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Just when you thought there was nothing new, here are the job aggregators, a new version of an old idea, but very powerful when well-implemented. Since 2005, we've listed 2 of the best as Job-Hunt Hot Sites of the Week.
What Is a Job Aggregator?
Think of them as narrowly-focused search engines. Jobs are all they have in their databases.
Sites like Indeed.com and SimplyHired.com collect job postings from other sites and aggregate them into one database to be searched by job seekers. The sites with jobs included in the aggregators’ databases include some that may surprise you – Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com, HotJobs.Yahoo.com, as well as many other job sites, large and small. Postings from craigslist have been excluded (craigslist's choice), but many other sites are included.
Aggregators also include jobs from employer Web sites, which I think is the most promising aspect of what they do.
Why Use Job Aggregators?
Why are they better than Monster, for example?
- Comprehensive! Because they draw jobs from many, many other sources in addition to Monster (and you don’t have to fight your way through all of the Monster advertising to get to the search results or the job descriptions). And, aggregators don't typically charge employers for the visibility they receive with job seekers.
- Time saving! The largest aggregator, Job-Hunt Sponor Indeed, offers job seekers the ability to search through the jobs posted on the Big 3 - Monster, CareerBuilder, and HotJobs with one search as well as job postings from employer sites, newspaper want ads, association sites, and many niche sites! And, in September, 2011, Indeed launched Indeed Resume, so you can store a resume there which you can use for applying and which is also available to be searched by employers.
- Another aggregator, LinkUp.com, aggregates jobs only from employer websites. They exclude job boards, want ads, etc. They offer jobs directly from the source.
- You will probably discover employers that are new to you.
If they are just search engines, why and how are they better than, for example, Google?
- Because of their focus on jobs, they have additional functionality that makes them much easier to use for a job search. Want search results sorted by employer? By posting date? By full-time vs. part-time vs. contract? Within 25 miles of a specific city? Within 5 miles of that city? Within 50 miles?
- They have access to information, because they accept automated “feeds,” that may not ever be available on a search engine or may become available at some later point in time.
- Because all they have is job postings, the good ones will only return search results that are jobs.
They have the typical job site functions, like saving and e-mailing search results to the job seekers.
How Do They Help Job Seekers?
I recommend use of job aggregators to all job seekers, any time because:
- They have job postings from job sites AND FROM EMPLOYERS that may be unknown to a job seeker or that a job seeker would not have the time (or take the time) to visit, if they did know about it.
- Job aggregators provide a one-stop-shopping snapshot of the job market at any given point in time. When someone has a question about whether jobs in a particular field are available in a specific location, the first place I check is an aggregator site. The gross number of jobs listed is an indicator of the popularity and availability of that kind of job in that place.
- Because they are so customizable for a job search, just like a “standard” job site.
Who Are the Aggregators?
Several types of aggregators are available now.
1. General, unlimited, unfocused aggregators:
- Indeed.com is currently my favorite of the two because it usually has the greatest number of results that appear to be the most current.
- SimplyHired allows search results to be sorted by posting date.
- JustJobs.com has already divided all the job postings by location (city, county, or state) or by category (accounting, administrative, etc.)
2. Focused aggregators:
- LinkUp.com aggregates jobs directly from employer websites only. No job boards, newspapers, or associations or other job sources are included.
- GreenJobSpider.com is focused on jobs related to the emerging "green industry" and collects green-industry-related job postings from employers as well as job boards.
More job aggregators will undoubtedly appear, so stay tuned.
Next: Tapping the Hidden Job Market - more ways to find jobs
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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. Susan is a two-time layoff "graduate" who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. In 1998, her company, NETability, Inc. purchased Job-Hunt.org, and Susan has been editor and publisher of Job-Hunt since then. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg.
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