Essentials of Business Communication 10th Edition by Dana Loewy,Mary Ellen Guffey

Exercise 9

Most job seekers today start with the Internet, whether searching job boards or, increasingly, social media networks. This communication workshop will help you use the big job boards to study openings in your field. Looking for jobs or internships online has distinct advantages. For a few job hunters, the Internet delivers with leads to bigger salaries, wider opportunities, and faster hiring. The Internet, however, can devour huge chunks of time and produce slim results.
Internet job searches seem to work best for professionals looking for similar work in their current fields and for those who are totally flexible about location. However, Internet job boards are an excellent place for any job seeker to learn what is available, what qualifications are necessary, and what salaries are being offered. To be sure, with tens of thousands of job boards and employment websites deluging the Internet, it's hard to know where to start.
Career Application. Assume that you are about to finish your degree or certification program and you are now looking for a job. At the direction of your instructor, conduct a survey of online job advertisements in your field. What's available? How much is the salary? What are the requirements?
Your Task
• Visit Monster, one of the most popular job boards.
• Study the opening page. Ignore the clutter and banner ads or pop-ups. Close any pop-up boxes.
• Select keyword, category, city, and state. Decide whether you want to search by a job title (such as nurse, accountant, project manager ) or a category (such as Accounting/Finance, Administrative/Clerical, Advertising/Marketing ). Enter your keyword job title or select a category-or do both. Enter a city, state, or region. Click Search.
• Study the job listings. Click the links to read more about the job openings.
• Refine your search techniques. For many helpful hints on precise searching, click Search tips or Advanced Search. Browsing this information may take a few minutes, but it is well worth the effort to learn how to refine your search.
• Select the best ads. In your career and geographical area, select the three best ads and print them. If you cannot print, make notes on what you find.
• Visit another site. Try CollegeRecruiter, which claims to be the leading internship and entry-level job site for students and recent graduates, or CareerBuilder, which says it is the largest online career site with more than 1.6 million jobs and 24 million unique visitors every month. Become familiar with the site's search tools, and look for jobs in your field. Select and print three ads.
• Analyze the skills required. How often do the ads you printed mention communication, teamwork, computer skills, or professionalism? What tasks do the ads mention? What is the salary range identified in these ads for the positions they feature? Your instructor may ask you to submit your findings and/or report to the class.