Use Indeed, But Don't Stop There

It’s hard to argue that there is a better job board available to job seekers right now than Indeed.

They certainly have an expansive list of jobs because they are an aggregate site (i.e. they pull job postings off of employer websites and other job boards) and they also allow employers to post to them directly. On their job search page, they advertise themselves as “one search. all jobs. ”

Is Indeed really as good as it seems?

As a job seeker, you may be interested to know that while they advertise themselves as a one stop shop that contains “all jobs” that’s not exactly the truth. Indeed knows that as a seeker your time is valuable, and that you will likely only look at 1-2 pages worth of results. Many people only look at page one.

What do they do with this information?

They encourage employers to pay big sponsorship fees to keep their jobs at the top of the search list. The employers that don’t know about the system or don’t have the funds to pay hundreds of dollars to sponsor their jobs, get pushed to the bottom of the list. In turn, there may be a great job on page 5 of your search results, and chances are you simply aren’t looking that far.

If the job posting isn’t “search engine optimized,” it will barely show up in results. Not all employers realize what SEO looks like in a job posting, and thus their position (which may be a great one) won’t show up in your search.

Definitely use Indeed, but don’t stop there.

Craigslist for example can be a great source for searching jobs in certain industries–you will not find those posts on Indeed. Monster, Career Builder, LinkedIn, Glass Doors, Simply Hired, local newspapers, and many smaller and industry specific job boards are all great sources for searching for jobs.

And if you are interested in specific companies, you definitely want to check their employment pages directly. If you are a soon-to-be or recent graduate–check out your college’s job board. A lot of employers use them to target entry level candidates with a specific degree.

Happy searching!

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