Using Google Alerts for Job Hunting Yet?

Posted by matt at 10:40 pm

If you’re NOT using Google Alerts in conjunction with Google Reader in the job hunt yet, you could be missing out on a powerful tool.

Why Use Google Alerts for Job Hunting?

Every time you open your web browser, click, type or visit a website, you’re using up time and in essence doing work. Although surfing the web has become second nature to most, there are most definitely quicker and more effective ways to find the content you’re looking for… And when you searching for a job, the quicker the better. Consider Google Alerts and Google Reader - If you don’t have a google or gmail account you’ll need one.

How Do I Use Google Alerts for Job Hunting?

With Google Alerts you simply create a search string (just like you would in Google’s standard search engine), save that string, then tell Google how you would like to receive content. For purposes of a job search the content you’re looking for could include: job postings, company press releases, hiring announcements, funding, promotions…The sky’s the limit on how you can use this information. Your saved search strings can be as simple as:

Or more complex like:

(if this looks like Greek, check out these links.  Basic search.  More advanced)

Starting to see the potential yet? After you create your string(s) you can direct Google on the frequency you would like to receive results, the volume of the results and also how you would like to receive results (email or feed). With a gmail address you can simply have results sent to your email account or you can choose “feed” and view your results with Google Reader – Definitely our suggestion.

When you choose “feed” you are telling Google that you want to view your results using Reader. With Reader you can create named folders for each category of searches and really organize your feeds so you aren’t having to dig through email. Just visit the folders on a daily basis and see what was posted. And, you can set up as many Google alerts as you like, be as specific or as broad as you like and really start to customize your job hunting experience.

Like any job hunt your strategy should include a number of online and offline tactics. With Google Alerts you can create a baseline, customized digital search front so that you’re not going back to the drawing board on a daily basis.