Making Effective Use of Online Job Postings

Tips for using online job postings and job search engines most effectively:

Use meta search engines – ones that search other job search engines or job postings sites.

• Indeed.ca searches jobs that are listed on online job boards, newspaper sites and other niche sites. This saves you from having to go to each site individually.  
• Eluta.ca searches company Web sites’ career opportunities pages.

Use the alerts feature on job search engines to be automatically notified when a relevant position is posted.

Notice the total number of job postings a company has on the site. If there are a lot, it may be that the company’s expanding. It might be a good company to watch, even if it doesn’t currently have a posting that exactly fits you.

Check for similar opportunities (e.g. software developer positions in the insurance industry), and research other companies in the same industry.

Search for similar positions/titles, but don't specify location when using the search engine. You might find a company that has local offices, even if the listed position is for elsewhere.

Look at a variety of postings for your desired job, and identify the common elements of the job descriptions and required skills. Ensure that this type of information is included on your resume – and that you use similar phrases to describe your experience.