Jobsites: Important tips you need to know

There are many online job sites where you can apply for advertised jobs and upload your CV for recruiters to view. Some can be a waste of time whilst others can really assist you.

Important tips when placing your CV online:

• Be careful not to make grammatical or spelling mistakes when completing online forms. Recruiters are more likely to steer clear of applicants who have not made a good impression when filling out an online form correctly. Don’t rush filling out the form and be as professional as you can.
• If you are open to a range of roles, use a generic CV that won’t put off a recruiter from contacting you about other positions. For example: one candidate mentioned in her profile that she was keen to develop a career in the property sector. While this was true she was open to other opportunities and other industries but is less likely to be contacted about these, because her CV gives the impression she only wants to be contacted about property roles. Obviously if it is only one type of role you are interested in then being specific is not a problem.
• If you don’t want to use a generic CV then upload more detailed CV’s onto the same jobsite, this can be time consuming but could be worthwhile.
• The CV you place online should use varying key-words that will enable you to be searchable by recruiters. For example: if you are a bought ledger clerk you might want to place Accounts payable somewhere in your CV or if you are a buyer you may want to ensure the terms purchasing and procurement are written in your CV somewhere as it will give you a better chance of being contacted about possible opportunities.
• If you are looking for work in an area you are not yet residing in, put the postcode and address of the area you are moving to and looking for work in, if you don’t yet have this get permission to use a friend’s address and postcode that lives near the area you are moving to. The reason for this is recruiters do postcode searches for candidates e.g. 10 miles from where you live,  if you don’t reside in that area you won’t show up in their search for possible opportunities.
• Regularly log onto online job websites where your CV is uploaded, because with a many sites, recruiters can view the history of how long candidates have been searching for jobs. For example: recruiters do a search for candidates in the last seven days. If the last time you logged onto the online job site was two weeks ago than you won’t come up in a search, however if you logged into the website only two days ago you will come up. London Career Solutions suggests logging into job sites at least once a week.
• Numerous online jobsites will allow you to use a heading or statement to describe yourself. Be professional and concise when describing what you are looking for as any outlandish comments are seen as arrogant or negative and will decrease the chances of recruiters contacting you.
• Online job sites are great for candidates seeking the next step in their career. Those seeking a seeking a career change should register their CV with online websites but be aware it is lot less likely to be successful; however it is still a great way of marketing yourself so don’t discount it from your action plan.
• Do not make the mistake of solely relying on jobsites to be the main source of finding work. CV distribution services These are services that will email your CV to recruitment agencies. The service can certainly be effective but those using a service like this should be cautious.
• Quite often job seekers don’t know where their CV has been sent and therefore you cannot follow up.
• High demand job seekers can be flooded with calls which could be annoying, low demand job seekers may not get the response they hoped which can be disheartening.
• Don’t use this method as your sole source for looking for work.
• Don’t get into the trap of receiving three or four responses and thinking that you will keep getting them.