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Niche Job Boards

As part of your online job search, be sure to check out the job boards that are specific to your industry. Computer programmers, web developers and graphic designers have notoriously great job sites. For other industries, it may take a little more digging to uncover the good online job boards. Niche web sites are a great resource for finding jobs because there is usually less competition than on Monster or CareerBuilder.

How do you find niche job boards and web sites?

1. NicheBoards.com lets you search for your industry, and then tells you what job boards are out there. This is a great idea, but NicheBoards.com is only associated with 11 other industry web sites so the job listings are extremely limited. 

2. Search for keywords (YOUR INDUSTRY + jobs) or (YOUR INDUSTRY + employment) or (“YOUR INDUSTRY + YOUR CITY + entry level jobs) on Google. 

3. Search the job boards that are part of affinity groups and professional associations in your local area. Look at the job postings listed by industry on your college career center web site. Check out the alumni database from your school and ask alums who work in the industries you’re interested in what professional organizations they belong to. 

Job Sites to Avoid

These are web sites that you might want to avoid while conducting an online job search. I have found little evidence that they would be useful to college graduates. 

In this job market, networking is the way to get your foot in the door. Uploading your resume to online job sites is pretty much a waste of time right now. 

But, as some job seekers are determined to put out as many resumes as possible anyway, here are a few sites we reviewed and feel are not worthy of your time. 

HelpWanted.com
Anyone can post jobs on this site for free. I have found positions such as tree climber, and a position with AT&T for $654. Interesting. Could it be that no one is checking the accuracy of the job postings…because the site exists for the sole purpose of making money off the google ads? Hmmm.    

JobFox.com
We found this site to be one we really can’t endorse at this time. At first the site appeared to be well designed and easy to navigate, but we couldn’t actually complete the entire application process without the site freezing up. Also, JobFox will only present certain resumes to employers, so there is no guarantee your resume will ever land in any HR department. In addition, they have recently laid off sales staff, leading us to believe that your efforts are better spent getting in touch with employers directly. 

SnagaJob.com
This web site is great if you need part-time work while you’re still in school, or seasonal work like over the holiday break. But, this site is dedicated to hourly employment. It’s not the job site where you’ll find your first career gig after college.