Career transitions require a great deal of materials, research, contacts, applications, communications, and other artifacts. What do you use to keep your job search materials organized?
I asked this question at our most recent twice-monthly networking meeting and got varied responses… and a few blank stares!
For many people, a job search is the most complex project we’ve managed. We have numerous conversations about positions that we have to keep track of. We have tons of new people we’re meeting and we may not be accustomed to remembering names, companies, positions, conversations, and where we are in the process with each opportunity.
This is what project managers do. Not geeks.
I’ve taken some time this week to study the tools available to help simplify this problem and found a few gems. I’ve profiled each of them here and given them each a grade. The criteria I used were the following:
- Does this tool help or hinder the job search?
- Is it easy to use (little friction and intuitive)?
- Does it integrate with existing tools or does it duplicate their functionality?
- How much do you get for free?
- How well organized is it?
Grade: B-
Click here for an overview of features.
- Keeps contact info for all contacts, companies, etc.
- Very form-oriented
- Free for 14 days then features disappear
Grade: B+
- Tracks and creates an Unemployment report
- Well integrated (internally) – companies, applications, contacts, & recruiters
- No (external) integration with other sites
- Nice interface, easy to understand and use
- Statistics is nice, see where you compare to others
Grade: A
Watch their video here.
- Integrated with major search engines – Indeed, SimplyHired
- Integrated with salary calculator from Payscale
- Integrated with social media sites Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter
- Timelines, progress
- Calendar
- Little slow (may have been my connection)
Grade: B-
A click here for a video tour. (Watch out for the creepy voice-over…)
- Can’t upload resume, must fill-out form
- Keeps track of positions and applications
- Interfaces with Indeed
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- Clunky
- User tends to slip out of the application to other sites
- Not sticky enough
- Keeps track of contacts and ties to target companies
- Task management
- Free for the most-used features
Grade: C-
- Contact-based
- Non-intuiitive
- Lots of friction
- More of a DB app than a real usable/helpful app
- Free trial period
Grade: D+
- Linkedin clone
- Not sure how it works or what it does
- Lots of friction, required fields, etc.
- Nice Look and Feel
Let me know how these resources help you or if you’re currently using one of these tools, please let us know what you like/dislike about it in the comments! How to Geek On is always looking for ways to be of service. Please contact us when you’re ready to get serious about your job search!
