How to Find Jobs that Aren't Listed in the Classifieds

It's extremely easy to get a job, but it's hard to find a good job, and even harder to find a good job that you actually enjoy. You have to get your resume ready, find jobs to apply for, setup interviews, prepare for them, compare offers and the like. It's a time consuming experience, and unfortunately many people get stuck in less than ideal jobs because they don't look in the right places to find the job they really want. Many people just look to the classifieds and don't go any further than that when finding jobs to apply for, but only a small fraction of positions are listed in the classifieds. If people had a bigger pool of jobs to look through, they would be able to better target the positions they like and not waste time interviewing at places they really wouldn't be interested in working for. Here's how to find the jobs that aren't listed in the classifieds.

A great place to start looking are your state online job listings and the federal online job listings. Government jobs often have great benefits and pay, so why not start looking there? Each state has its own listing site for positons in its state government. You can find those with a simple Google search. For federal jobs, you can find a listing of positions available in your area at usajobs.com.

Many states also offer a service that allow companies to list positions they have available to potential employees. For example, the state of South Dakota has a career center in many counties in which individuals can go to, look over a listing of jobs, and receive help applying for jobs. South Dakota even lists the currently open jobs online for people to browse through. Many states have similar listing services. These are often great places to look when you want to start a new career or when you're not looking for an extremely specific professional position.

If you're a business professional that's looking for a more advanced position or a very specific trade, you're going to want to head to some of the privately owned online listing sites, such as Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com, and HotJobs.com. Many employers use these sites to list professional and more advanced positions.

An interesting alternative method of finding a job is to target a company that you want to work for rather than simply looking for available jobs. Many companies will find a position for the individual if the right person comes along. This way you can find a company who's business practices and overall mission are in line with what you believe in. You'll always go much farther with a job that you're passionate about. To do this, learn a lot about the company, see what positions they have open, send them a cover letter and a resume, and go from there.

There are a lot of great ways to get a job that doesn't involve ever opening up the newspaper classifieds. Expand your search to add some newer and non-traditional means of finding employment, and you'll be more likely to find a job you love.