Getting Value from an Online Job Listing Without Applying for the Job

Getting Value from an Online Job Listing Without Applying for the Job

Most people feel that online jobs listings are a waste of time.  Admittedly, most of your job search time should be spent talking to people who can help you and not on Google.  However, the online listings on a site like Dayaway can give you incredibly useful insights to make your job hunt more efficient – without applying online for the job.   This is because you can filter the jobs by degree, major and cleantech industry.

While many Dayawayers having gotten jobs from our online listings, even more people get jobs by using the “data value” of online listings to inform their personal networking.  Accordingly, here are some techniques to make the most out of your job hunt:

Barometer.

If you monitor listings for several months, you will see patterns of which cleantech companies, sectors and regions are hot, warm and cold.  This helps you prioritize where and where not to invest your time.

Skills-to-major patterns.

Read the skills/experience requirements for 10 jobs for your major.  You will see how different employers are looking for common hard skills and experiences.  If you don’t have them, you need to develop them.

Job title-to-major patterns.

When reading the 10 jobs above, you will see patterns of job titles for specific majors.  This tells you which jobs are most plentiful for you  and will help you search and network more effectively.  Yes, you may qualify for other jobs but it’s smart to know where you have an inside track and where you don’t.

Enhancing your interview.

Truly studying the job listings will enable you to give concrete examples during a job interview of why that company should hire you.  Companies love candidates who can connect their personal qualifications to the company’s job requirements.  For example, “My 301 Finance course taught me about NPV and IRR which I believe are specific job requirements for your Solar Project Finance job.”

Why the winner won.

Take a look at who got that job.  For example, do a company search on LinkedIn, search employees, and look for a previously listed job title.  Then, study the new hire’s LinkedIn profile objectively to see if there’s more you need to do strengthen your profile.  This might even be someone you try to connect with.

What goes around comes around.

Many of the listings pop up again and again.  If you don’t get the job now, you may get a second chance, perhaps when you are better prepared.

Shameless self-promotion. 

You can do the above with all online listings.  However, you can do this more easily with the Dayway listings because we categorize all of our jobs by degree, major and clean energy industry (just saying…)

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