Simply Hired Blog

School’s Out! Now on to the Job Search…

It’s finally time to pack away those caps and gowns, return the textbooks and move out of the dorm. Congrats grads, you deserve that hard-earned degree!

Now on to your next big thing – and whether that’s working in Corporate America, being a volunteer or working the night shift, we’ve got the tools to get you there. Don’t let the economy bog you down, there are still tons of opportunities out there waiting for the perfect candidate – you!

Try our New Graduate filter to search for jobs nationwide. SimplyHired.com does the tough work for you by sorting through millions of jobs to find the ones that match your skills, experience and education level. You can even further filter your search results by sorting by company, title and date posted among other criteria.

To learn more about how to use the New Graduate filter, check out the “Launch Your Career” video. You can also read some of our favorite job search tips for recent grads.

Happy searching!

Blogging Your Way through the Job Hunt

Looking for a way to get industry folks and employers to notice you and your work during your job search? A useful tool for networking and getting your ideas out to the public is a well-maintained blog. If you haven’t already created one, try checking out blogger.com or wordpress.com to get started. Below are a few easy tips on how to use your blog to get involved in an online community, and even get yourself noticed!

• Pick a great title. The title of your blog should be more than simply “Bob’s Blog.” Try to use keywords in your title that relate to the content, without making it too long (short titles are the best). Choose a title that’s catchy and interesting – if you came across your own blog, would your title tempt you to read further?

• Find your tone. The tone of voice for a blog is key in relating to readers. Generally, blogs have a more casual tone – but don’t stray too far from professional, it’s important to maintain your credibility. 

• Spice up the content. Polls (try SurveyMonkey.com to set one up), photos, current events and recommendations all make for interesting content on your blog. Remember, one of the purposes of your blog is to get industry folks and employers interested in what you have to say, so make sure you’re keeping on topic in all of your posts. A great way to get others active on your blog is to host a poll. Take a current event and ask readers what there opinion is. You could also write a review on a new tool and allow others to leave their feedback as well.

• Keep it simple. Use headings to split up content as well as bullets to make your content easy to scan. Short paragraphs are also much easier to read, and your viewers are much more likely to read your entire post if it doesn’t drag on and on.

• Don’t forget to cite your sources! Remember what your teachers drilled into you in school? If you’re going to use someone else’s words or ideas in your own post, attribute it to them, don’t plagiarize! 

• Spread the word.  Now that you’ve set up your blog and have some great first posts, it’s time to share your masterpiece with others! Get in touch with some of your favorite bloggers, your friends and previous coworkers to let them know about what you’re up to. If you have other social media accounts such as a Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook profile, those are great spots to promote your blog as well. All three of those sites allow users to link to a website providing an easy way to endorse your new blog.

If, through all of your blog postings, you’ve realized writing is your forte and you couldn’t live without a job that lets your creative juices flow everyday, check out the 200,000 writing jobs available. For more specific searches, check out creative writing jobs and technical writing jobs.

Unemployment Edges up to 9.9 Percent

The April 2010 Employment Situation Report released by the BLS recently had somewhat mixed results with non-farm payroll increasing by 290,000, but the nation’s unemployment rate edging up to 9.9 percent, after holding at 9.7 the past three months.

Many industries upped their hiring last month, including notable increases in manufacturing jobs, business services jobs, health care jobs, and hospitality jobs. Federal government jobs also rose due to an increase in hiring for the 2010 Census.

The number of long-term unemployed people (those who have been out of work for 27 weeks or more) increased last month to 6.7 million, up from 6.5 million in March. Close to half of people looking for work are considered long-term unemployed at 45.9 percent.

While the unemployment rate increased, the number of jobs rose significantly as well. Over 500,000 jobs have been added in the last two months alone, showing that employers are hiring and reinvesting in the job market again – a good sign for job seekers.

Simply Hired Video Series: Optimizing Your Job Search

Simply Hired just released the sixth addition to our video series called Optimizing Your Job Search, which goes in-depth about how to tailor your job search results using various features on SimplyHired.com.

Sometimes when you perform a job search, you can get too many or not enough results, or job listings that don't fit what your requirements. This video shows how to get a better set of job listings by using the many filters on Simply Hired's search results page, the distance drop down filter, and the new jobs link.

Learn how to optimize your search on SimplyHired.com to get tailored results.

To request the topic of a future video, please comment below. Happy hunting!

Find Veteran Jobs for Armed Forces Day

In honor of Armed Forces day tomorrow, we wanted to highlight the ability to look for veteran jobs through our Veteran-Friendly Companies lifestyle filter. For many veterans, moving between serving in the military and the workforce isn’t always an easy transition. However, there are many employers looking for the valuable skills, discipline and experience that veterans are known to have.

The employers found through the Veteran-Friendly Companies filter value the unique perspective that veterans bring to the workforce. The filter can be found at simplyhired.com/veteran, on the special searches page, or in the special filters on the search results page.