Simply Hired Blog

What does that MEAN?

If you’re searching for jobs online, it’s inevitable that you’ll see abbreviations like “Sr.” for “Senior” and well-known industry-specific acronyms like “RN” for “Registered Nurse.” You may have even come across some job titles or descriptions where you have no idea what they mean.

One job I came across that made me want to find a translator to explain it to me: E83 Specifications Writer II. The job description wasn’t much more help and included “This position reports to the supervisor of SNVY, A4W RPPY Valves and Technical Publications.” Anyone else need help with that?

To the employers out there: Keep it simple. Our “Best Practice” advice is to use a job title that would appear on a person’s business card. What are the chances that a job seeker will apply to the job if they can’t understand the job description or even the title? By using the language job seekers use while performing their job searches (full, unabbreviated words), your jobs have a higher likelihood of appearing in search results.

To the job seekers out there: If you know of well known abbreviations or acronyms related to the job you are looking for, it’s helpful to include them in your search. So for example, if you’re looking for Vice President jobs, go ahead and search for “'Vice President’ OR VP” to maximize the number of results.

Not surprisingly, many of the common abbreviations/acronyms are from industries with high amounts of jargon, such as Healthcare. The top 5 most frequently searched abbreviations/acronyms include:

• LPN – Licensed Practical Nurse
• CNA – Certified Nursing Assistant
• RN – Registered Nurse
• HVAC – Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning
• LVN – Licensed Vocational Nurse

And now for some fun! Points to anyone who can guess what these mean:
PA –
EA –
DBA –
CRM –
PLS –
AIA –

Forget about the Oscars…

Simply Hired has been getting a lot of love lately and we wanted to share it with you! 

 Last Friday, Simply Hired received the honor of being named ConsumerSearch.com’s Best Job Search Engine. The reviewers especially liked our focus on the job seeker as well as our cool and useful features such as our extensive filters (including the special filters such as Fortune 500 companies), partnership with LinkedIn, and widgets for MySpace, Facebook, and iGoogle.

Simply Hired also earned one of WEDDLE’s Users Choice Awards for 2009 by recruiters and job seekers alike, as an employment-related site they like best. WEDDLE’s is an online employment and career information site and the Users Choice Awards poll is open for voting year-long. They pride themselves for these awards because they are “unique and uniquely yours. They are the only awards where the winners are picked—not by pundits and so-called experts—but by you, the recruiters and job seekers who actually use the sites.”

Thanks to everyone who voted!

Finding Jobs at the Best Companies

CNN Money / Fortune Magazine released its annual list of “Best Companies to Work For 2009” yesterday with Simply Hired playing a role. Alongside each profile on the list of 100 companies, Simply Hired will be providing a listing of current openings at each of these top employers. For example, if you’d like to work at NetApp, which earned the #1 spot on the list this year, you’ll be able to see an array of open positions, including roles in engineering, sales and marketing.

 

In addition, the “100 Best Companies” and “Fortune 500” job search filters will also be updated on www.SimplyHired.com.

Here is a recap of the The Top 5 Companies on the list this year:

1. NetApp
2. Edward Jones
3. Boston Consulting Group
4. Google
5. Wegmans Food Market

How to Boost Branded Searches

According to recent research, there is a very strong correlation between display advertising and search, site performance and engagement. Brand- and segment-related (cars, automakers, vehicle classes) searches increased by over 100% in several categories including Travel and Tourism, Health, Personal Finance, Automotive, News and Media, and Property and Real Estate after those brands were exposed to consumers.

Not only do display ads increase branded searches, but they also increase the likelihood of a sale. The study also found that clickers who had been exposed to online display advertising were 22% more likely to produce a sale than those clickers who were not exposed.

However, display advertising alone does not necessarily result in a higher rate of acquiring new customers. But display advertising as a part of a broader marketing plan including search advertising, classifieds, and others dramatically increases branded searches.

In terms of job searches, this means that a job seeker is more likely to click on a job listing from your company if you:

• include the name of your company versus a generic “Fortune 500 company”
• sponsor your jobs (they see your company name/brand multiple times: at the top of their search (premium placement location), as well as in the organic (free) search results. This is why jobs that are sponsored also see an increase in clicks in the organic results.)
• utilize online display advertising

And the best method is to use a combination, if not all, of these.

In case you were wondering, Simply Hired does offer display ads in addition to the option of sponsoring jobs. Brand awareness at its finest! (To buy display ad space, email displayads@simplyhired.com.)

MLK Day Job Search

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Simply Hired not only celebrates human rights and equality, but the equal right to work. That’s the reason why we have partnered with DiversityInc to create the Simply Hired Diversity filter using DiversityInc’s list of Top 50 Companies for Diversity. These companies were chosen for their commitment to diversity in the workplace and dedication to hiring employees from all backgrounds and lifestyles.

The Diversity filter can be found from our Special Searches page, or can be applied to any job search on the results page under “Special Filters.” 

You can also check out some of our other partners for diversity including sites for ethnic backgrounds (MyBlackNetworks.com, FilipinoNation.com, SeattleIndian.com), women (theglasshammer.com, Women 2.0), sexual orientations (LezTown.com, OutForWork.com), military (soldiers.ning.com), the over 50 crowd (RetirementCommunity.com, ContinuingCareers.com) and many others.