How Setting Up Job Alerts Can Help Your Job Search

When job searching online, consider using a job alert (also known as a job search agent or a job agent) to help you find the best job listings for you.

A job alert is a useful tool that many job search engines, job boards, large company career websites, and LinkedIn have. The job agent is a system that notifies you when there are new job openings on the website that fit what you are looking for.

What Is a Job Alert?

A job alert is a system that notifies you when there are new job openings related to your interests. It often notifies you with an email digest that includes a list of new job openings. Many different job search engines and job boards have these agents.

First, you can provide information on the type of job you want. You can often specify the job category, location, position type, salary, and experience level you are looking for.

Secondly, you can customize how often you receive the email digest. You can often request daily, weekly, or monthly emails.

The Benefits of Job Alerts

Job alert are useful for a number of reasons. They can be helpful for almost any job search. Perhaps most importantly, they allow you to easily check for job openings in your field without having to mine through every job search engine.

They are particularly helpful when you are passively job searching. Passive job searching is when someone is currently employed, and therefore does not need to leave his or her job right away. However, he or she might be interested in hearing about new career opportunities. With a job search agent, you can find new job openings without putting in a lot of effort.

Tips for Using a Job Alert

Consider a separate email account. If you use multiple job search agents (which you should consider), you will be getting a lot of emails related to your job search. You might want to set up a separate email account strictly for your job search agent emails. This will help you avoid clutter in your inbox. It will also keep you from accidentally deleting or forgetting to read your agent emails. You can check the email account once a day, week, or month, depending on how often you receive digests (and how urgent your job search is).

Use multiple job alerts. Each job search website has a different kind of job search agent. Some alerts allow you to provide very specific details on the kinds of jobs you want, while others are more general. Some send you emails every day, while others only send you emails once a month. Also, each job search site will have different job listings available.

For all of these reasons, it is a good idea to use at least a couple of job search agents. If possible, include at least one national job search site (such as Monster, Indeed, or CareerBuilder), one site that is specific to your industry or your location, and LinkedIn.

Be as specific as possible. To avoid receiving too many unrelated job listings, be as specific as you can when setting up each job search agent. If possible, fill out information on job type, location, and more. If, after a couple emails, the job search agent is not sending you jobs that fit what you are looking for, revise the settings of the job alert.

Think about frequency. Most job alerts allow you to choose how often you will receive email updates. Think about how often you can realistically read these emails. If you are an active job seeker, you might want weekly or even daily digests. If you are not actively searching for a job, consider weekly or monthly updates.

Keep job searching, though! Job search agents cannot replace other job search strategies, such as networking, reaching out to family and friends, and searching for jobs online. Keep doing these other strategies, and use the job search agents as another tool to help you find the right job.

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