How to be online smart about your job search

[Monirul Islam]

According to new research from the Department of Jobs and Small Business, the number of jobs advertised online by employers has risen from 45% in 2012-13, to 60% in 2016-17 – that's a 15% increase in the last five years.

Guess it's time to get online smart about your job search!

These days, there's a huge variety of different websites, apps and online services to assist in your online job hunt. This can be helpful if you need to find work, but it can also be a little daunting. You can spend hours trawling the internet, but how do you know you're not wasting your time?

When you're looking for work online, you need to be strategic. Know which platforms are worth using, and how to use them to your best advantage.

Here's our 5-step guide to using online platforms in Australia to kick-start your career.

1. Your resume is your first impression on paper. It matters.

Before you start anything else, you need to prepare a killer resume. This is also a great way to refine your own understanding of your goals and key skills. It's a chance to create a narrative out of your work experience and think about the job title that suits you best.

There's a huge range of different resume builders online to suit different occupations. For most roles in business and government, whether it's project management or communications, you'll want a resume that's clean, minimal and concise. If you're going into marketing, you'll want something that's a little more creative to help you stand out from the pack.

Kaplan Business School has a dedicated Careers Central service where students can receive personalised advice on all areas of job seeking; this includes a great online resource for business students looking for tips on how to polish their CVs.

ResumeNow is many reviewers' first choice when it comes to business-related positions. Their do-it-yourself platform is easy to use, and their templates are slick and professional. For more options, check out the Resumance one-click review page. They've rated each page according to cost as well as ease of use and results.

2. It helps to know someone who knows someone.

So, you've got a fabulous resume that's going to impress. Now it's time to get networking.

LinkedIn is by far and away the most popular online professional networking site. According to Viveka von Rosen, author of LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day, 98% of recruiters and 85% of hiring managers use LinkedIn to find candidates. So, you're crazy to pass up on this opportunity.

One of the great things about this site is that it builds on your existing networks in 'real' life. This makes it easier and more comfortable to reach out to potential employers. Plus, there's a regularly updated list of job postings in your networks, so it's a way to directly find work.

But, you've got to be smart about how you use it. Forbes magazine suggests these top tips on how to make sure you're getting the most out of LinkedIn:

Make a findable and visually appealing profile.
Use your LinkedIn profile to showcase everything that doesn't fit on your resume.
Use LinkedIn Groups to get involved in conversations.
As well as LinkedIn, there are a couple of other online networks worth checking out.

Meet up is a great way to find professional networking events in your area and take your networking offline and into the real world.

Connequity is a sophisticated online service that uses your LinkedIn profile to deliver referrals right into your inbox. It basically does a lot of your LinkedIn contact trawling for you, and who doesn't want that!

Although these online tools will be critical in promoting yourself, this is one area of the job search where you also can't underestimate the power of a meet and greet. At Kaplan Business School, Careers Advisors can help build your networking techniques and put you in front of potential recruiters through their network of partners.

3. Seek and you shall find.

SEEK remains the biggest and most popular job search website in Australia, and it should be your first port of call. It's not just the amount and range of listings that makes it popular, it's the search engine. You can easily filter results according to industry, profession, and type of work.

Our #1 hot tip when using SEEK (and other sites):

Keep an eye on the companies that are putting up listings. There are a lot of recruitment agencies using this site and many have industry-specific clients. If you frequently see the kind of job you want to be posted by an agency, you should contact them directly to see what else they might have going on.

Aside from SEEK, there are several other popular job seeking sites you should check out, including CareerOne, Indeed, and Adzuna.

For those of you who want to make the world a better place while working, you should check out EthicalJobs. This site specifically lists jobs across different sectors that have positive social and environmental impacts.

4. Make your application pitch perfect.

Once you've found a bunch of roles that you want to apply for, the next step is to write a cover letter for each position.

Don't make the mistake of copying and pasting whole letters. Each letter needs to be unique to the position you're applying for.

This may be time-consuming, but it's ultimately worth it. Recruiters will ignore applications where the letter is obviously generic.

When you've written up an impressive cover letter explaining how the job is a perfect match for your skill set, upload it to Grammarly. This is our #1 pick for spelling and grammar checks. Details matter and it goes back to making a good impression on paper.

As a student, make sure you use all services available to you. Kaplan Business School's Careers Advisors are here to help and can look over your cover letter, provide tips and make professional suggestions as to content and layout.


5. Follow up. Repeat.

Yes, it's a long and sometimes tedious process, but you really just have to keep going. Don't forget to follow up on your applications about a week after you submit them, if you have an email contact.

Source: kbs.edu.au