Landing the Job You Want Using Industry-Specific Job Sites

As a job seeker, you shouldn’t depend solely on web-based job posting sources, but here’s some advice for when you do opt to browse listings – look for niche sites.

These days, most job searchers are more inclined to use popular job sites like Monster, Indeed, CareerBuilder, and the never-know-what-you’re-gonna-get Craigslist. But tapping into niche sites, which offer listings for a specific industry or location, not only increase your chances of finding the job for which you’re looking, but also your chances of succeeding in procuring said job.  Sales professionals use Sales Gravy, which is a networking community for sales professionals.  Tech companies post job openings on the CrunchBoard, from the technology website, “TechCrunch.”  And now, property management and real estate professionals who want to hire staff can post job openings on theRRD, a central location for real estate and insurance services.

The Disadvantage to Larger Websites

A major disadvantage to large job sites is that they don’t actually aggregate ALL listings.  Smaller, more industry-specific sites tend to offer openings that don’t appear elsewhere.  They also occasionally list contact information for the hiring manager (rather than automatically routing to a generic application, which means your resume is less likely to disappear into a black hole).  Also, applicants from niche sites tend to be more qualified as their skill set more closely matches what the employer is looking for, so you’ll compete with fewer candidates than you would on well-known sites.  Essentially, you’re a bigger fish in a smaller pond.  You have a greater chance of standing out on a niche job board than you would on a big job site.

Small Companies Favor Niche Websites 

Smaller companies often favor niche sites to source prospects because they tend to receive responses from higher quality candidates.  This means they have fewer applications to sift through in order to find the best contender.  An employer is more likely to hire prospective employees who have an affinity for and/or experience in their given industry as opposed to someone willing to settle for anything; these types of candidates are more likely to hop from job to job.

All in all, if you know what to look for, using niche sites can increase your chances of finding the jobs you’re looking for.