Gaps in employment can happen for a lot of reasons – some by choice, some by necessity. Confidently owning the “then”, and providing evidence that you are qualified and ready for service in the “now”, gives you the best chance to get hired by employers willing to consider qualified candidates in spite of gaps in employment.
Perhaps the most important information when you are considering a new job is the salary or hourly rate. However, this information is often not provided in job postings, particularly private sector ones. Instead, potential applicants find missing, incomplete or misleading information,
Pay transparency laws seek to address this information problem in several different ways. A number of US states and cities have adopted or are considering such laws. This post provides some information about the types of laws in force or under consideration, the problems that are already emerging with them, and how to best approach today’s job market in order to get the best compensation you can.
In my experience, three things need to be true for a resume to be successful:
1) It must provide the information necessary for a recruiter or hiring manager to determine if you have the desired education and experience for the position.
2) It must highlight what differentiates you from other candidates with similar education and experience, so that the recruiter or hiring manager will want to talk to you.
3) You have to believe what your resume says, and be able to effectively tell the stories it outlines.
Let’s discuss each of these criteria…
Larry Wilson, MSW, LSW | Social Worker, Career Counselor
Google Jobs: Coverage gaps, older jobs recycled by second tier job boards
LinkedIn: a more comprehensive and useful tool
Indeed: a clean and comprehensive site
Google Jobs
If you follow this space, you know that I have recommended Google Jobs as a tool that lets you control alerts, and target your search with almost the full range of Google’s powerful syntax. For quite a while, this was a very useful tool to access a significant percentage of posted jobs.
Unfortunately, Google Jobs’s relatively open architecture has led to some peculiar challenges. Many postings have originated from secondary job sites, such as Trabajo, Geebo, BeBee and others. These listings have usually appeared somewhere else first, and though they are new to the secondary job site, they may actually be weeks old. Since they are listed as new, you will have to wade through them if you sort by posting date. This dilutes the value of the site as a principal source for jobs.
Further, some of these listings only provide an unformatted screen scrape of the original posting, making it very difficult to locate key information such as required education or experience.
Given these content trends on Google Jobs, I recommend you approach it as follows: First and foremost, if a job looks attractive to you, check to see how many options are listed for where to apply. If it is only one site, and that is one of these secondary job boards, I recommend going directly to the site of the employer or recruiting agency listed, and looking for the job there. You may find the listing is no longer there, or you may be told that the job listing has expired. On the other hand, if you find the job, you can see how old the listing is, and apply directly. This will help avoid your getting unwanted follow ups from the secondary job board.
Overall, I can no longer recommend Google Jobs as a primary job board. You will be better served by LinkedIn and/or Indeed, discussed below, or other similar sites.
LinkedIn is the premier career related social networking site in the USA. It has come to be a very rich source of job listings, some of which could even have been posted by your network connections.
In order to use LinkedIn as a job search tool, you have to have a LinkedIn account and profile. Once you do, when you sign in to LinkedIn, “Jobs” will be one of the information categories listed at the top of your page (on a desktop), or at the bottom (on mobile app).
When you click on Jobs, you will be able to key in search parameters such as keywords, locations, posting date, etc., just as you would with other job boards.
The display is similar to that of Google Jobs and other sites, with a scroll of available jobs on the left, and details on the selected job on the right. The display is clean, with requirements usually clearly highlighted.
The many other features of LinkedIn can be helpful as well – such as clicking on the hiring company or agency, then checking if you have connections with any current or past employees/contractors who have worked there.
LinkedIn may offer easy application by submitting your LinkedIn resume (if you have posted one), or an attached resume, or it may link directly to a company site for applications.
One thing I have noticed with LinkedIn searches by job title is that after listing jobs that include that title keyword, LinkedIn will list other jobs with similar responsibilities. This may be useful at times, but is a good argument *not* to set up job alerts. LinkedIn will list your recent searches along with the number of “new” listings (since you last checked), so it is simple to find new listings that may be of interest.
Right now, LinkedIn is my most-used job search tool.
Indeed
Indeed remains the most comprehensive job board in my experience. As with LinkedIn, I recommend you skip the offer to send you alerts on new listings. You have all the search parameters available to you as well as all the filters you might want, including location, distance and posting date.
Indeed also has a clean presentation, with requirements often pulled out for easy viewing. The job list on the left can be sorted by posting date, an advantage over LinkedIn, which does not offer this option within the posting date filter you select.
Indeed offers a standard application process where you fill in a simple screen and attach resume and cover letter (if desired). Indeed offers employers the option to add screening questions; these will appear after you submit the resume.
Right now, Indeed is my second-most used job search tool.
I still use Google Jobs, but as a secondary resource, along with usajobs.gov, npo.net and idealist.org. I also use Craigslist (see blog post on this site for Craigslist tips and tricks).
Stay tuned for more to come in future postings!
The idea of networking with strangers carries the risk of rejection – which is enough to cause many job seekers to use other methods instead. The stories in this series illustrate what can happen when job seekers take that risk. The goals of this type of networking are to 1) expand the network of people you know, and 2) tobtain advice, information, and direction.
Larry Wilson, MSW, LSW | Social Worker, Career Counselor
The post is advertising exactly what you’ve been looking for! An hourly job offering attractive wages and good benefits. The employer has a good reputation. Jobs are available now! All you have to do is sign up!
Beware: As with other great-sounding deals, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
If you are looking for a new job, once source to consider is Facebook Groups. Many such groups exist at the community, county or regional level. As with many other groups, some of these are public, while others are private, meaning you have to submit a request to be added.
If you are looking for an entry level or staff position, it may be worth your time to join a couple of groups in your area and check them from time to time. Sometimes group members post to these groups asking who’s hiring. When you see this, check the comments. Often there are leads to local organizations that are hiring. These may be worth checking out, and may include jobs of almost any kind. You can also post what you are looking for and see if anyone has leads.
Larry Wilson, MSW, LSW • larry@wilson-consulting.net • 224-374-8443
