The Do’s and Don’ts of Using Online Job Boards

By Jay Balfour

If you’ve ever looked for a job online you’ve almost certainly used a job board before. Whether you’re keeping tabs on local Craigslist postings or chasing a high-paying job you saw on LinkedIn, many of the same tools and skills apply in either space.

Because job boards are usually the easiest one-stop shop for online job hunters (and recruiters), they’re also often the most competitive place to look for an opening on the Internet. An employer might conservatively expect 75 email applications a day from a job posting on a site like Indeed. For you that means not only learning how to stand out, but also learning to pick your battles.

While you shouldn’t rely solely on a job board when looking for a new position, unless you’re using a headhunter or recruiting service, you really can’t afford to skip out on them. Whether you’re already employed or in desperate need of a job as quickly as possible one of the most important things to remember when approaching a board is to manage your expectations and use your time wisely. An extended job search isn’t just time consuming, it can be demoralizing and seeing hundreds of listings online can intensify that feeling if you’re not having any luck.

With all of that in mind, here are some things to look for and others to avoid when using an online job board. And remember, you should always be networking both online and offline and seeking out positions directly on company and organization websites if you’re on the hunt. Not every opening gets posted on a job board but they’re still a viable if overcrowded watering hole for job seekers just about everywhere.

Do’s

• Make sure you’re in the right place. Especially in a niche or highly specialized industry, employers often depend on field-specific job boards. You should too. Spend some time looking for a job board that caters specifically to your field and check back daily.
• Maintain a balance. If you’re looking at several job boards a day you’ll likely be pouring over hundreds of listings. Every application you send in shouldn’t be a long-shot but there’s nothing wrong with shooting for the moon every once in a while. Just remember to manage your time and balance out those wishful apps with some safer submissions.
• Use the tools available to you. If you can upload your resume to a job board to apply for an opening directly you can save yourself some time. Be careful not to give away your information needlessly but minimize the time spent on each application by keeping an up-to-date resume uploaded.
• Know the difference between a job board and a job aggregator or search engine. If you’re using a site like Indeed you can probably skip out on Monster or CareerBuilder because you’re likely seeing their postings in your search results either way. A job aggregator relies on you to filter out the noise, a more traditional job board will do that work for you.

Don’ts

• Avoid ambiguous listings that fail to describe the job itself. If you’re applying for a job you should have some sense of what the day-to-day responsibilities entail. Vague listings that look too good to be true or have an unusually low barrier for entry should raise red flags.
• Along with the above, watch out for buzzwords and suspicious job titles. Some descriptions, like “entry level marketing associate,” can be the first step in a bait-and-switch operation.
• Don’t apply for every job you see. If you’re in desperate need of a job as fast as possible it might be time to start pounding the pavement with your resume in-hand. Until then you’re better off using the Internet to curate the best openings rather than spending your time sending out as many applications as possible.
• Don’t apply for a job you’re unqualified for. Learning how to suss out how important work experience and education are to an employer and industry is part of the process of looking for a job. Many skills and experiences can translate across industries but there’s no way to make up for a missing degree or certification.
• TIP: if you are hiring try these 10 free job sites.