Six Great Tricks for Finding Better Jobs on Monster.com And Other Job Boards

Internet job boards have quickly emerged to become the favored job search method for many people. And that's not surprising. Their large scale, ease of use, and general acceptance among employers makes them a useful component in a job seeker's toolbox. But despite how intuitive job boards are to use and how easy they are to learn, there are hidden ways to coax even more out of them. Follow these great tricks for getting the most from online job boards.

Use Keywords instead of Categories
Most job boards allow you to search by categories or keywords. The problem with categories is that some jobs end up in the wrong place or defy neat pigeonholing. What's more, for boards like Monster it takes too much time to scroll through all the pull-down menus. A faster way is to simply enter in a keyword for the job you're interested in and click the search button. Then refine the results by area. Presto -- a few quick steps and you get a wider range of job possibilities within what you're looking for.

Slice Your Search Many Different Ways
You don't always know where a job is going to be listed and what keywords the ad will contain. For that reason, it's worthwhile to conduct searches under several keywords. For instance, if you're looking for a job in publishing, don't just limit your searches to the keyword "Editor." Also try such terms as "Publisher," "Writer," "Editorial," and any other relevant ones you can think of. Yes, some of these are going to turn up nothing. But others will bring forth job listings that didn't appear in other searches. It's free to try and you've got a lot to gain, so experiment a lot.

Make the Results Repeatable
Once you discover what search terms and methods seem to turn up the best results, bookmark those searches so you can return. Make a point of checking every day. Or use these terms when you register for the site's agents, so they can automatically bring you matches to your search via email. Whichever way you prefer, set it up so you can easily repeat your searches without a lot of effort.