Researching Jobs and Employers

RetirementJobs.com Staff Writers
Article 5 of 8 from "The New World of Job Searching"

Overall
Remember when a job search meant sitting with the local newspaper or the Wall Street Journal and red-circling the openings you had an interest in? Or you could go to the library and check reference books that listed employers by industry or geographic area? Why you could even walk into the lobby of a company and fill out an application. Those days are over - welcome to the brave new world of searching for a job. Here's how you research job opportunities today.

Online Job Posting Boards
Employers now post their job ads on the Internet. Think of them as the electronic version of the help wanted pages. They are that and so much more. You can search for jobs by location, profession, industry, occupation, full time or part time and even your home zip code. They all function in similar fashion - but there are subtle differences.

Large, generalized boards such as Monster and CareerBuilder post many jobs for a broad range of job seekers. There are specialized boards for industries and occupations such as HotelsJobs.com and TeacherJobs.com. There are also jobs based on expected income level such as The Ladders.com which only promotes to people earning "over $100,000."

Finally, there are job boards specializing in age 50+ worker including RetirementJobs.com. Job boards focused on older candidates are apt to have jobs more appropriate to age 50+ workers needs and interests from employers who are actively seeking older workers.

What job boards you use is determined on what kind of job you're looking for, for instance:

1. Hourly Wage Positions
   (Administrative, Clerical, Manual, Trades, Personal Service and Technical) Whether full time or part time, year round or seasonal, individuals searching for hourly paid jobs are advised to visit RetirementJobs.com, Monster and CareerBuilder; and possibly SnagAJob.
2. Salaried Positions
   (Professional, Senior Technical, Sales, Supervisory, Managerial)
   Salaried positions typically paying $30,000 to $70,000, will be found at the same job boards as hourly positions but the search should be extended to include profession, occupation and industry-specific job boards. Also be sure to check the job boards at the website of your industry or profession. If you have an interest in a public service or government position, try USAJobs.gov, the official jobs website for the US Government.
3. Higher Paid Salaried Positions
   (Senior Professional, Upper Management Executive)
   These are salaried positions paying more than $70,000 and sometimes, much more. You may find these jobs on some of the sites as lower paying salaried positions but more likely you have to look at others as well. One of better sites is The Ladders.com ($100,000+ only jobs). There is also 6figurejobs, Execunet and ExecutiveSearchOnline.