3 Warnings You Must Know About Job Search Engine Listings

There are so many jobs, out there, and there’s so little time. The last thing you want to do, is waste too much of your mental energy and your actual time, filling out and responding to postings, that aren’t legitimate. There are, as much as it hurts me to say, some scamming and some poorly done listings out there.

Normally, these listing will only end up wasting your time and I want to help you to avoid those. When you’re on your job search journey, you really need to be focused and get the most return on your time invested, because there’s so little time and so many jobs.

Three of the things, you need to look out for, on the job search engine listings are, as follows:

Hidden Details and Checks

There’s some postings out there that look pretty generic and are very easy to apply to. For instance, if you’re using the Indeed.com app, you can just hit the “Apply Now” button and you’re golden, right? Wrong. This can be a very dangerous move for someone that claims to pay attention to the details.

Sometimes, if you read to the very bottom of that posting, it’ll say “do not use any automatic submission.” Sometimes it’ll give very specific instructions such as, “you must email this person with x, Y, Z requirements and it must go to this particular address to submit properly.” They sometimes even state that everything else will be ignored.

Guess what? If you didn’t read the whole thing first, or you just submitted to the job listing immediately, then you’re out. Done deal. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot. Pay attention to those hidden details and checks and submit your details carefully.

Scraped Data is Bad

I don’t know any other sites that do this, but I know Indeed.com has scraped some of its data for its job postings. Maybe they have something set up with other companies where this is okay, but this is a detail I don’t know. However, I went on an interview recently where the interviewee didn’t know where I found the job posting. He had never heard of Indeed.com before and it was not where he posted it.

He posted it on a very narrow, more niched down job search website, instead. He thought it was really interesting that I had found the job through a website he had never heard of. So pay attention, to that. You might be surprised and it could hurt you. I didn’t get that job, by the way.

Job Postings Are Too Generic

From my experience, if you’re going to respond to a job search engine listing that’s very, very generic, they’re either not looking for someone that’s going to be compensated well or it’s a high turnover position. They might also not really know what that position is going to do and might not be there for very long.

These are really a of couple things you want to probably avoid, unless you’re very highly motivated (or desperate) to find a position as soon as possible. However, the more detailed job listings will tell you exactly what they’re looking for and you can tailor your resume, your cover letter, and your response to those details.

Everything else, is kind of shooting in the dark.

A Career Hunting and Vigilant You

With all these jobs out there and so little time in your bucket, I hope these job search engine warnings do help you out. By paying attention to the hidden details and checks, watching out for scraped data, and ignoring the “too generic” listings, you should get a leg up on your career search journey. Be vigilant, alert, and always look out for yourself. Good luck out there and get your new future going, okay?!