Posted February 13th, 2008 by cheesman

Just because the internet has made it possible to search for a job in pajamas doesn’t mean one should do so with a lazy dream-like approach.  Many individuals make the mistake of taking a passive approach to finding jobs online. For some this may mean posting their resume and waiting for employers to contact them. Others make a little more effort by actually having their information sent to employers who have public job listings, but stop there.
   
Simply signing up for a nationally known job search site and idly clicking apply to a few position is not enough. Sure, people do get lucky and have employers contact them this way. But why count on luck, when taking other measures have a higher rate of success?
   
For starters, those who are searching for jobs online need to remember that no one website is going to have all the positions available in their area. Different employers have varying budgets and preferences when searching new talent. Because of this it is usually a good idea to sign up for more than job search site. Choosing one well known site, one locally based, and an industry specific site is often more effective.
   
Another good place to look for jobs online is at local newspapers’ websites. Many smaller business still rely on such papers to get their job listings out there, forgoing more expense options such as popular job search sites. Knowing this, many newspapers have added an employment search section to their pages. Some papers even allow non-subscribers to surf through these listings.
   
Once several promising positions have been located, it is not enough to merely send in a resume and sit back with crossed fingers. In some cases, resumes that are e-mailed in accidentally end up in a hiring manager’s spam folder for one reason or another. Because of this, it is a good idea to call an employer to make sure they received the resume. Many people worry that doing this will ‘bother’ or ‘annoy’ hiring managers. This is rarely the case, instead it shows serious interest and willingness to put forth effort. After, if one is putting their all into their job search, then they look more likely to put the same into a company that hires them.
   
After applying for several jobs online and confirming that the employers have received the proper information, it’s still not in one’s best interest to sit back and wait. Checking once a day to see what new job listings have been added is always a good idea, as is signing up to be alerted when a page receives new postings for positions in a chosen industry. As these opportunities present themselves, it is best for the job seeker to go ahead and apply for them as well. By continuing to search for jobs online until hired, one stands to drastically decrease the amount of time their hunt for work will take to yield success.