Simply Hired Blog

Simply Hired Video Series: Performing a Basic Search

We're introducing a new video series that goes in depth into the many job search features on SimplyHired.com. First in the series is a How-to video on Performing a Basic Search.

Learn how to search for a job on SimplyHired.com in under two minutes!

There are more videos on their way. So if you've ever had a tough time trying to figure out how to use Simply Hired in any aspect, comment below with what YOU want to see!

Maintaining Your Career Expertise

Employers today are facing an increasingly difficult market. Consumers are becoming more cost-conscious while maintaining high standards, competition both domestically and abroad has increased, and new technology is constantly being created. Because of this, employers need to hire employees that go above and beyond the job requirements of a given position. Employers now must find someone who can perform well in a position at this point in time and who will continually stay up-to-date with the newest technologies and best practices in their field so that their skills do not become passé. In short, job seekers must become experts in their field and actively maintain that expertise to keep up with the changing times.

Ideas in which you can continue your ongoing education about the latest and greatest in your field include:

• Classes at local colleges and universities, for credit or auditing
• Online courses
• Educational summits
• Training programs
• Online webinars
• Conferences or conventions in your field

Augmenting your resume’s Education section with the classes and sessions you attend shows employers that you are learning the day’s best practices and are constantly updating your skill set. Then, you will not only be essential to employers now but you will continue to be valuable moving forward.

The Interview Questions that Haunt You

In honor of Halloween, we’re going to focus on possibly the most frightful part of the job search process: the interview. Similar to sitting through a horror movie, interviews may induce heavy breathing, uncontrollable sweating, and flashbacks to moments that make you cringe.

To help you prepare, here is a list of some of the common questions that an HR Manager may ask you during an interview.

1. Tell me about yourself.
2. Why did you leave your last job (or why are you planning to)?
3. What are you looking for in a new job?
4. Why do you want to work here?
5. What relevant experience do you have?
6. What would your previous coworkers/manager say about you?
7. What motivates you?
8. What are your strengths?
9. What are you weaknesses?
10. What are your salary requirements?
11. Tell me about a time you… implemented an idea, had to deal with a difficult customer, came up with a successful solution to a problem, etc.
12. What is your greatest accomplishment?
13. How well do you work under pressure?
14. How well do you work on a team?
15. Why should I hire you?

 
Arriving with answers prepared for these questions will transform your interview from a fright into a delight!

Happy Halloween!

Searching by O*NET

Hypothetical situation: You go to SimplyHired.com, click one of the links to jobs by category (Writing jobs, for example) and are taken to the search results page. You’ll see tons of jobs related to writing in the results, however, if you look at the top of the page to the keywords search field, you’ll notice something different. Rather than the word “Writing” appearing in that field, you will see the following:

What's onet:(27-304*)?? At first it may look like something went wrong with the search or that the site has a bug. In any case, it is not what you thought you searched for. However, it is in fact correct! Many of the links in the Browse feature on the homepage actually link to searches of O*NET codes rather than keywords.

The O*NET program is the primary source of occupational information in the US. Within the program, there is a system of job classification called the O*NET-SOC taxonomy (SOC standing for Standard Occupational Classification - a system created by the Bureau of Labor Statistics) which categorizes all occupations into 23 major groups, 96 minor groups, and 449 broad occupations.

Examples of O*NET searches we use in our Browse feature include:

Accounting: onet:13-201*
Administration: onet:43-*
Biotech: onet:19-102*
Customer Service: onet:43-405*
Healthcare: onet:29-*
IT: onet:11-302*
Legal: onet:23 -*
Marketing: onet:11-202*
Restaurant: onet:35-*
Sales: onet:41-*
Systems: onet:15-107*
Teaching: onet:25-*
Transportation: onet:53-*
Writing: onet:27-304*

For example, if you are looking for dental assistant jobs, you can type “onet:(31-9091)” into the search box, which is the O*NET code for dental assistants. Your results will return all jobs that are classified as dental assistants. Not sure what the O*NET code is for the kind of work you’re looking for? Just got to the O*NET site and search by keyword. For a Simply Hired search, you must type in the six digit O*NET code (## - ####). You may also shorten the code and add an asterisk to the end (example: “onet:(21*)” or “onet:(35-2*)”) to perform a broader search within that category.

Video: LinkedIn API: Simply Hired

We found this great video made by the folks at LinkedIn which shows how to use the LinkedIn integration on SimplyHired.com. Learn how to work your connections to find the job of your dreams!