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Does the site organise its job listings by career or industry area? While
this makes it easier to identify jobs related to your
field, you might miss listings that are in a
different category. Always scan the entire list of categories and
click on more than one to see what's available
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Is your industry area on the site's list? Job areas such as accountancy, IT or
engineering will probably be on the list. If
you work in a smaller or more specialised field, it may not be
there. If not, move on
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Who sponsors the website? University or professional
organisation - their interest is to provide a service to their students/graduates
or members. Newspaper - their interest is to provide a service to
their readers as well as meet the needs of their "clients"
- the employers who placed and paid for the adverts. Recruitment
agency - while these web sites can be very helpful, remember that
the employer is the primary client not you
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Does the site list all the information about the vacancy so that you can
follow up on your own, or do you have to register to access the
vacancy list? If you're asked to fill in what looks like an
application or CV form, be careful. As a general rule, do not submit
your personal details, name, address, phone number. You have no idea
where this information is going or how many databases it could reach
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Be wary of applying to unknown employers - you could find yourself
in some embarrassment applying back to your own organisation
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There are web sites that only list vacancies for certain fields and
very often, they are recruiting agencies. It's helpful to know that
some agencies specialise in contract versus permanent openings.
Contract agencies can be very helpful if you're in a field that is
hard to get into, or if you want to shop around for the right
employer.