WebProNews

Tag: job search

  • Facebook Increases Job Search Capabilities to 40 New Countries

    Facebook Increases Job Search Capabilities to 40 New Countries

    Facebook users from different parts of the globe will soon be able to look and apply for a local job using the social media platform.

    The social media giant recently announced that its job search and application feature is being rolled out in more than 40 different countries, including Brazil, Spain, and the UK. The feature was initially only available in Canada and the US.

    The job search feature allows users to search job openings and apply for them directly on the company’s site or mobile app. Meanwhile, improvements made to the feature allows companies with Facebook pages to post their job openings online easily, go through the applications and reach out to shortlisted candidates through Messenger. What’s more, job applicants can also subscribe to a company’s job listings.

    According to Alex Himel, VP of Local at Facebook, the company has seen “a lot of organic activity of businesses trying to hire.” He even cited a Morning Consult Poll that showed that one in four people in the US alone had either looked for or found a job on the platform. And with more than two billion users globally, Facebook is perfectly placed to connect job seekers with local enterprises who are looking to fill low to medium-skilled job vacancies.

    The job search and application tool is a free feature. Companies and job seekers don’t have to pay anything to gain access. While companies can pay for Facebook ads in order to boost their job post to improve applications or target particular candidates, it’s not a requirement. Job postings can be seen on the user’s News Feed and on Facebook’s Marketplace and Pages.

    Facebook users can narrow down their job search based on job category and type. It should be pointed out that the job creator only has access to information on the user’s account that’s publicly available. Applying for a job reportedly takes just a few steps and the user has complete control over what personal information will be shown in the application.

    [Featured image via Facebook Newsroom]

  • GiantGator Launches To Be ‘Most Extensive Search Engine for Freelance Jobs’

    GiantGator Launches To Be ‘Most Extensive Search Engine for Freelance Jobs’

    A new freelance job search engine called giantGator launched today, aggregating job postings for freelancers from a number of sources including Freelancer.com, eLance, UpWork, Guru.com, and others.

    A spokesperson for giantGator tells WebProNews, “Thanks to the Freelancer’s Union study, we know that an estimated 53 million Americans are freelancing – but how many freelance jobs are out there, and how easy are they to find?”

    The estimated number of posted freelance projects giantGator has aggregated since February is 1.36 million, and the average number of projects posted daily is 8,245. The typical lifespan of a posted project is about four days, it says.

    giantgator-infographic

    “These new numbers demonstrate how extremely fast-paced the freelance marketplace is operating,” the spokesperson says. “giantGator aims to streamline the daunting search process for freelancers by aggregating opportunities in one place.”

    The interface is simple, and certainly nothing fancy, but it’s useable, and to the point, which is really all you need when you’re looking for a job. No need to overcomplicate things.

    It gives you a couple of sliders that let you indicate what kind of wages you’re looking for (see image above), which helps you refine your searches.

    The running count of how many new projects have been added in the last 24 hours is nice too, as it can give you an idea of how much the job pool is being updated. You can also set alerts for specific searches.

    GiantGator can be used to search for jobs in writing, application development, database administration, design, sales, SEO, data entry, ecommerce, video services, marketing, lead generation, research, etc.

    Image via giantGator

  • Career Search Tips: Find Your Ideal Job

    Career Search Tips: Find Your Ideal Job

    There is only one thing more painful than being unemployed: The eye numbing job search one must embark on to find a new job. Chin up, it does not have to be a bad time. If you are moving in the direction of a career that truly makes you happy, it can even be exhilarating.

    There are some important tips to consider as you move towards seeking a new career to both make you personally happier and pay the bills.

    Make Sure It’s A Career Field With Job Potential

    There are few things more frustrating than walking away from a career that was stable and well-paying only to find that your new career means jobs are rare and pay peanuts. This discovery is usually the direct result of a failure to do research before leaping head first into a new career field.

    It’s one thing to seek out a career doing what you think you’ll love; it’s another thing entirely to be realistically able to do it and thrive.

    Have a look at what career fields are most promising right now and then decide what suits you best.

    Insist On Putting Your Best Foot Forward

    How many of us have a generalized resume and a copy-and-paste cover letter on standby? As it turns out this might hurt you more than help you when it comes to finding a specific job.

    Employers want to feel that you have showed up to work for them, not that they are stop 230,754 on your quest for a new job.

    Part of it is simply being too lazy to take the time to really study the job you have applied for and customize your resume and cover letter to that potential employer. Yes, going through the trouble is a lot of work. However, as you’re not exactly the most busy person in the world, would it really hurt to take the extra time write more a more specific cover letter?

    Pay attention to what jobs say they are looking for and take the time to customize your application process. If you go out of your way to make yourself stand out and show that you have your game face on, you are more likely to get the results you want.

    Strongly Consider Telecommute Or Work-From-Home Jobs

    Gone are the days when “work from home” was synonymous with scam artists trying to tell you that you can become rich by stuffing envelopes.

    If you are truly burn out by the traditional 9 to 5 office environment, consider jobs that you can do from virtually anywhere in the world.

    If you have any writing talent and experience, you may consider a job as a freelance writer, but there are other work-from-home options to consider. Some make their living as a virtual assistant, performing customer service or data entry tasks.

    It’s becoming increasingly easy to find traditional job positions that only require a phone and access to the internet. If the hussle and bussle of driving to work no longer suits you, carefully consider your skills and abilities and then see if there is any potential to make use of it in a telecommuting position.

    Have any other job tips for the battle-hardened job searcher? Share away in the comments!

    Image via Youtube

  • LinkedIn Updates its Job Search Engine

    LinkedIn Updates its Job Search Engine

    LinkedIn, the social network for professional networking, is set up to be the online, social alternative to the old resume system. Though the website as a whole is set up to get people hired, the social network also provides a streamlined way for users to search for their dream job.

    LinkedIn today announced that it has updated its job search page with a new look and new features.

    Job searchers can now use advanced search options to narrow their search by industry, position, country, and zip code. A salary level filter is also available for users who subscribe to LinkedIn’s “Job Seeker Premium” service.

    The new layout also prominently displays a “Jobs you may be interested in” section (with a sponsored sub-section) that surfaces jobs related to a LinkedIn member’s talents and previous work. A section at the bottom of the page now also lists companies where LinkedIn connections are employed, and a sidebar section automatically provides new results for saved job searches.

    The social network has created a SlideShare presentation that highlights the major changes. A small privacy warning before viewing it, however: SlideShare announced earlier this week that its presentations can now include new tracking tools that can track metrics such as how long an individual user spends on each slide.

  • LinkedIn Gives Career Pages An Overhaul

    LinkedIn Gives Career Pages An Overhaul

    LinkedIn announced today that it has updated its Career Pages to make it easier to “show off your unique employer brand”.

    “As with many LinkedIn products, our goal is to make both our members and talent acquisition customers more successful,” writes LinkedIn’s Thomas Sexton in a blog post. “When candidates are more engaged, more connected with companies, and better able to find their dream jobs, everybody wins. This means designing a page that’s simple and laser-focused on capturing candidates’ attention as soon as they hit the page.”

    The new pages feature a large banner image (which seems to be the trend these days).

    “We’ve found that candidates care most about personalized jobs, people they know at your company and what you stand for as an employer,” says Sexton. “The new, cleaner page design puts these elements front and center.”

    There are also content modules that let you share videos, testimonials, text, etc.

    Here’s what they look like:

    New Career Pages

    Earlier this month, LinkedIn also redesigned Company Pages (and added them to mobile).

  • The Social Job Search [Infographic]

    The Social Job Search [Infographic]

    The job market may be getting better as we enter into 2012, but finding a position that meets your employment requirements and suits your skill-set is harder than ever. In fact, one of the most difficult challenges employers face is finding qualified candidates to fill their open position.

    This next infographic from OnlineDegrees.Com addresses the issue of being seen in a job market full of applicants. How do you get recognized? You have to be found in the same circles your prospective employers travel in. It used to be called networking, now we call social networking. All kidding aside, you have to make connections with the right people. Platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter make networking easier than ever.

    If you’re looking for a new job or you want to shed the shackles of your current position, you need to study this graphic. Knowing the ins and outs of social networking as part of your job hunt is literally going to put you at the head of the pack. If you don’t have a presence on the same social media sites potential employers are using, you won’t get that vital opportunity to appear on their radar. Take a look:

  • White House Code Sprint Invites Developers To Build Job Search Apps

    Summer quickly approaches and while the season’s arrival heralds three months of unadulterated slothing and maybe some vacations for most students, many will take the opportunity to get some much needed job experience. To hopefully ease of the formative experience known as the Summer Job Search, the White House has put out a call for help to developers to build apps for browsers, social media platforms, and smartphones that will put these youngsters in touch with job opportunities.

    The open-source initiative, Code Sprint, which was conceived by the White House and the Department of Labor, is aimed at building an app capable of providing low-income and disconnected youths aged 16 to 24 years old with access to information regarding summer jobs, internships, and the sort. The program through which the app will be developed, Summer Jobs+, is an open call for employers from multiple industries to provide the aforementioned demographic with a way to foster good work ethics and maybe even make some money in the process, as well.

    By providing developers with the Summer Jobs+ API, and thereby with a database of thousands of summer internships, training and mentorships opportunities, Code Sprint is being regarding as a challenge to the developer community to construct job search apps that will realize the goal of the White House and the Department of Labor.

    The unemployment drag certainly hasn’t left the 16- to 24-year-old demographic unaffected as less than half, 48.8%, were employed last July, a time in which youth employment typically sees a boost. Comparatively, 59.2% of that demographic was employed in the month of July only five years ago. More troubling, the percentages of minority youths who were employed last July was less than the national average.

    In the blog post that announced the Code Sprint, Brian Forde, Advisor to the Chief Technology Officer, listed only the barest of requirements and essentially handed over all creative license to the developers. “Some ideas we’d love to see include an easy way to receive job opportunities through SMS, localized job search apps for the city you live in, map based interfaces or easy way to create summer training playlists that help youth plan a summer of job skills development,” he said. “These are just a few of our ideas but we’re confident that you have even better ones.”

    The White House seems to be spearheading the whole mobile technology/development/search aspect when it comes to fixing some of the country’s ills. Last month, a competition was announced for developers to build apps that could be used by case workers and caregivers of homeless veterans that would expedite the process of locating nearby services for the homeless.

    The deadline to develop and submit the apps is April 9, 8AM, after which some of the best ones will be featured on the White House’s website. More information about the Summer Jobs+ API can be found on the Department of Labor’s website.

    [Via Mashable.]

  • How Far Would You Go to Get Your Dream Job?

    What would you do to get a job? It’s clear that finding a job is not an easy task and is especially challenging in this economy. As a result, the expectation level for applicants is much higher. So, what do people have to do to get a job today?

    Matthew Epstein, a product marketer from Georgia, really, really wanted a job and decided to take a very unique approach to obtaining it. He created an entire marketing campaign in hopes of getting his dream job at… Google.

    With this hefty goal in mind, he developed a website called GooglePleaseHire.me. In addition, he utilized social media platforms and offline events to get his distinctive message out:

    Mr. Moustache also sent a cardboard cut out of himself that showcased his URL to Google’s HR department to gain further attention. He was on the verge of having a plane fly around the Google headquarters and also display his URL, but fortunately for wallet, his video went viral first.

    As it turns out, Epstein did receive Google’s attention. He told us that the tech giant called 2 days after he launched the campaign and, at first, he didn’t believe it was them. He ended up having 3 interviews with them, but ultimately, Google decided not to hire him. Although the reason was not disclosed, a lot of tech companies do not explain their hiring/not hiring rationale in order to protect themselves from legal issues.

    The story, however, does not end badly for Epstein. Through his campaign, he received interviews with multiple companies including Microsoft, Amazon, and Salesforce. He was given 3 job offers and decided to accept a position at an investment startup called SigFig.

    “I was suffering from a lack of choice, and then by the end of this, I was suffering from a lack of too many choices,” said Epstein.

    Even though he succeeded in getting Google’s attention, his campaign could easily be classified as extreme. The creativity, which is very valuable when it comes to marketing, cannot be disputed, but, was it over the top?

    “I definitely wouldn’t recommend that everyone slap on a moustache and go around running half-naked,” he admits. “It’s definitely more about creating something or applying for a job that’s in line with your personality and that correlates to the job.”

    Epstein told us that 80 percent of his friends thought his plan was stupid. He also said that if he had really sat down and thought it through, he probably wouldn’t have carried it out.

    He is thankful that he took the risk and believes that more people will begin to submit nontraditional job applications going forward. According to him, a job application should not feel like work. Epstein recommends that job searchers focus on 3-5 companies that they really want to work for and develop a creative idea that these companies can relate to.

    “If you have an idea and you honestly believe in it, just go out and do it,” he said.

    Epstein spent over $4,000 on his campaign but received more than 600K views on his video resume, more than 700K unique visits to his website, an overwhelming amount of emails and tweets, and his dream job, even though it’s not with Google.

    For this, he told us that it was “definitely worth it.” He also said that we could expect to see “interesting things” from SigFig in the near future.

    In case you’re wondering about the fate of his infamous moustache, he said that it is retired for now, but that it could surface again if he is need of a job.

    Would you go as far as Epstein went to get a job? Let us know.

  • Techmeme Adds a Jobs Box

    Tech news aggregation site Techmeme has added a section that promotes jobs within the tech industry. On the right hand side, you will notice a new box titled “Who’s Hiring In Tech?” Below, many big name companies have already signed on to be a part of the new jobs box.

    Each company listed has its own tagline, apparently written by the companies themselves. Google says “The end to your job search.” Clever. Twitter says “Less characters, more fulfilling.” Not bad. My favorite is from Twilio who asks job searchers to “Come run wild in our geek pasture.” Sounds fun.

    Clicking on the company links will take you to their respective jobs page.

    In a post on the Techmeme news page, founder Gabe Rivera says “Billboards suck, promote your company’s jobs on Techmeme!”  He writes further that  “Techmeme is a better place for companies to reach out to a smart and well-informed tech-focused audience…We expect that Techmeme readers who are inclined to upgrade their jobs, or ready to embark on a career in tech, will take this jobs section as an extra nudge to explore options available at the featured companies, and a reminder that all of the great companies listed are aggressively hiring.”

    How will this affect Techmeme’s news aggregation?  Will they give more weight to stories from and about the companies that buy job promotion spots?  No, Rivera says to TechCrunch.

    “Not more than any other news site that accepts advertising from an array of companies. The only time I mentioned consideration of sponsors to my editorial staff was when I asked them specifically not to give sponsors extra consideration,” he says.