Whether you are currently looking for a job (like I have been) or thinking about making your next career move, you need all the free job search tools hat will help you level the playing field as a job seeker.
I remember when I was looking for internship opportunities as a new college graduate in 2007/2008. Craigslist, my university’s job board, and monster.com were the only resources that were available.
Fast forward to 2017, everything is now online which also means your personal network is more connected than ever. Someone who may give us a reference or pass our resume into the hiring manager’s hands is a click away in today’s world. Additionally, the way we look for potential opportunities, the way we present our professional profile and portfolio, the way we stay connected with our network has all been turned on its head. In 2017’s workforce and career advancement, it’s more important than ever to stay visible, understand what your competitive strengths are, know how to leverage them, and lastly, put yourself out there and stay connected to the right network.
Here are 5 tools that you may not know about that will help you do these things more efficiently:
1. Glever: AI-based Resume Generator
This is the job-search part of the internet’s best-kept secret- you can literally create a resume from scratch in minutes! The way it works is that you enter in the title of the position(s) you’ve held (for example, social media specialist, marketing communications manager, etc) and the system will generate all the related responsibilities related to this function. You can then pick and choose from a seemingly never-ending list of job function descriptions, to describe your experience and role. Then, this is a very important step – you want to modify them so you are not plagiarizing others’ work. Also, you want these descriptions to be a 100% reflection of your actual experience. Try it out, let me know what you think!
2. Glassdoor Know Your Worth: Gain Leverage in Salary Negotiation
It’s one thing to research what the average salary is. It’s another to calculate your worth based on the specifics in your job history. The things your salary worth depends on years of experiences, your location, and the positions/titles you’ve held. Glassdoor helps you figure out what you are worth based on your career history. Get this free piece of information today and so you can negotiate like a pro!
3. Levo: Present Your Career Like a Story
Think of it as a more dynamic, lively, and flexible version of LinkedIn. Levo is great for those that feels like their employment history doesn’t represent their career holistically, or that they have a side hustle or amazing life experiences that make them an attractive job candidate. Levo is a great platform to use to tell your career story, one “card” (the building blogs of your Levo profile) at a time.
I have only very recently discovered Levo (see my profile here!), so you know of more ways to utilize it, let me know!
4. Good & Co: Find Out Your Workplace Personality
If you ever struggle with figuring out what your professional strengths and inclinations are, take one of these work personality tests. Additionally, do you ever wonder how you come across to others at work, what your approach is in getting work done, or what kind of co-worker you are to others? These are all things you can take this simple 18-question quiz to find out!
Knowing the answers will help you steer your job search in the right direction. You will also have more idea about how to answer the dreaded interview question “what are your strengths and weaknesses”.
5. Jobscan’s Resume Keyword Scanner: Tailor Your CV/Resume For The Job
If you’ve ever felt like your resumes go into a black hole online, you’re not alone. At some point, you should check out whether it’s even passing the screening algorithms. Larger companies tend to use resume scanning bots as their first line of the filter. Your resume needs to have the right keywords!
It’s quite simple – Jobscan takes your resume, and your desired position’s online description, and compare them side-by-side to spits out a percentage of keyword overlap. It will even give you a list of keywords to use. Put the keywords to use and increase the likelihood of your resume showing up on the company’s radar!
6. Career Blogs: Personalized, Tailored Advice
This is one of my favorite free job search tools online: career bloggers. One of the most common traits of bloggers is that they are passionate and empathetic. If they started a blog, chances are they have a lot of advice to offer and want to help. And if they write about career advice, you bet they’d help you out!
The two bloggers below have both helped me in my job search in the last 3 months, and I have enjoyed pretty much every single post they have written!
a. Tori Dunlap // Digital Marketing Guru
b. Emily Liou // Career Coach
Which one of these free job search tools have you used, and what’s your experience like with them?
