When you are searching for a job online you want to have everything in your toolbox that will be needed to conduct an effective search. Since Google is the dominant search engine people use, it makes sense to learn some tricks for using Google in your job search.

Google alerts can help you setup frequently used search parameters. All you have to do is go to the Google Alerts section and put in the search terms you use a lot. Once you have these alerts setup, you will be emailed whenever those keywords are used online. So, some suggestions for alerts to setup would be job titles or companies you are interested in working for. This reduces your search time for your ideal job. You could also setup alerts for cities you want to work in or to monitor your online reputation set up a name alert.

If you want to use Google to search for jobs, you want to get as specific as possible. You want to Google specific job titles not generic terms. This can be refined as you continue your search. You will learn what words produce quality findings and what doesn’t. You could also search with the job title and location to make your search even more refined and specific.

Another great tip is to put your words in quotes. This makes your results more focused on what you are looking for. That is because when the words are in quotes it looks for those exact words. If there aren’t any quotes, then Google will look for parts of the word and you will get results that talk about the areas included in the search box or results for that position but not the area in the search box. If you want Google to return similar results to what you googled, then include a ~. This tells Google to return similar items to what you googled.

Examples:

Information Technology Specialist

Using No Quotation Marks: You will receive colleges that offer this degree as well as jobs listings.

Using Quotation Marks: You will see results for this specific job title on job boards.

Using a Tilde (~): This will show state specific jobs for this job title broken down.

 

 

If you are having a hard time finding the career page for a company you want to work for, then put the company name URL without the www and then put a space between that and careers. This will most likely give you their career page. An example of this would be: libertymutual.com careers

So get out there and start using these tips to find your ideal job!