For 72 hours, I dedicated myself to look for the best 10 entry-level jobs I could find. This is what I learned.
Advanced Search is a hack
The first day of my search, I would click into almost every job opportunity. This tired me easily. When I learned how to use the Advanced Search, I was finding exactly what I was looking for in half the time.
You already know what type of job you are looking for. Instead of directly typing “Restaurant Floor Manager” in the search box to find hundreds of job listings, click the Advanced Search link. There you will find these parameters:
“with all of these words”
“with at least of one these words”
“with these words in the title”
Use this to your advantage and your listings will be narrowed down to 10-20 options. Quality over quantity. If you look at every job listing, you will last one to two hours in the job hunt.
Be concise on what type of job you are looking for. If you want your next job to have a retirement plan, include ‘401k’ in your search parameter. If you already are a master in Salesforce then add Salesforce in your search to find only jobs that fit that description.
Precision is the name of this game.
Knowing who you are is half of it
For several job search sites, in order to access their full content you need to create a profile. They ask you simple questions about your personality and your experience in the workplace.
It make take you 2-10 minutes to create a profile but it is worth it. You may even learn something about yourself you didn’t know because of their insightful questions.
The site Angel.co has a section titled “what I’m looking for” where you write in 300 words or less what is your idea of an ideal company to work for. This exercise forced me to think critically to convey my thought in easy-to-understand words.
This is what I wrote: “My ideal workplace would be a company that centers their vision and mission focused on the customer- how to better serve the customer. I enjoy empowering my co-workers so they maximize their efficiency in whichever role they have, which is why I am aiming for an Operations position.”
Research the companies you are interested in
What I did every time I found a suitable job listing.
In the 72 hours, my aim was to find the best 10 job entry-level for Operation roles so I was picky and tedious in my selection.
Part of my pickiness was to get to know the company even after reading their job description listing.
They may say things such as: “We are the leading company in the plastic industry” or “we are an award-winning consulting firm…”
These self accolades may be misleading. Two out of five companies I would google search, where not what they claimed to be. Some where startups who wanted to sound professional while others had been founded a decade ago but clearly have not still found success.
Another benefit of researching the company you are interested in is getting to know their culture.
LinkedIn grants you access to almost every employee in any company. If you are curious, you may find out where their VP graduated from or how did their Operations manager ended up in the company. It puts a face to the name (of the company).
This intense researching may be the tie-breaking factor when choosing between one company or another.
Nelson Guerra 