CareerBuilder.com [link] (also found through the URL careerbuilders.com—with an “s”) claims to have more job postings than any other site. That’s a pretty big claim and hard to validate especially since there are one-stop job search sites such as Indeed.com that I discussed in the last post.

Regardless, careerbuilders.com is rich in resources and can be very helpful if you know how to use it. So in this post, I’ll give you some valuable time-saving tips. . . .

Obviously, job search engines can be very useful. But right off the bat, let me caution you: if you’re looking for a job right now, I don’t recommend putting total reliance on search engines. You will want to be more proactive and creative in your strategy.

If nothing else, working with a search engine such as CareerBuilder will help to get you into a proactive frame of mind. However, even if you’re not looking for a job immediately, it’s important to “keep in touch with the market.” The job search engines can help.

As a job searcher, the service is free. CareerBuilder.com makes its money from the fees that employers pay to list their jobs, and advertising.

When you go the CareerBuilder.com web site you’re greeted by the “Find a better job here” area followed by various lists of site links. I suggest that to begin with, you quell your curiosity; instead of clicking on the links, just take a few passes at job searches by filling in combinations of keywords, location, and job category, and clicking “Find Jobs!” button. To refine your search go to this link.

After you’ve gotten a sense of this, you can start to use other features offered by the site. As with most job sites there’s a dizzying array of features and tools. And they’re getting more sophisticated all the time. So let’s look at some of them.

Create an account

To get the most out of CareerBuilder you need to create an account [link]. Again, there’s no charge, so I recommend doing so. This is the first step, then you can begin moving into some of the more useful features, as follows.

Post a resume

Posting a resume seems obvious but it’s surprising how many people overlook it. As a matter of course, even if you’re not in the market for a job, it’s important to keep an up-to-date resume in case your situation suddenly changes. And why not post it because you never know—posting your resume could bring forth an opportunity you just can’t pass up, even though you weren’t actively thinking about changes jobs. To post your resume on Careerbuilder.com, just follow the steps starting at this [link].

Set up Job Alerts

Job Alerts are e-mails that are automatically sent to you by CareerBuilder when a new job is added that matches your search criteria. Again, even if you’re not in the market right now, it’s a good idea to set up some alerts so you can keep track of what’s happening in your job market. To set up job alerts (you can set up more than one), go to this this [link].

Tap the Power

With an account set up, you can use a really useful feature—access your “Job Recommendations” [link].  This innovative feature will find possible job matches based on your resume and jobs that you have applied for. Then if one job looks particularly interesting you can click its “Similar Jobs” button to obtain a list of jobs that are like the first one.

Career Advice

There’s an array of short articles at this [link]. Many of them are practical tips for navigating what can be a challenging job search landscape. But here’s my tip about tips: Don’t confuse tips with action. Tips are good but they can lull you into a false sense of accomplishment. It’s action that will make the difference. That’s true for my tips or anyone else’s tips.

Therefore, pay attention to your “tip appetite.” If you notice yourself just consuming tips instead of moving into action, then you may be a “tip junkie.”  If so, it’s probably time to take a stand on making a difference in your life by committing to action.

 © 2006 Gold Nugget Coaching

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