I’m thankful for being included in The Top 75 Websites For Your Career by Forbes. It’s in alphabetical order, and on their site they say they got about 700 different sites submitted to them, so they had to cut through about 90% of the submissions. That’s cool that we made it in the top 10% chosen.
What about the 75? Jacquelyn Smith, one of the two people who put this together, says:
“…it’s simply a compilation of nominated sites that we believe deserve some special recognition.”
Basically, they (2 people) went through the list and picked what they thought was good.
Let me contrast that to something like the New York Times best seller list.
The NYT list is based on sales through various channels (not all channels). The list is somewhat based on facts and purchases and demand, etc. Also, Amazon has their list of top 10, top 100, etc. which is based on actual sales. In other words, customers are voting with their pocketbook, which can tend to give a more accurate of the TOP books sold. These lists can be gamed… and they are gamed all the time (ever hear an offer to buy the $20 book and send in a receipt for hundreds of dollars of goodies? They are trying to get their numbers up so they can say they were on the best seller list).
As I went through the list of Forbes Top 75 Websites for your career, I thought “my heavens, no one has time for 75. And most of these are useless.”
Sorry, but most people are too busy for 75 websites. Job seekers usually don’t want to spend all day online reading, learning, etc. They just want a friggin’ job!
Here are my top 5 sites are for a job seeker (in no special order, since these five sites need to be used as part of a strategy that incorporates different strengths from each of them):
- LinkedIn. Everyone knows that networking is critical in a job search. LinkedIn is the 8 million pound guerrilla in the professional networking space. Get on it, use it. Most people don’t do it well. Many unemployed people who haven’t been in transition in the last 5 years have no idea how important LinkedIn will be in their next transition. Too bad they aren’t getting on and using it right now. I am so convicted that LinkedIn is such a powerful tool that I wrote a book on LinkedIn, and have DVDs helping people learn how to use LinkedIn. Alternatives: None.
- Indeed. As I speak around the country there are two sites that everyone talks about: LinkedIn and Indeed. Years ago it would have been Monster or CareerBuilder, but Indeed came along and ate their lunch. Indeed is a job board aggregator. The idea is that they get job postings from all over, and post them in one place. You don’t need to check multiple job boards, you simply go to Indeed, which has done all the work for you. Alternatives: SimplyHired, their main competition. I rarely, rarely hear anything about them. Also, LinkUp, which is an aggregator that says they get jobs ONLY from company job boards, so they must be real jobs.
- Idealist. I love what Idealist is. It is a niche site for a certain audience (socially aware professionals, non-profits, green-oriented, etc.). It is big and successful. It is part social, part job board, part networking, part blogs. Alternatives: you should be able to find something like this for your industry or profession. I would use Job-Hunt.org as a place to start looking for resources like idealist.
- Google. The big daddy of research. There’s a reason why people say “did you google it?” Every job seeker should spend time figuring out their target companies, target prospects, how to network in (who to talk to), competitive intelligence research, etc. Alternatives: any search engine that is good, Yahoo Finance, Spoke, Glassdoor, Job-hunt.org and other tools to research deeper into companies and industries.
- JibberJobber. I might have just blown the credibility of this list by putting my own site on here. I know, a horrid idea. But a job seeker (and someone who wants to manage their career who is NOT in a job search) needs to have a relationship management tool. Everyone in the know (including the Forbes article authors) says to network. How the heck do you manage what goes into networking? Names, numbers, dates, conversations, relevant information, follow-up information, etc.? You need to have a real tool to do this. Since HR and the company aren’t going to babysit your career anymore (ie, they aren’t giving you job security), you need to do it. And “do it” means get on and use JibberJobber. Alternatives: I’ll redeem myself by naming some competitors… Career Shift, Clever Careerist (was named various things, including isabont and virtual job coach (or something like that)), Job Cannon are three in my space, and then hundreds of generic CRMs like Highrise, Salesforce, etc. There, does that make up for naming my own company in this list? 🙂
Here’s why I think my list is better than the Top 75 from Forbes, and even the even narrowed down Top 10 they got from that list:
These are 5 different types of sites/tools that are practical and high-value.
They are really in five different categories:
- LinkedIn -> Professional Networking
- Indeed -> Job boards
- Idealist -> industry- or profession-specific social+ environment (social+ means more than just social)
- Google -> research and learning
- JibberJobber -> relationship management
Take those five categories, or types of sites… what am I missing?
If you were my friend and asked me how to get started in a job search or managing your career, I think those are five SOLID categories. They are the five you’ll need through the rest of your career.
If I’m missing one more it would be something for personal branding. And my recommendation for that is blogging with a WordPress blog (alternative: typepad).
What do you think? What category (or site) am I missing in my TOP FIVE?
Well said, Jason. Congrats on making the list – An even bigger congrats on figuring out a better list (and explaining why).
Keep up the great work – people are noticing….
It’s great to see the progress you have m ade and the many people you have helped alone the way!
Jason,
I like your list and although Idealist is new to me, I agree with your list. However, I would like to add a resource to it called Torqwork. Unfortunately, you are not going to be able to check out this resource unless you visit a OneStop Career Center. But, I think you should – not only to learn about Torqwork, but to introduce JibberJobber.
Congratulations, Jason…well deserved! And I agree with you in this list :). Be well!!