| |
Job seekers find valuable support at the library |
Printable
|
The Importance of Keyword Searches
Before you begin your resume or your online job search, you will want to consider building a list of keywords you can use in your search. Keywords will be invaluable in any online search you conduct and for employers who may search databases in which you place your resume. Answering the questions below will help you assemble a list of keywords.
- What do you want to do? What can you do?
What skills do you have, what interests, etc. Identify general occupations that interest you, not specific job titles. For the moment, think engineering or sales, not Supervising Engineer or Director of International Sales.
- Who do you want to work for? (career fields and employer preferences)
What industry interests you, what type of employer? If you have some specific companies you want to target, great! Green Industries, building trades, high-tech start-up, family-friendly organization.
- Where do you want to live and work?
Are you willing to relocate? How far are you willing to commute? Is there a particular city, state, or region you want to work in - Maine, California, someplace with good golf courses? Perhaps near an academic community or away from an urban center. Another approach is to research the industry or occupation you're interested in and find out where they are hiring people.
- Ask a friend to help.
Friends can frequently see strengths in you that you can't. They might also suggest some interesting options for you to consider.
- Ask a librarian.
Libraries often provide this kind of help and librarians are usually very good at this, but try to make an appointment or ask for help when the reference desk isn't busy so s/he can concentrate better on your question. S/he can also point you to books and other resources that can help.
- Scan some online job banks.
Search some of the job boards for jobs that interest you. Read the job descriptions, note the skills and kinds of experience the employers are seeking, and then use these words in your search.
- Read a good book.
Check your local library for a copy of What Color is Your Parachute? by Richard Bolles (Ten Speed Press). It contains some exercises designed to help you identify your skills and interests, some of which are on the web in his JobHuntersBible. Your local career center, public library, or employment service center will have even more good resources you can use. Check the list below for some online resources.
Job Search Websites
Major job boards like Monster, CareerBuilder and HotJobs are well publicized and need no introduction. Newspapers and newspaper groups around the state offer open jobs in print and online. Most companies list open jobs in the Career section of their website.
In addition to these more visible sites, you may want to try job aggregators like Simply Hired.com and Indeed.com. They “scrape” jobs from large numbers of sites, including thousands of employers, and present them in one convenient location.
You may want to start with The Riley Guide. While it doesn’t list any jobs, it is a wonderful compendium of hundreds of sites that do list jobs along with a brief description of each site and tips on how to conduct an effective job search.
Here are a number of other sites that may prove helpful. With a little help from a librarian, you may find a number of targeted sites that specialize in the types of jobs you may be interested in.
Read about successful library job search stories. |
|
