Optimize Indeed for Job Search
Optimize Indeed.com for Job Search - Terry Devlin, Senior Vice President of JOB Client Services, shares thoughts regarding how to get the most out of Indeed.com
Indeed.com is my favorite job search engine because of its ease of use and “tunability.” Here are some bits of advice I give my clients when using Indeed.
First: Make sure to create an account on Indeed (it’s free).
Always use the Advanced Job Search function. When you click on Advanced Search a Boolean Logic Table opens which allows you to shift your search terms to produce more selective results.
Let’s look at some examples;
What if you are a materials management specialist, looking for a job in Houston, and very skilled using Maximo (software)?
Go to the table and insert the word Maximo in “At least one of these words”
In the Location field, enter Houston, Texas
Click on Find Jobs and you will find all the jobs in the database that list Maximo., and are located in Houston.
Now that you have those jobs, look on the left-hand side of the page and you will see:
Sort by: Relevance
Salary Estimate
Company
Location
Click on Salary Estimate and the jobs will be sorted by what the people at Indeed think the job is likely to pay. This will help you focus in on the level of job you are looking for.
Once you have some key words that fit your background, you can go back to the Advanced Search Boolean Logic table and set salary parameters in the “Salary Estimate” field. So, if you were looking in the $75,000 to $110,000 range, all you need to do is enter $75k-$110k.
Now, any job listed in Indeed that requires Maximo in Houston and pays in that range will appear.
Set alerts to receive notifications when jobs that meet these parameters are posted. Remember, you must have an account set up to set an alert. Fill in the information at the bottom of the Indeed page – “Get email updates for the latest Maximo jobs in Houston, TX”, and you’re on your way.
Another example that comes to mind is the case of a client who works in the Oil Industry in Houston, a sector currently in a severe slump. The person has a good deal experience in product development and technological innovation.
In this case, we navigated to Indeed.com Advanced Search, and in the field “Any of these words” we entered – innovation, and Houston, Texas in the location field.
Leaving all else blank, we set salary requirements at $150k+. Thirty jobs appeared! He was interested in, and well qualified for 4 of those positions.
By leaving the title cell blank, he found jobs and titles that he was previously unaware of.
Finally, if you are “running dry” of possible key words in your search, review some job postings that were a good fit and scour through them for new key words. These new key words could create an entirely new vein of prospects to explore.