Looking for a new job. Search site recommendations?

[Guest AF275]

I have finally graduated with my Bachelors in Criminal Justice w/ minor in Business Administration and am ready to finally try to get seated in a career. That along with 5 years of retail management experience, and the unmarketable skill of building batteries.

I've been looking on USAjobs, Monster/Hotjobs, and Careerbuilder. But not much luck, most listing are Ads not job opening.

Any job search sites that you have experience with that are pretty legit, unlike monster/hotjobs which is mostly ads for "Work at Home and make $50k!!!" and "GET PAID FOR TAKING SURVEYS".

[Guest Guy N. Cognito]

I have finally graduated with my Bachelors in Criminal Justice w/ minor in Business Administration and am ready to finally try to get seated in a career. That along with 5 years of retail management experience, and the unmarketable skill of building batteries.

I've been looking on USAjobs, Monster/Hotjobs, and Careerbuilder. But not much luck, most listing are Ads not job opening.

Any job search sites that you have experience with that are pretty legit, unlike monster/hotjobs which is mostly ads for "Work at Home and make $50k!!!" and "GET PAID FOR TAKING SURVEYS".

Does your college have a career placement office?

[Guest AF275]

Does your college have a career placement office?

Unfortunately not for me. I attended through Troy University's Ecampus, its the same program they offer to members of the military, the Earmy program. So their career placement office is really only able to help those in the middle to lower Alabama area, and northern Fl. for the most part.

[volfanatic72]

Try indeed.com...

Also, you might register at linkedin.com and use their job search...

[East_TN_Patriot]

Congrats on the degree! My advice is to take a look at specific employers that you are interested in working for. It really stinks, but most employers post on their own websites much more often than they do on these large job boards (for the reasons you note, plus they know that if they post on a site like Monster that they will be buried in applications mostly from unqualified people). If you are looking for a CJ position, start looking at the city, county, and state websites you are considering. The State of Tennessee has all of their postings on their Human Resources site much like USAJobs. If memory serves me correctly, you can also set up e-mail alerts for postings that meet your criteria on these sites. You can also look at sites like PoliceOne and they have job postings. You may need to literally sit down with a map and the Internet to start searching out as many employers as possible within a specific radius of where you want to live and apply individually as you find postings on their individual websites. Start a folder in your bookmarks of the HR sites for all of these employers and that will make it a lot easier to search through them a couple of times a week.

Also, keep an updated copy of your resume saved as a Word file with a cover letter tailored towards the different types of jobs you are looking for. That will make it a lot easier since all you need to do is change the date, the employer name and address on the letter, and the basic info in the letter. It's never a bad idea to keep a paper copy or two around just in case you happen to have a chance encounter where you can quickly hand over a resume. Also, a lot of folks don't think about little things like their e-mail address or their voicemail message. Believe it or not, employers tend to shy away from people who use an e-mail address like "SassyHotBody@" or have screwy voicemail messages. Employers also search out people's Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter pages to see what their prospective employers look like, so it's essential to edit those for content. (I know you didn't ask about this part, but it is just something I wanted to mention for anyone who may be interested in the info.)

If all else fails, you can pay a "headhunter" who specializes in placing folks in jobs, but they don't usually deal with CJ positions.

I hope this info helps, but feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions. I'm up on the job hunt thing since I recently did it myself and I also did a few applicant background investigations with my old police department.

[JPS]

The previous post is full of great advice.

Check out tn.gov, memphistn.gov, and even Nashville.gov if you're interested in moving.

I keep basic resume and cover letter files and update them each time I send one out, making sure it's tailored for specifics and includes some (subtle) key words and terminology from the company or organization's own job posting.

[Chris]

A lot of employers are using temp agencies in this economy. I've hired a number of full time people that started with us as temps.

Might be worth looking into.

[Tempest455]

FWIW, in the last 25 years I have never got a new job by looking for ones that are posted. Consider what you would like to do for a living and where you would enjoy working. Send resumes to those places. Often, a company will hire by word of mouth, networking or timing may be on your side.