Searching for jobs can be frustrating at the best of times.
Constantly having to write cover letters, CVs and emails that drone on and on about how great you are (even if it is all true) can understandably grow tiresome.
And do you know what’s going to make your hard work even harder? Not using the correct job boards.
Luckily for you, we’re here to help! In this post, we look at 5 great online job boards that you should really consider using in your search for employment.
1. Monster
I think it would be fair to say that Monster has the strongest branding out of all of the job boards, what with their monster mascot, their ominous slogan of “you stink special” and their CEO’s desire to call himself the “Chief Monster”.
Each to their own, I guess. Monster’s interface is primarily used for matching a candidate’s skills and locations to lower and mid-level job openings.
You can search for jobs by location, keyword or field and the results tend to be quite clear and intuitive unlike some of its competition.
Aesthetically the website isn’t the best-designed thing out there (prepare for a lot of purple) but ultimately it serves its purpose well.
One good thing about Monster is that they provide you with numerous tips and blogs about finding work too.
They have sections on CV tips, interview tips, job surveys and salary calculation among other things.
Monster’s advantage is that it inevitably doubles as a job search board and a career advice centre. Its brand is also a little more “quirky” if you’re into that sort of thing.
2. Reed
Reed has a lot to boast about.
It was the UK’s first ever job site, and remains the UK’s #1 job board to this day. Reed started as a traditional employment agency in the 1960s, before growing into its modern day website form.
The point being: they have experience.
The Reed website has an interesting interface, with the home page promoting “leading employers” such as HSBC and Greene King.
These are presumably what Reed considers “stable” companies that people may search for when looking for reliable long-term employment.
It appears that Reed listens to its users and modifies its site to suit their eclectic needs. In the regular job search section, you can specify things such as location, salary range, keywords, and specialisms.
3. indeed
indeed is essentially the Google of job boards. It’s a job-related search engine that displays relevant jobs to you from across the World Wide Web.
The design is very straightforward and for some may look a little messy.
The big advantage of Indeed actually lies in the vast number of results. Type in a keyword and salary and hey presto, you can work your way through pages and pages of results.
The downside? You could end up applying for the same jobs twice due to duplicate job adverts getting posted (this occurs for a variety of reasons but seems particularly prevalent on indeed).
For the lowdown on how to use indeed, check out this blog post from the Balance.
4. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is undeniably unique on this list.
Though it primarily works as a social network for professionals, it’s also a great job board. Plus, it is designed to be well-integrated with mobile devices via its app, which makes it handy for job searching on the go.
LinkedIn has over 500 million members, which is pretty mind-blowing in terms of numbers and because it’s a social network as well, it makes things easier to contact potential employers directly.
It will also tell you where your connections (i.e. friends) and university/ college alumni work, which can be handy for getting your foot in the door and pointing you in the right direction (i.e. finding out which businesses hire graduates from your place of study).
LinkedIn also uses your social networking profile, interests, and job experience to tailor your job search towards you. Its clever algorithms feature “suggested jobs” that they think you may like, and in my experience, they’re usually quite right!
If you’re going to start using LinkedIn, make sure your profile is up to scratch!
5. Fish4Jobs
Don’t let the odd name fool you, this UK-based recruitment site has grown steadily year after year since moving from its original newspaper format to the internet.
The Fish4 website encourages you to jump into the job pools of major cities (i.e. London, Manchester, Birmingham) or allows you to conduct a more typical tailored search.
Additionally, Fish4Jobs seems to have quite an abundance of search criteria for those looking to really narrow down their job search.
You can search for jobs based on hours, job title, salary, contract type, and location.
This would be amazing, but the site’s lesser popularity (at least as we speak) does appear to limit its searches and a number of results it can produce compared to its competitors.
Summary.
So there we have it! 5 great job boards you should consider using.
We hope we’ve given you an idea of which job board is best suited to your specific needs. However, always remember to think outside of the box when looking for jobs, too.
Additionally consider options like Twitter, Facebook, local and national recruitment agencies and actual company websites when looking for jobs.
These job boards are great, but they aren’t necessarily all-encompassing. Many openings will never see job sites such as these, and require deeper digging to be uncovered.
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Happy hunting!
