Laurie D
Chiefl Marketing Strategist, Social Wisdom.ca | Helping firms use social media & the web wisely.
Best online job search sites & tactics for blue collar, low-skill, min wage type jobs
I'd like to get additional perspectives on the best social networking/online search medias for folks searching or qualifying for low-skill, minimum wage, possibly customer facing/customer service jobs.
I have been teaching how to use social media in a job search to a wide variety of unemployed individuals in Canada. Although I believe strongly in linkedin, facebook and job aggregators (indeed.com) for many of them, I want to ensure I am suggesting appropriate routes for those seeking blue collar, minimum wage, low skill type roles. Craigslist can be full of fraud but might be one route.
Your thoughts are appreciated.
Clarification added 4 months ago:
Bit of clarification - I'm not personally looking for a low-skill job - though appreciate the contact received. Rather, I've volunteers my time to teach social media to those affected by our great recession. Its very gratifying. I just worried that I was providing too professional a route to market and wanted to include routes appropriate for all job searchers.
Thanks so much for contributions.
Answers (7)
Anil A
Business Development Manager at ChangeWorkNow
Best Answers in: Staffing and Recruiting (4), Small Business (1)
Hi Laurie,
Not sure if it helps but in the UK we have fish4jobs.co.uk and jobstoday.co.uk both sites are owned by the publsihers of local and regional papers so the content is made up of the classified advertisement that appear in the papers. This tends to be local jobs. there may be a similar job board in Canada.
All the best
Anil.
Vanessa J
Admissions Counselor at Paul Smith's College
Best Answers in: Customer Service (1), Mentoring (1)
Hi Laurie,
I think it would be helpful to your clients to actually define the jobs they are qualified for and seeking. A few industries or jobs that come to mind are retail, food service and working in a call center. I think it would be worthwhile to investigate what specific job titles (on average) your clients will be prepared for (e.g. sales associate, cashier). Once they know what to specifically search for, google in itself can be a very powerful tool. It might also make places like indeed, simplyhired more effective. I also think that defining specific places in the area to begin looking for work (corporate (not sure what's in Canada, but here I immediately think Walmart, Target, Price Chopper) and/or small businesses) would perhaps be a more effective strategy than others. Craigslist, as you indicated, can be full of fraud, but perhaps one of your lectures or workshops could be "how to avoid fraud in your job search: good versus bad."
Good luck to you!
Ron K
Construction/Civil ENG Recruiting MGR -Brayman Construction Corp a leading General and Specialty Foundation Contractor
Best Answers in: Staffing and Recruiting (8)
Laurie I have utilized Craigslist quite effectively for many blue collar type positions. Also MySpace works well for these types of candidates as well!
Also there are many blogs set up for various blue collar type jobs. I have used these blogs to find welders, mechanics, labor etc!
Craigslist.com is an option that you can find low skill level jobs at, and some of those you can get above min wage. You just need to look for reputible organizations and not waste time on what isn't obvious. Monster has become a heap of jobs, but many are garbage and a ton to filter through, so I would not recommend using this. Rather, like you I love indeed.com.
Speak with some temp, day labor, or unemployment agencies to see if they have any leads for that you can use to find work. They work with "blue collar" organizations regularly and should have some helpful leads.
Best wishes!
Eric S
Senior Consultant at Bradley-Morris, Inc. Recruiting of Junior Military Officers and Military Technicians.
Hi Laurie,
A great search engine for those jobs are www.juju.com or www.indeed.com
Both search the web for all keywords and locations.
Take care,
Eric
Links:
Nathania J
Blogger, Social Media and Web Content Professional
Best Answers in: Advertising (2), Starting Up (1)
I agree with the suggestions for Craigslist and Indeed.com.
Indeed does a great job of searching the job search engines, but it doesn't pull up Craigslist results, so those have to be done separately.
Laurie, first of all I applaud your work in helping those people that are trying to pick themselves up in these tough economic times.
I realize that there are a number of on-line methods to search for a job today, but I might suggest a more low tech approach. There are a lot of employers out there that still use the newspaper for these positions. And sometimes you can get pretty far with an aggressive approach as well. Walk in and ask to speak to the manager or supervisor on duty. Shake their hand and let them know how you can contribute to their team and ask if they have any opportunities.
In today's world of e-mail, twitter, myspace, facebook, etc, I think a smile, a phone call, and a firm handshake can go a long way.
Just my two cents.
