Top 10 Websites for Your Career And Theyre Not What You Think! -

Top 10 Websites for Your Career And Theyre Not What You Think -Every year Forbes magazine publishes a list of the best websites for your career. This past year it was the 100 Best Websites for Your Career. Of that list, they typically break down the top ten. I was reading the 10 Best Websites for Your Career article this morning, and I saw one MAJOR issueout of the top 10 sites, eight of them were job boards or job search aggregators.WHATS THE PROBLEM?Whats the issue with that, you ask? Less than 20% of positions are filled through job boards its misleading to inform people their best resources for a search are at job boards. Im astonished to binnensee that 80% of their recommendations were for sites that offer little in return to job seekers. I hear from job seekers on a consistent basis that they feel frustrated and hopeless because theyre applying to position after position on job boards and getting no response.TELL ME AGAIN WHY ARE JOB BOARDS BAD?Job boards are elend bad theyre overused And job seekers have a tendency to put all their job search eggs into this one basket. To combat this stress and frustration, I wrote an article about the one mistake that leads to longer job searches and more stressnamely overuse of job boards You can check that article out here http//www.greatresumesfast.com/blog/2014/09/02/job-search-mistake-leads-to-longer-search/.Without my rehashing that article, if youre wondering why job boards create more stress and frustration, I recommend you check it out.IS IT REALLY WHATS BEST?Forbes provides lots of great information to job seekersand Im a big groupie of their writing. If youve been following my Hope for Your Job Search series, then you know Ive linked back to multiple articles theyve written about varying job search techniques and the hidden job market. So Im not criticizing the magazinejust their choice of best websites for your career.In my opinion, if you want to tell job seekers the BEST websites for their careers, then you choose sites that help them tap into the other methods for finding the other 80% of jobs If job boards account for people finding only 20% of jobsand the other 80% are found through other means such as referrals, networking, and accessing the hidden job marketI think its only fair to focus on leading people to those sites and ways to find those jobs.So I guess now that Ive gone through explaining why their top-10 list was flawed, I should give you some better alternatives So, based on their original 100 choices, here are my top alternativesLINKEDIN Forbes listed LinkedIn as 1. I would definitely leave this site ON the list as its extremely beneficial to your job search. Not only can you find jobs listed through groups and other erreichbar postings, you can optimize your profile so that you get placed at the top of search resultsand companies and recruiters contact you. Additionally, there are many opportunities to network, share your expertise, and read GREAT tips and advice fro m career experts on finding a position.INDEED If youre going to leave one job board on the listand you should because it should still make up 20% of your job searchId leave this one. INDEEDs a job search aggregator, so it scours the web to find the position youre after on all types of websites and job boards. While I am a proponent of leaving this on the list, I do so with a word of cautionplease do not spend all your time on it. If you set aside five hours a week to search, spend 20% of that time on it, and invest the rest of your time in other methods.ALTERNATIVE 1 Http//www.Careerealism.com (ADVICE) If youre looking for advice about job searching, this website is the mother lode. Experts from all over with all different specialties offer their best advice to job seekers. Everything from resumes and cover letters to LinkedIn, the hidden job market, networking, internships, and more.ALTERNATIVE 2 Job-Hunt http//www.job-hunt.org/ (ADVICE) Another website with a compilation of excel lent, tried-and-true job search advice. Youll be hard pressed to find anything overly promotional within this sitejust great, honest advice for your search.ALTERNATIVE 3 http//www.JobBait.com (DIRECT MAIL/VALUE PROPOSITION LETTERS) While the man behind the site is no longer with us, the site is still the Mecca of information when it comes to value proposition letters and direct mail campaigns. Theres so much amazing information on this site that if you spent a bit of time reading and watching his YouTube channel videos youd know how to create, compile, and execute your own direct mail campaign with an incredible 85% success ratesecuring a new position (in 90 days or less). Ive researched his methods and utilized them extensively with my own clientsand I can tell you theyve proven very successful for my clients.ALTERNATIVE 4 http//www.careercloud.com/ (HIDDEN JOB MARKET/NETWORKING) CareerCloud helps you to tap into business announcements and growth plans in your area so you can see which companies will be expanding in the future and reach out to them BEFORE they start hiring and advertising jobsthus avoiding the competition and essentially beating your competitors to the punch. This site also lets you see where your friends and connections on social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn work, and whether their organizations may have any openings.ALTERNATIVE 5 http//gm4jh.com/ Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters (STRATEGIES, TIPS, IDEAS YOU CAN USE NOW) I have to tell you how much I admire this site and the information they provide job seekers. If youre comfortable breaking out of the monotonous job search box of doing the same thing everyone else does, this site is for you. Read the books, use the tips, ideas, and ESPECIALLY the scripts. They work Ive had so many people contact me through LinkedIn, sharing about their experience using the tips and advice here and how easy it was to find their next job.ALTERNATIVE 6 PERSONAL BRANDING BLOG http//www.personal brandingblog.com/ (Personal Branding) Critically important to your job search success is knowing your brand and your value propositionand having your elevator speech ready. Know who you are, what you offer, and why they should choose you over someone else. Need help figuring that out? Theres some great info on this site.ALTERNATIVE 7 JIBBERJOBBER http//www.jibberjobber.com/login.php (NETWORKING/ADVICE) Organize your job search and network better than anyone else personal relationship management. Go check it out. Seriously.ALTERNATIVE 8 http//www.neighbors-helping-neighbors.com/ (NETWORKING/REFERRAL) This site may not look as fancy as the other sites, but considering recent stats have proven 80% of jobs are filled through referrals and word-of-mouth recommendations, Id say this site is an asset to your job searchTwo other sites Ill recommend as honorable mentions 1) www.glassdoor.combecause knowing WHO you want to work for is just as important as finding a job and 2) www.payscale.c ombecause knowing what youre worth and negotiating a fair salary are vital to your future successNow that Ive probably overloaded you with advice on networking, why dont we go ahead and connect on the 1 website for your careerLinkedIn Feel free to send me an invite here.