Niche Job Boards and Your Internet Job Search

Searching for a job on the Internet has never been easier, and by the same token it's never been harder.  Even a savvy web user would have a hard time wading through the hundreds of thousands of job sites out there, and to complicate things you are probably either out of work, or dissatisfied with your current position/career track.  You have probably experienced feelings of being "lost" when searching online, and to be sure, there ARE a lot of questions- what sites are worth using? Does it even matter? Should I post a public resume? How should I begin?

Internet recruiting is still a pretty immature industry.  There are dozens, if not hundreds, of new employment web sites added to the Internet every week.  Chances are, your perfect job is probably posted on a site that you've never even heard of.  The default behavior is usually to just use the big, generic national boards since that's what all of the employers use, right? Well, some of them do, and some of them don't.  Increasingly, in this time of a tight economy and tight budgets, employers are reevaluating their advertising budgets for recruiting which leads them to also reevaluate which sites they use to attract quality employees to fill their open positions.

There's a pretty good chance that your ideal job exists as a hard-to-fill position, which makes employers all the more likely to reach out to association websites and regional/industry specific job sites.  THIS is where you want to have a presence.  If you're not convinced, here's 3 reasons why you need to be on niche job boards:

1.       Niche job boards narrow the number of jobs you have to look through to find your diamond in the rough. The more generic job boards require clever searching to eliminate jobs that aren't in your area, industry or on your professional level

2.       Once you've defined and located your niche, you are ALWAYS in demand! Joining an Association related to your field of expertise or career track lets potential employers know that you are more qualified for positions that fit their niche than job seekers on the large generic boards.

3.       Employers that post on niche job boards have taken measures to target ideal candidates. Rather than taking the easy route and solely posting on the "big" boards, they have made an effort to understand you, the job seeker, and where you feel most comfortable searching. This type of company has you and your success in mind – something that is likely important to you.

Now, go off and find your niche.  You can also look for an industry-specific board such as this one, for truck driving jobs. There are many associations out there pertaining to your specific field or general industry. Find those that you feel represent who you are and what you do, then join them.  Alternatively, you can search for jobs in your industry or region of the country and then sign up on the sites that seem to have the results you want.  Good luck!