How to make job searches more convenient

Forums: Internet Job Search, Search Engine Parameters
Email this Topic • Print this Page

When searching for housing on the internet, you can select buy/rent, min/max price, #bedrooms/bathrooms, lot size, location, etc. and view all the options that fit your parameters.

With job searches, however, you can select what sector and look for keywords and that's about all. Why isn't there a min/max pay input? What about days/times schedule parameters? Why not map job locations the way real estate locations are mapped?

What other search options would you like to see in job search engines on the internet?

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Discussion • Score: 0 • Views: 395 • Replies: 5

No top replies

@livinglava,

I think the job search is the opposite of a search for housing.

When I am searching for a job... I am the product. I offer resources, and I expect to receive money in return. When I am searching for an apartment... I am the customer. I am offering money and I expect resources in return.

I find in general, there is much more room for negotiation in a job search. I offer a set of skills that they want. Employers who want my services can negotiate quite a bit to make the job more attractive; not only can the offer more money, they can also change the schedule or allow me to work remotely.

In an apartment there isn't as much to negotiate over. It isn't easy to add a bathroom, or to make bedrooms bigger.

1 Reply

@maxdancona,

maxdancona wrote:

I think the job search is the opposite of a search for housing.

When I am searching for a job... I am the product. I offer resources, and I expect to receive money in return. When I am searching for an apartment... I am the customer. I am offering money and I expect resources in return.

I find in general, there is much more room for negotiation in a job search. I offer a set of skills that they want. Employers who want my services can negotiate quite a bit to make the job more attractive; not only can the offer more money, they can also change the schedule or allow me to work remotely.

In an apartment there isn't as much to negotiate over. It isn't easy to add a bathroom, or to make bedrooms bigger.

If you have kids in school, it could be helpful to search for all the possible (part time) jobs that would fit your schedule with your kids.

There could be other reasons you are looking for specific scheduling parameters.

It's really inefficient to try to figure out job scheduling from each job ad by reading it. Some mention the shift times in the ad and with others you just have to guess (e.g. you know that in retail, newcomers are likely going to be expected to work evenings and weekends)

It all comes down to more efficient communication between prospective employers and employees. If you and they both know what you're looking for and what you're not, you can input that in your search parameters and save everyone some time and hassle.

1 Reply

@livinglava,

I have used FlexJobs, a website that I found useful. It is a paid site that does some of the filtering for you.

0 Replies

@livinglava,

I think the difference is that say looking for a house or apartment there are more concrete items that you search for: price, number of bedrooms, location, number of bathrooms, square footage, etc. Also - I have done some searches for homes - and if you do have very specific things you are looking for - it can be difficult to search for those specific things and when searching for key words for these specific items I get a lot of noise.

So maybe it is in part to how specific your job search is vs. specific for a home?

Also for a job it is typically not as concrete - jobs can have much more variables - you can tie down certain things like location and part time vs full time and maybe even experience, but most as you read job descriptions are more vague. I think in part that skills are harder to define, some hours can be variable, sometimes companies want to broaden what they are looking for to get a larger pool of applicants - the fit for a job can be more complicated.

1 Reply

@Linkat,

Linkat wrote:

I think the difference is that say looking for a house or apartment there are more concrete items that you search for: price, number of bedrooms, location, number of bathrooms, square footage, etc. Also - I have done some searches for homes - and if you do have very specific things you are looking for - it can be difficult to search for those specific things and when searching for key words for these specific items I get a lot of noise.

So maybe it is in part to how specific your job search is vs. specific for a home?

Also for a job it is typically not as concrete - jobs can have much more variables - you can tie down certain things like location and part time vs full time and maybe even experience, but most as you read job descriptions are more vague. I think in part that skills are harder to define, some hours can be variable, sometimes companies want to broaden what they are looking for to get a larger pool of applicants - the fit for a job can be more complicated.

It's the same as searching for housing. You keep playing with the search parameters to look at different selections. E.g. you might want something under $100k, but then you check out $100k-$200k places because you're curious what there is at that price. You do the same with other variables.

With jobs, you might really want something from 9 to 2/3pm with no evenings or weekends because you're a single parent, but then you would still want to know what other options there are if, for example, you found an after-school activity for certain afternoons/weekends.

Of course there are going to be things that aren't fixed prior to direct negotiations with a prospective candidate, but then again there are certain things you know as an employer/manager that you need in a candidate, and many job ads mention them, such as being available for all shifts, including evenings and weekends, or being available for certain early morning and/or late night shifts, such as in package handling.

Much of this information is already conveyed within the text of the job ad. It just needs to be encoded so that the search engine can easily sort according to these different variables.

0 Replies

Forums
» How to make job searches more convenient

Read Discussion
Reply to All

How to make job searches more convenient

Quick Links

My Account

able2know