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Google-ize Your Job Search with These Tips and Tricks
The top search engine, Google, can be a powerful partner in your job search. You can use it to help you find potential employers, research those employers (financial stability, competitors, etc.), and separate the good opportunities from the not-so-good ones.
Note: Not every website is included in Google's database of Web sites. Some sites are not included because they are new or are designed in such a way that Google cannot catalog the site's contents.
10 Tips for Better Google Search Results:
1. Try different variations of your search terms.
Different versions will return different results, particularly when you are searching on long words or phrases that are typically reduced to acronyms, A T & T, for example. Search on AT&T and ATT as well
to find the terms that return the best search
results.
Try searching with typical shortcuts and abbreviations as well as the complete words
(e.g. try both telecom and telecommunications). Also test both plural and singular (job
and jobs). Google does use "stemming" which means it will try to find different versions of the word you are seeking, but it may not find the version you mean.
Tip: If you are looking for a job, put the word "job" or "jobs" first in your search query followed by your other criteria, like job title and location.
(Also see # 5, below, to try a Google "wild card" search.)
2. Enclose phrases inside quotation marks.
Google always assumes - unless told otherwise - that you want it to find pages which include all of your search terms. So, if you typed in this search query -
entry level jobs < not a phrase
Google would find all the pages that contained all 3 of those words - it assumes you mean "and" between those words: entry AND level AND jobs. And it would find all of the pages containing those 3 words, regardless of how close together they were on a web page.
However, in this case, you really want those words side-by-side, in a phrase. So, enclose them inside double quotation marks (" ")
so that Google will look
for that exact phrase.
Your search would look like this:
If you type a phrase without enclosing them inside quotation marks, Google would find all the pages containing those words.
Notice the greater number of search results when quotation marks aren't used.
3. Try an either/or search.
If you want Google to find either abc or DEF, you can do an "or" search. Simply put the word "OR," in ALL CAPS, between the words you want it to search for.
For example, if you wanted a job as either a driver or a chauffeur, you could type this query into Google -
driver OR chauffeur jobs
Be sure to use all capital letters for the word OR so that Google understands you don't want it to search for the word "or" but are giving it different terms for your search. If you add the "OR" to your query, between the terms you want, Google will return all of the pages that contain any of those terms.
You can search on several variables and even include a phrase in the mix like the queries below:
Boston OR Cambridge << finds entries for both cities
bank OR "credit union" OR "savings and loan" << finds these employers
secretary OR receptionist OR "administrative assistant" jobs << finds these job titles
If you want to include a phrase in your either/or's, just be sure to enclose the phrase in quotation marks, so Google knows how to treat it.
4. EX-clude some results.
If your Google search results have some entries mixed in that have nothing
to do with what you are seeking, you can exclude many extraneous entries by
excluding words used commonly on those pages you want to avoid.
For example, if we want to find Florida banks, our first search
results contains not only the financial institutions that we want, but also
entries for fishing banks and food banks that we don't want
(this time).
How do you exclude results that are not good fits for what you want? Expand your search terms by adding
words from the kind of sites you want to exclude (e.g. fish, food)
but attaching a minus sign (-) to the front of each word. So "fish"
becomes "-fish" and so on for all the terms to be excluded.
Thus, after a few tries, your Google search query looks like this -
- and Google returns results that include pages that DO contain the phrase
"florida bank" but do NOT contain the words "fish" or "food."
Please note! Do NOT put a space between the "-" and the word to be excluded.
"- fish" will NOT work; but "-fish" WILL work!
5. Use the Google "wild card" * (an asterisk)
When you aren't sure exactly the word to use in a phrase, replace that word with an asterisk (with spaces on both sides of it), and Google will fill in the blank for you. Perhaps you want an entry level job, but you aren't yet sure which job title you want, you could type this query into Google to have Google show you your options -
entry level *jobs << this would find many jobs labeled as "entry level"
* assistant jobs << this would find many different assistant jobs
entry level * jobs (Boston OR Cambridge) << this would find entry level jobs located either in Boston or Cambridge
In the last example, putting Boston OR Cambridge inside parenthesis helps Google understand which words are included in the either/or statement.
6. Ask Google to find similar, related words ~ (a tildé, a.k.a., squiggle)
Like the wild card, above, this query puts Google's intelligence to use to identify options for you. When you aren't sure exactly which word might be used in a specific situation, ask Google to show you the options it finds available.
For example, if you wanted to find a job in the "green industry" related to conservation, but you weren't sure of the term an employer might be using, you could ask Google to show you some options, like this -
~green jobs
Looking for a job as a lawyer or attorney, the following query would be appropriate -
~lawyer jobs
Like the minus (# 4 above) and the asterisk (# 5 above), the tilde needs to be attached to the front of the word you want Google to apply it to. So "~ green jobs" and "~ lawyer jobs" won't work.
7. Limit the search to a specific site.
Limit Google's search to a specific Website, or even part of a specific website, using Google's Site Search capability.
Type your query into Google's search box, type "site:" and then immediately following "site:" add the domain name of site you want searched. For example, to search through Capital One's Website for an administrative assistant position, you would use this search query -
Please note! Again, as with the use of the "-" and the "~" signs, do NOT put a space between the "site:" and the domain name you want Google to search.
8. Combine the techniques.
When you have a complex search, you can combine the various techniques into one long query. For example, assume you wanted an assistant job for a green industry employer located in Boston or Cambridge, MA, but you don't want to work for a fictional company named Employer, Inc. This is how you would structure that query -
"assistant * job" ~green (boston OR cambridge) -Employer
So, you have a phrase ("assistant * job"), a wildcard (assistant * job), an either/or (boston OR cambridge), and an employer to be avoided (-Employer).
9. Google Local (local.google.com) can find potential employers.
Suppose you want to work in a hospital somewhere near you. Go to local.google.com and do the following:
- Type the city and state into the search bar, or use your mouse to move the map around until it shows you the area you want.
- Type "hospital" (or whatever type of employer you want) into the search bar.
- Google will populate your map with dots indicating hospitals or locations of hospital-type services.
- Look in the left marging of the page, and you will see the names, addresss, Website addresses, and other contact information for many of the dots which have been identified with a small pointer (assuming there are hospitals located in the area you have chosen).
This is the online version of the Yellow Pages which job seekers have used for years to identify potential employers. But, Google can do it more completely for you.
Note: these employers do NOT necessarily have jobs open, but they could be good employers for you to keep track of (maybe set up Google Alerts) and network into.
If Google has a photo image of the area available, a "Street View" option will be visible. See views of the buildings and streets by clicking on the "Street View" button, and dropping the little figure onto the street beside the employer.
10. Queries for interview preparation.
Combining all our new techniques, be up-to-date with the latest news about an employer before you go into an interview. Run Google searches like these before your interview so you can knock their socks off in the interview with your knowledge:
“employer name” “(ceo OR president)”
“employer name” officers
“employer name” “expanding in *”
“employer name” (announced OR introduced)
“employer name” “new * announced”
“employer name” (growing OR planning)
“employer name” (launched OR launching)
“employer name” (awarded OR won)
“employer name” (chosen OR selected)
“employer name” “opening *”
“employer name” “venture funding”
“employer name” “quarterly financial results”
“employer name” “beginning production”
“employer name” “acquiring *”
“employer name” ~competitor
There are MANY more queries, so keep thinking and looking!
BONUS TRICKS:
Google Time Check
Not sure what time it is? Type this query into your search bar -
time
Google will tell you. If Google knows your location (and it probably does), you don't even need to know your time zone.
Google Dictionary Look-Up
Not sure what a word means - very important when you are reading job descriptions! Do a Google Dictionary look-up, like this:
define antidisestablishmentarianism
Just put whatever word you want defined after the "define" request.
© Copyright, 1998 - 2013, Susan P. Joyce. All rights reserved.
About the author...
Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. A veteran of the United States Marine Corps, Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. Since 1998, Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt.org. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg and on Google+.
