University Headquarters (HQ) is an industry-leading, independent educational organization that provides independent college rankings using a proprietary formula to create first class, unbiased rankings. The team at University HQ strives to provide accurate and trustworthy rankings that highlight the best programs.
What’s an Online Job Board?
These days, we turn to the Internet for everything, but one of the revolutionary advances of the early internet was the job search site. With the new technology, you could easily sift through tons of job listings. If you were considering a move, you could even search for jobs in your new town, without even reading their newspaper.
Now, we hardly think of using printed classified ads as part of our job search. Rather, we upload our resumes to one or more job search sites and await the results. We can stipulate whether we want a remote working job, standard office work, or any other stipulation we might have. The convenience appears miraculous, as we can filter out many jobs that probably wouldn't suit us. However, there are so many job search websites these days that we need a way to sort through them all. This page is dedicated to helping you in your online job search.
Read MoreAn online job board is either a site dedicated to job searches or a subset of a larger site that features job openings. The former are generally available to the public and include sites like Monster.com, while the latter can include job postings on professional association websites.
The larger dedicated sites tend to be commercial enterprises. These are the contemporary alternatives to the newspaper classifieds we used back in the stone ages. On these sites, employers and recruiters pay a fee to list their job postings. Some may pay a premium for added features such as images, extra space for copy, or interactive features.
The smaller job posting boards might operate in a similar fashion, but there are many variations. Some listings may be simple text with an email form that candidates use to upload their resume and cover letter. Others may emulate the larger, commercial sites with robust search features, heightened interactivity, and the ability to upload your resume for searches from the employer and recruiter side.
What’s an Online Job Search Engine?
An online job search engine is a tool that allows you to sift through job postings. These tools have a wide range of features depending on the site. Some allow you to filter your search results according to the employer's location, the salary offered, and required experience.
Since your search criteria is unlikely to change from day to day, some sites allow you to save searches. Thus, you might be conducting parallel searches for a bridge, part-time job and for a career-track position. You can even indicate that you desire temporary, part time, contract, or full-time work. For each job, you can save your criteria and return day after day to see if the results have changed.
Who Posts Jobs?
All sorts of employers post jobs. In fact, it's virtually unheard of for an employer to post jobs in a print publication and not also post that job online. However, if the job posting is in print, it's likely that the publication includes an online listing as part of the fee. No matter what sort of job you are seeking, you are sure to find your future employer's postings online.
Tools to Help You Get the Job
Consider Using “Advanced Search Options”
Search engines have become more and more robust. While many still allow you to search by job type and city, thus providing the most comprehensive jobs list possible, you should consider using the advanced search option that most offer. These options allow you to narrow things down so that your search results are tailored to your needs.
For instance, if you do not want to travel for work, some search engines allow you to indicate your willingness to travel. Since there are a million variables involved in job searches, some allow you to add keywords to further customize your search. For instance, you might be a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, but you need to indicate that you only need results regarding acute care. Advanced searches allow you to enter keywords that indicate your specific job needs. Consider looking up simple Boolean search modifiers to allow you to make the most of this.
Online Job Search Tips
- Be Specific:
You know what you want. You've been in your field for a multiple years. When you sit down to search an employment website, make sure your search criteria are specific enough to capture what you need. On the other hand, consider opening up your criteria to allow a few jobs that you might not otherwise consider. - Create a New Email Account:
This strategy will help in a number of ways. Your new address ensures that your email address is professional and that you won't inadvertently end up with loads of spam in your personal account. If you don't wish to be burdened with switching accounts, you can set the new account to automatically forward to your personal account. When you land your dream job, all you need to do is change the forwarding setting and use the account only when you mount a new job search. - Tailor Your Resume According to Job Type:
Some sites allow you to set up multiple profiles for different jobs. That is, your skills and experience might fit multiple job descriptions, so you'll need to tailor your resume to best fit each job type. You can likely give each profile a title that reflects its specific goal. - Sharpen Your Skills:
It's never too late to learn or sharpen skills. If there are skills in your "toolkit" that you haven't used much in recent years, consider taking an online course to get back up to speed. You might also learn something new. - Computer Skills Pay:
These days, computer code is everywhere so look into learning at least one computer language. HTML is a great place to start. It is relatively easy, there are many cheap and free educational resources available, and you will likely find that it's useful when putting together a website for work or fun. - Personal Website:
Your resume tells part of the story, use a website to flesh things out a bit. You can write blog posts relative to your industry or specialty. Plus, you can add a personal touch by reviewing your favorite movies or vacation spots.
Best Job Search Websites
General
- Monster:
They were among the earliest job search engines on the World Wide Web. Monster has a good, advanced search engine and a positively enormous jobs database. - CareerBuilder:
Another of the older job search sites, their search feature is rather basic, but their overall popularity should result in comprehensive search results. - FlexJobs:
This is a pay subscription service that tends to attract highly motivated candidates. The site offers skills tests, a comprehensive advanced search feature, and loads of helpful tools and information. - Indeed.com:
This site is touted by many as the #1 job search site around. You can filter search results according to location, salary, experience level, and more. - LinkedIn:
This site is used for many different purposes, including blogging and social media. However, you can also find top employers in your area. What was once a networking site has naturally evolved to a virtual recruiter. - University Headquarters find local jobs:
The University Headquarters team understands the importance of obtaining a higher education degree in order to reach your career goals. Our team is dedicated to providing solutions to students with before, during and after college to help you with your career path job search.
Internships
- Internships.com:
A site that allows you to search for internships based on a variety of criteria that can help you find the perfect internship in your area, or wherever you are bound after college. While there are a number of websites that can help you find an internship, this is often considered the best.
Professional Careers
There are sites that cater specifically to particular types of work, such as writing, graphic arts, IT, accounting, or photography. Often these sites provide multiple services, such as writing and editing, that offer clients added assurances. Clients can often search these sites to find the workers who will best suit their needs.
If you are a member of a professional association, you should check out their website. Many associations include proprietary job listings. If you send your resume to an employer from this site, they will automatically know that you're a member of the association, which should work in your favor.
If you are looking for work, most general job search sites allow you to refine job searches and even save those searches. For instance, an accountant might have searches saved that focus on tax accounting, another for forensic accounting, and a third for logistics.
Accounting Professionals
- AccountingJobsToday:
Accounting Jobs Today is more than just a job board, we’re a place where accounting and finance professionals come together to share ideas, get the latest career tips, information and resources all in one place.
Teaching Professionals
- HigherEdJobs:
If you are a college professor, or wish to teach in a college, this is the site for you. You can find all sorts of teaching opportunities, including online, community colleges, adjunct, and part-time, too. - TopSchoolJobs:
If you are seeking the full scope of education jobs, private and public, in any school district nationwide, this is the resource for you. If the job is in the educational sector, this site has it.
Healthcare Professionals
- Healthjobs.com:
No matter what part of the healthcare industry you work in, this site will have a position for you. Their database is quite comprehensive and covers not only all job types, but very small markets, too. - HealtheCareers:
Clinicians of all sort use this comprehensive database to find jobs. The search function allows you to sort results according to specialty, location, benefits packages, and even specific employers.
Sales Professionals
- SalesJobs.com:
This job search site is for sales professionals across all industries. Enter your keywords and your desired location and the search engine is bound to find multiple job prospects for you. - SalesGravy:
You can search sales jobs nationwide on this specialized website. You won't need to worry about inaccurate search results. These leads are hot!
Legal Professionals
- LawJobs.com:
If you are an attorney, paralegal, legal secretary, or law clerk, you can find a great job with this specialized resource. If you're in the legal services industry, this site just might be for you. - Lawcrossing.com:
You can search for your next legal job by practice area, location, and specific title. No matter if you are an experienced patent attorney or a docket specialist, you will find jobs here.
IT Professionals
- TechCareers:
This is specifically for software developers, programmers, and other high-tech workers. The advanced search function should weed out the gigs you don't want and help you land your dream job. - Dice.com:
This site takes the random chance out of your tech job search. This site is more than just a search site, but an industry resource. This site also offers both informative blog posts and educational resources to keep you advancing in your career.
University HQ How to Become Jobs & Careers
The Gig Economy
What is Freelancing?
Freelancer is a term used for an independent contractor. Freelancing offers workers lots of freedom and flexibility in their working lives. They can forge specialties that they can apply to full-time, scheduled jobs, or they might travel the world as remote workers. While many freelancers work online to a certain degree, others work more hands-on jobs such as dog walkers, painters, or photographers.
What is a freelance Jobs Website?
A freelance jobs website is a job search site that caters to short-term or non-employee workers. Some specialize in specific areas, such as information technology or writing, while others are more general. Some sites that are favored by freelancers also post jobs for long-term, permanent employment.
There are also sites that screen and work with freelancers. These operate more on an employment agency model. If a company has a project for which there is no employee available, they might post the project and let independent workers post bids. The key to landing a bid is not necessarily the lowest prices, but also evidence of high-quality work.
- Upwork:
This is an excellent repository of jobs for workers of all sorts. If you are a writer, artist, IT professional, accountant, or marketing guru, you'll find a gig here. While some of these gigs might lead to full-time employment, you can just as easily move along to the next job. - Toptal:
This is the spot for you if you are a top-notch IT professional. This site posts jobs in project management, design, software development, and product management. - Freelancer:
This site features all sorts of short-term gigs. A quick search can result in jobs for Russian-to-English translators, graphic designers, SEO wizards, and even data entry workers. The site asks you to bid on gigs, so make sure you know what you're worth. - Fiverr:
This site is targeted towards small businesspeople and individuals who need cheap labor for small tasks. One frequent request here is for logo design, but you can find gigs such as press-release writing, resume editing, or illustration. The pay is often low, but the turnaround can be high. If you are a freelancer in-between big clients, or simply with extra time on your hands, Fiverr just might be the bridge you need. - Guru:
No matter what you do, there's someone looking for you on Guru. From IT projects to legal translations and even marketing consulting, Guru has it. Some jobs offer a set rate for completing a task while others pay by the hour. The majority of the gigs here tend to be for programmers, but there is bound to be something for you. - Rover.com:
If you work online and/or as a freelancer and you love dogs, this site can match you with pet owners in need of walkers or overnight sitters. Since many freelancers are looking for extra revenue streams, this gig-economy site covers the legwork of marketing and communications. This site operates on the agency model so it will screen and market you and then take a fee when you land a job.