over other the many other job boards out there is that they have the most postings and resumes out of any career site, and they offer multiple search options. Searches can be conducted by industry, profession, location or employer.

A unique feature of Monster.com is Privacy Plus, which allows job seekers to keep their resume from being viewed by their current employer. Certain companies do not act favorably when they find out that their employees are in search of another job, and the Privacy Plus feature helps job seekers avoid this situation entirely.

Some of the drawbacks of Monster.com include the multiple “junk” postings and the multiple advertisements on the site. Many job listings out there are scams or illegitimate “moneymaking” opportunities -it’s not always easy to tell the difference between what’s real and what’s a waste of time.

Recently, Monster expanded their job search engine into the world of social media. BeKnown, Monster’s new professional networking app on Facebook, was debuted in late September at the annual f8 Facebook developer conference.

The app functions somewhat like LinkedIn (the leading online professional network) and allows users to use all of the already implemented features of Monster without leaving the Facebook platform. In addition, BeKnown users can also post any career changes, updates or educational advancements directly to their profile through Facebook.

BeKnown is among the first professional networking apps to integrate Facebook into bringing more social engagement to the online career search. It is available in 19 languages and in 35 countries, and can be accessed for free via iPhone and Android mobile devices.

For more than ten years, Monster.com has provided job seekers everywhere with millions of job listings, career advice and other useful features. With their new BeKnown app for Facebook, the career site is changing with the times and becoming more relevant by integrating social media.

WORKS CITED:

“Monster.com” consumersearch http://www.consumersearch.com/job-sites/monstercom  Accessed 11/14/11

“Who We Are” monster worldwide http://about-monster.com/content/who-we-are  Accessed 11/14/11

There are many different job sites to choose from out there. Although there are variations, most of them operate along the same lines: They post listings for job seekers to check out and apply for, and give candidates an opportunity to present themselves to employers by posting their resumes.

Since the company was founded in 1994, CareerBuilder has become the largest job site in theUS. They have over one million different job listings, and 23 million visitors every month.

CareerBuilder provides job seekers with opportunities in every industry, from accounting positions to sales and marketing careers. They use world-class technology combined with data analysis and quality customer service to match applicants with the jobs that are right for them.

The company was originally founded as NetStart Inc, a business that sold software to companies to help them list jobs and manage the massive amounts of incoming emails associated with the listings. After a $2 million investment, NetStart Inc transported their software to their CareerBuilder page and began operating under the new name.

Today, CareerBuilder provides career services for more than 1,900 partners, including 140 different newspapers and online portals. The site is jointly owned by the Gannett Company, the McClatchy Company and the Tribune Company.

One of the benefits of CareerBuilder over many other job boards is that they pull listings from major newspapers, and not from other career sites. By doing so, CareerBuilder offers job seekers an opportunity to find unique listings, not ones that already exist on other career sites.

Some of the drawbacks of CareerBuilder, however, is that they don’t offer as wide of a selection of job listings as other major career sites, and the site is somewhat cluttered with ads and pop-ups.

Although CareerBuilder is often used by employers to check out resumes and see what kind of qualified applicants are out there, the site is mainly employee-driven and serves the needs of the job seeker. It is very user-friendly and it’s quite easy to browse listings based on company name, industry or job title.

CareerBuilder has a presence in 55 countries and operates in 21 different countries. It used by 95 percent of Fortune 500 companies, and by thousands of small to medium-sized businesses.

A job seeker should never limit his/her search to just one career site. It’s important to explore all the options out there and see what each job board has to offer. In terms of ease, accessibility, and offering millions of employment opportunities to choose from, CareerBuilder is a valuable resource for all those looking for work out there.

WORKS CITED:

“About Us” careerbuilder.com http://www.careerbuilder.com/share/AboutUs/default.aspx  Accessed 11/9/11

“CareerBuilder.com” consumersearch http://www.consumersearch.com/job-sites/careerbuildercom  Accessed 11/911

The rapid progression of technology over the past thirty years or so has allowed for more and more employees to work from home. This trend has continued to rise, and telecommuters are becoming a common feature of many workplaces.

Contrary to the traditional belief that allowing employees to work from home will simply provide an unsupervised situation in which workers can waste time and distract themselves with chores and diversions around the house, studies have shown that teleworkers are actually more productive than their in-office counterparts.

According to the Telework Research Network, companies such as Best Buy, British Telecom and Dow Chemical have reported that their telecommuting employees are 35 to 40 percent more productive than onsite workers.

Although it may seem that not being able to keep an eye on workers at all times during the day would give employees more freedom to goof off and end up costing a business both time and money, telecommuters have proven to demonstrate more commitment to their employers and appreciation for the opportunity to work from home.

Most people are tired of the rat race. Waking up to an alarm, getting ready and rushing out the door to sit and wait in morning-commute traffic has become a hassle for most office workers. Giving employees more flexibility in choosing their own schedule and achieving a better balance of work and life creates a happier, more loyal and industrious workforce.

For employers that are worried about not being able to supervise their workers, there are many options for accessibility and availability while working from home. Email, telephone calls, instant messaging and webcams are all easy and effective ways for employees to check in with management while away from the office.

Requiring employees to attend evaluation meetings once a week – whether via telecommunication devices or in-office – will help to ensure that work is being done on time and workers are staying on track. Providing a set schedule of tasks that are expected to be accomplished on a daily or weekly basis will also help to create more structure in the work-life of telecommuters.

In addition to saving workers time and money spent on the daily commute, allowing employees to work from home can also save a business in the costs of rent, utilities, supplies and overhead associated with running an office.

Certain businesses allow workers to telecommute on the basis that they are hired as independent contractors and not full-time employees. This can save a company a small fortune in the benefits that are usually provided for in-office staff.

According to further information provided by the Telework Research Network, 36 percent of workers would choose to telecommute over receiving a pay increase, and 37 percent would actually take a pay cut if allowed to work from home.

Telecommuting continues to gain in popularity as more businesses and workers are realizing the many benefits associated with work-from-home situations. Happier employees, less traffic on the road, and a long list of moneysaving opportunities; all these advantages prove that telecommuting can be a win-win situation for employees and the companies they work for.

WORKS CITED:

Strauss, Steve. “Should you let employees work from home?” USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/columnist/strauss/story/2011-10-23/let-people-work-from-home/50884002/1  Accessed 11/1/11

“Advantages of Telecommuting for Companies” Telework Research Network http://www.teleworkresearchnetwork.com/costs-benefits  Accessed 11/1/11

“Teleworkers are More Productive” The ComCenter Blog http://www.comcenters.net/blog/your-virtual-workplace/teleworkers-are-more-productive/  Accessed 11/1/11

Job boards are a dime a dozen these days. With so many out there, how is one to know which service to use? We could just tell you the truth; that Gigats is the absolute best source for finding jobs in all major metropolitan areas in theUnited States, but here at Gigats Review we like to go a little deeper than that.

At Gigats Review, we like to take all job boards into consideration, review them, and present you the job seeker with the results. Today, we are going to take a look at Craigslist. Not only does this site provide job postings for cities around the world, they also provide a wide array of other classified services.

If you ever wondered where you can go to find a job, rent an apartment, give away your cat or buy a car, then perhaps you have never been to Craigslist. Started in San Francisco in 1995 by Craig Newmark, Craigslist began as an email distribution list Newmark began to inform friends in the area of local events.

Craig’s list expanded into a web-based service the following year, and by the year 2000 it offered a range of classifieds categories in cities across the US and in countries around the world. Today, Craigslist features the following classifieds sections:

• Jobs
• Housing
• Personals
• For Sale
• Services
• Community
• Gigs
• Resumes
• Discussion Forums

Last year, Craigslist got rid of the Adult Section on the site after repeated complaints of people using the section to solicit prostitution. Eventually, the pimps and prostitutes just moved their services over to the Talent section, but there is no longer an Adult Section on Craigslist.

In terms of job listings, Craigslist features everything from Administrative positions to Restaurant jobs. Simply type in the location where you are seeking employment and choose from a list of job categories. You can also post your resume on Craigslist in hopes of employers coming by and discovering your talents.

Craiglist is a free service, and anyone can post. This freedom poses a problem sometimes, and one should be wary when job-hunting on Craigslist. You never know what’s real, what’s fake and who just wants to take you for all you’re worth.

Craigslist can be a valuable service for job seekers, but you must use your best judgment and pay attention to the details. Look at the bottom of the page for information about payment and location. With so many people posting to Craigslist, you can never be too sure about what you’re getting into.

Image by Marco Wessel via Flickr

This is actually a term that a fair few of you may not be familiar with. It’s derived from the world of sales, where salesmen were often given the time it took their “mark” to either ride up or down in an elevator to make their pitch. Busy men usually don’t make appointments for salesmen, so they’d have to catch them on the elevator ride or not at all. It’s just a way of saying that you have a very short time to make a very strong case.

If you’re successful, you may snag an actual meeting to go into more detail, but only if your elevator pitch is strong.

As a job seeker, you’re under the same time constraints to make a very strong case for your product, i.e. yourself.  It’s not just a matter of knowing yourself, though; it’s also about know who your “mark” is.

A good salesman knows that it’s more than just product knowledge that makes one successful. It’s about being able to communicate how that product will benefit the client. If all you do for your elevator pitch is talk about how great the product is, the client will inevitably say, “Sure, but what will it do for me?”

The same is true when interviewing. First, you have to know yourself very well to be able to sell why you’re an excellent employee. Then, you have to know the company so well that you can specifically tell the interviewer what you will add to the company. Since the interviewer is probably very busy, you have to do it in a very short time – about how long it takes to ride ten floors on the elevator.

Sound like an impossible task? It’s not. It’s a skill that you’ll have to learn, but it’s something anyone can do. The key is to know exactly who you are, what you can do, and what the company needs. Nail those three things in a minute or so, and you’ve mastered the elevator pitch.

As much as I believe in the power of a well-crafted, targeted executive resume to provide a strong competitive advantage in the job search, I also believe it is important to recognize that poor or mediocre interviewing skills will waste the opportunity that resume has put on your plate.

Recruiters bemoan the fact that so much hype surrounds having a powerful resume. While not discounting the resume’s importance, there seems to be scant attention paid to the fact that most candidates interview poorly. As one recruiter in Atlanta who has been in the industry for 23 years observed, in sports you can make a fortune by finishing second, but “when it comes to the sport of job interviewing, if you don’t finish first, you get nothing.”

So, once you have a dynamite resume put together, focus on your interviewing skills. Be able to provide high-impact, succinct answers to questions and able to convey in a powerful manner your qualifications, accomplishments, and the value proposition you bring to the table. It is critical to be prepared for the unexpected, especially in the highly competitive job market of today in which the person on the other side of the table is likely to throw unique, off-the-wall questions at you such as:

“If you were a superhero, what would be your power?”
“If you were a Star Wars character, which one would you be?”
“What flavor of ice cream do you like best and why?”

Being prepared to handle these questions simply takes preparation. Know the company, know yourself, and you’ll be at ease with your knowledge and be able to answer these questions and nail the interview.

Related articles

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Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Often, when people read a lot of job search advice and strategies, they come to the conclusion that they have to project something other than what they are when speaking to potential employers.

There’s advice about the kind of image they need to project, the way they should answer questions, the way they should look, the way should talk, and the attitude they need to portray. It’s easy to look at that, and assume that they don’t measure up so they have to take some acting lessons pretty quick! …only to discover that ends up doing more harm than good.

Most employers can spot a phony a mile away.

Authenticity is critical to making a connection. When an interviewer believes what they see is genuine, they are much more likely to be interested in pursuing things further.

Ya’ gotta be you! So how do you do that and become more ‘hirable’ at the same time? Here are some observations…

Be honest with yourself… and them. Assess your own performance in interviews, practice with others and get honest critiques. Be willing to take to heart what ever shortcomings you may find. If you have a relatively flat  personality or communication style… where you’re not very engaging… realize that may be a factor that’s hindering your progress toward a job offer. If that’s your natural state, it’s pretty hard to fake a more dynamic personality. Your greatest chance of success would be to deal with it honestly and proactively with your interviewer. At some point in the interview, you might say something like:

“I realize that I don’t come across with a naturally dynamic or charismatic personality, and there’s not much I can do about that without appearing phony. However, I’m passionate about my work and love doing a great job with whatever assignments I’m given. I hope that focusing on my results can be the most important consideration.”

That may not help if you’re interviewing for a television News Anchor position, however, for most other roles it can turn a liability around. Acknowledging the trait shows that you are self-aware, and understand how the trait might be perceived. A statement like this shows that you are focused on results regardless of the issue, and you are committed to perform your best. All of that is very attractive to a potential employer. Whether your trait is a flat or bland communication style, a nervous tick, an accent that can be hard to understand at times, a stuttering issue, or various other characteristics, dealing it with it directly is most likely to be your best bet.

Be able to articulate your strengths and accomplishments. In order to make the statement above be as credible as possible, it’s critical that you can succinctly describe what abilities you do bring to the table. You must be able to tell them what accomplishments you’ve had related to the role you’re pursuing, and what strengths you have that will be an asset to them. Take the time to determine what will be most important to the employer for this particular job, and be able to articulate your related experience to them. It takes some preparation time and effort to determine what is most relevant, and how to communicate it best.

It’s about being the best ‘you’, you can be. At the risk of sounding like a fluffy platitude… “being the best ‘you”, you can be”, is critical. Succeeding in an interview process is not about trying to be like someone else, or becoming something you’re not. Rather it’s understanding who you are, and presenting yourself in the best light.

Regardless of your natural tendencies or personality traits, there is never an excuse to be unprofessional, disrespectful, or course. Those are actions that can, and must, be controlled. However, other traits that can’t be changed without trying to become something very unnatural for yourself, can be practiced and presented as positively as possible.

It won’t work every time. Just like most things in life, nothing works every time. Your results will be dependent on the subjective response of the interviewer. Don’t try it once, perhaps still not get selected to advance in the hiring process, and decide it doesn’t work. Practice and hone your statement, and try it again next time. There are no ‘silver bullets’ in a job search. However, your odds are likely to improve dramatically if you apply it regularly.

Address your weaknesses head-on and you are likely to find you will turn a liability into an asset!

Related articles

• Be Positive and Get a Job Faster (money.usnews.com)
• Do You Know the FirstJob Search Secret? (ronmedlin.com)
• Review of Job Searching with Social Media for Dummies (personalbrandingblog.com)

When MySpace was big, did you have a profile on the site? (Don’t be shy…I’m sure a lot of folks did!) But then Facebook came along, and a few years later, Twitter reared its head—so you probably left that old profile out in the dust. Did you ever go back and delete your MySpace profile? What about your profiles on other websites, such as an old blog or photo-uploading site?

If you signed up for a blogging platform in college, you probably weren’t too concerned about the information you shared on it at the time. Before your professional online presence was an important part of your job search and career, you might have signed up for sites based on your interests that don’t exactly share your most professional side. For example, in the beginning days of MySpace, many people had public profiles with pictures of partying—probably not something you want a potential employer to see (no matter how old the pictures are).

But now that you’re a career professional, you probably want to take a second look at those profiles and delete ones that convey an inconsistent image of you. Even if your interests have just changed or your career path has gone in a different direction, you should either update the information (if you plan on using the site for the future) or delete your presence on it altogether. You wouldn’t want to confuse anyone looking for information about you.

So, when you have some downtime in your day, search for old profiles you might still have lurking around on the web and try to remove content that may not line up with your existing online brand. After all, you wouldn’t want an employers’, clients’ or potential networking connections first impression to be from one of those profiles, would you?

It’s pretty much accepted that a great LinkedIn profile will be a great asset when searching for a new job. But the trick is making the profile great. What can you do to make yours great?

Initially you have to make it so people will see it. This involves making sure that your profile has the right “keywords” for your career. Employers search everything for keywords in the same way Google does. If you don’t have the right keywords in your profile then an employer won’t find you when they search the databases for that keyword. We’re not talking “buzzwords”, we’re talking honest to goodness words that describe what you do and matches what they’re looking for.

You also have to write a compelling bio. It’s hard since most people aren’t writers, but you want your bio to be interesting to read. If you don’t think yours is, simply ask a friend to read it. The great secret to writing is that not everyone fancies themselves a writer, but EVERYONE is a critic. We all watch movies, listen to music, and read books that we have gobs and gobs of ideas on how to improve. In this day and age, we’re all real good at criticism. So let a few friends read it and take their criticisms to heart and make the changes.You’ll often find the “criticisms” are just ideas in disguise. Steal those ideas and make your bio better.

LinkedIn is a social networking site (with a business purpose, of course). Then what’s the idea behind preventing others from contacting you? There’s nothing worse than finding a great professional contact on LinkedIn, only to see the message that “Bob is not open to receiving invitations or InMail.”  The Contact Settings section allows you to give a brief blurb about the best way to reach you, and this is a great place to list either an email address, a phone number, or both. However, you’ll also want to ensure that the parameters within your Contact Settings are checked so that you can receive any combination of Introductions, InMail, and OpenLink Messages.

Related articles

• HOW TO: Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile for the Job Hunt (mashable.com)
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In today’s ever-changing economy, the most prevalent question being asked by job-seekers and career builders is: what are today’s most secure jobs or skillsets? Is having a general degree with varying skills more valuable than being a professional in a highly technical field?

It seems that if one has a valuable skillset – such as one in the technology industry – then they’re probably good to go for a while. Problems can arise, however, when a certain field of the economy takes a hit or begins to be taken over by another. Obviously, this then leaves the highly-skilled individual stranded without a job or ability to take on another if they desired.

On the opposite side, people with general skillsets that are professionals in a variety of fields are also at risk of losing their jobs, but probably less so. They do, however, have a more difficult time finding their first jobs because their skills are so varying; as time progresses, however, they slowly become highly skilled in a variety of fields and can choose one to concentrate on, if necessary.

In terms of job security, it seems like these two eventually level out; the real challenge is finding the first job and making connections throughout one’s career.

This obviously goes without mentioning federal or state government positions, which boast some of the highest retention rates in the world. According to a recent report by USA Today, job retention rates in the U.S. government can be as high as 99.8 percent.

So, job security in today’s world can mean many different things: being specialized, having general skills, or working for the federal government. There’s one person we haven’t considered, however: the person with connections.

It’s a pretty safe bet that a person with a multitude of connections in many different industries will most likely always have some position waiting for them. Usually, the most well-connected people work in the federal government or in the business worlds The revolving door insures that, regardless of what they do, they’ll have something waiting for them on the other side.

So, with the way the economy’s evolved, it seems like there isn’t a certain field that guarantees job security – it’s up to the person to create that.