Finding a job right now is as much, if not more, about the amount of time you put in searching as it is the tools you use to search. Obviously, things like competitive and in-demand credentials are undeniably important, but knowing which tools to leverage will give you an advantage over the millions of people trying to find jobs through traditional means (i.e., cold emails and job aggregators). Below are the most effective job search tools to help increase your chances of landing a job.
Corporate Social Media Profiles
One of the most important realizations you can have as a modern job seeker is that the vast majority of jobs are unlisted. If you really want to connect with the people making the hiring decisions and looking to fill positions, you have to reach them where they are, which very often is on a company’s corporate social media profiles.
One of the most effective ways to land a job in the field you want and with the company you are interested in working for is to put yourself out there on these social media pages and start following, liking, commenting on and engaging with the content that gets posted. These channels are monitored all the time and are often frequented by company insiders–people you can showcase your knowledge and experience to and strike up conversations with. If you are an impressive contributor and follower, there is a good chance the right people will take notice of you.
If you don’t regularly invest time in your Linkedin profile, you neglect it at your peril. Linkedin might now be considered a legacy social media network but it is still the go-to professional networking platform and in many professional circles it is considered necessary in order to be considered for a job. Linkedin lets you show off more than just your past and current work experience, it is social proof that other professionals vouch for you, respect your skills, and can verify the claims you make about yourself.
Linkedin is also an important job search tool because, like the corporate social media accounts mentioned above, it allows you to follow and interact with the people and companies you would like to work with or for. Jobs are found and won all the time by people who make their presence known on the corporate and personal profiles of hiring managers. All of this is, of course, in addition to the utility of Linkedin as a professional networking application.
Industry and Niche Groups
Depending on the industry in which you are looking for work, you should also consider searching out and joining the professional Facebook groups where industry people congregate and discuss. Very often there are job offerings in these groups as well as a lot of useful information from people who are either currently employed in the industry or have been previously. What’s more, these groups are often scouted by hiring managers for talent.
There are online forums that are not connected to any particular social media platform which are also good places to start, at the very least, observing. Here you can learn how industry insiders talk, get valuable insight into industry and workplace issues, and hopefully start to network and ask questions. If you are polite, gracious and show that you are sincerely interested in learning, people in these forums are usually quite generous with their knowledge.
Recruiters
One of the notable workplace and labour market changes to take place over the course of the last year was the increased reliance on recruiters by companies. Recruitment is going to continue to play a large role in the search for and identification of talent and human capital, so you should consider hiring the services of a recruiter or signing up for a virtual recruitment service if you haven’t. This is an especially important tactic if you are BIPOC, as the increased focus on diversity and inclusion over the last year is here to stay and an important advantage when searching for work.
Conclusion
It is often said that you need to make finding a job your full-time job, and to an extent that is true, but you also need to be cognizant of the important tools and methods that exist to help you work smarter. Spamming your resume on the major job aggregators is not the best tactic for finding work in 2021. As previously mentioned, most job postings or openings are not listed, and while it is unfortunate this is not something that is more widely known, these are the facts. If you want hiring managers to notice you, you have to show up where these people are looking. Above are the job search tools that will help you find gainful employment right now and likely well into the future.