E-Book Review: Discover Your New Job Online

Advertiser Disclosure ▾

This page contains affiliate links from which we receive a compensation. Like many publications Wise Bread is supported by affiliate commission from partner companies whose products appear on our site. This may influence which products we write about and the location and order in which products appear. We aren't able to cover every product in the marketplace.

Wise Bread Picks

• Travel Rewards Credit Cards
• Cash Back Credit Cards
• 0% Balance Transfer Credit Cards

In Discover Your New Job Online, a new e-Book by Thursday Bram, this Wise Bread blogger takes readers through the steps of landing a job using online tools. Here's an overview of the steps and samples of the online resources.

1. Get started by defining your career goals and job requirements. Knowing what you want to accomplish in your search (position type, work environment, location, etc.) can help you plan your job search, focus on the right opportunities, and guide your decisions at each step.

• Career Assessments: Quintessential Careers lists many sources of career assessment tools. Most providers require registration to dispense test results and charge a fee for comprehensive results, though some give basic results at no charge. For a free, offline career assessment, visit your community college.
   
• Career Coaching Advice: Career coach Chandlee Bryan dispenses insights at @chandlee; check out her career coaching twibe on Twitter. (Note: Chandlee is a co-author of The Twitter Job Search Guide, which is scheduled for release in March 2010 and I contributed a tweet to this book).

2. Build and manage your online presence. Search your name to uncover what others (potential bosses) will see about you or those who share your name. First, take care of any unprofessional or unflattering information that belongs to you. Then, create or expand upon your online presence.

• Portfolios: Create your own website with links to projects online or construct a multi-dimensional resume using VisualCV with work samples, portfolio links, and more.
   
• Personal Branding: Find ways to differentiate yourself. Dan Schawbel’s Personal Branding blog gives expert advice on defining and promoting your unique talents. Check out his starter guide on personal branding.

3. Participate in social networking. Create your profile in professional networking sites, such as LinkedIn as well as niche sites specific to your expertise and interests. Share ideas, serve as a resource to colleagues, and (politely) make inquiries about opportunities with certain companies or in a specific location.

• LinkedIn: Create a LinkedIn account (if you haven’t already signed up). Follow this 3-step guide to setting up your profile.
   
• Niche networking sites: Connect with peers in specialty sites, such as Decorati for interior designers. Defining your goals (as recommended by Thursday at the beginning of the e-Book-step #1) can guide your decision in locating a relevant site.
   
• Twitter: Major corporations along with smaller companies are advertising their openings using Twitter. Check out TweetMyJobs to search for openings and set up a subscription to get alerts delivered to your phone.

4. Manage your job search. Let people know that you’re in the job market. You can correspond with your LinkedIn connections, respond to job listings using twitter, and post your profile on niche job boards. Keep track of who you’ve contacted, where you’ve sent (or posted) your resume, who you’ve spoken with, and when you’re going to follow up with an interviewer, etc.

• Job Sites (or job boards): Check out niche job boards that match your interests, industry, target companies, or career stage from recent grads to retired but working.
   
• Job Search Tracking: Set up and maintain a spreadsheet of all your search activities. Or, sign up for an account with JibberJobber to track your current search and continue managing contacts after you’ve landed a job. Though it may seem like extra work now, many job hunters routinely tell me that they’re surprised (and unprepared for interviews) when they hear from potential employers weeks or even months after an inquiry.

5. Land the right job. Prepare for interviews and evaluate potential employers. Visit company websites and do some searches to learn about corporate matters that may impact a job offer, such as a planned expansion or facility shutdown.

• Inside information on employers: Visit Glassdoor and Career Leak to learn about corporate culture, salaries, positions and more from the perspectives of current and former employees.

The advice and resources in the e-Book are useful to nearly any job seeker but experienced professionals new to online job searching and recent grads who are starting a job search could find Discover Your Job Online particularly valuable.

Note: Thursday Bram kindly emailed me a preview of Discover Your New Job Online: How to land a great job in the Digital Age for a review on Wise Bread. The e-Book is available through Stepcase Lifehack: Book Store.