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| Home : Databases: Learning JobLink |
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I. Home 1. Databases a. CareerPath b. monster.com c. JobLink d. HeadHunter 2. Job Boards 3. Media II. Net Basics III. E-resumes
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While some writer's job services boast of hundreds of opportunities, AJR and NewsLink can brag about their specific search tool, JobLink. American Journalism Review magazine and the online research and
consulting firm NewsLink Associates teamed up to present job listings based on job preference, qualifications, location, and keyword. Ticking all the correct boxes takes a little extra time, but it's worth it to sort out all the muck.
SearchBot.SearchBot is JobLink's high-powered tool for searching the jobs database. It has nearly every category you can think of for honing a job hunt, including experience level, job type, salary requirements, position, specialty, and more. Choosing more categories allows you to target your search more precisely, and you can also weed out old postings by looking for jobs placed within the past 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 weeks.Click as few or as many items as you like, then press "Search." Choosing nothing in a category is the same as choosing everything there. As an example, say you've worked two weeks at a newspaper and you are looking for a general reporting job at a paper in the Northeast. You would choose:
For this search, I clicked only a few of the available choices to expand my search without excluding jobs that interest me. While detailed searches can often weed out the inapplicable junk, they might also weed out your ideal job. So be discriminating when selecting those boxes. A recent search using these criteria returned 4 ads, but you can often expand results by not selecting certain boxes. This helps if you would just as soon write features as hard news or if you want to see options available to people with more experience. Alternately, you can choose only one box, such as location, plus enter a keyword. So if you are willing to look at any writing job in the Northeast, enter "writer" in the search box after selecting Northeast in Region. Still 4 jobs came back using this method, but one was "Lifestyle Editor" and the other was "Knowledge Editor," different results from the first time. A similar search using "reporter" instead of "writer" brought back 5 openings, with three new positions. So be creative with your keyword searches and use as many words as you can think of that describe the job you want.
QuickSearch.QuickSearch gives job-seekers single-click access to the 13 most frequently searched categories of job ads:
QuickSearch is indeed quick. All you need to do is click your pointer on the sort of job you'd like to see, and everything in the database that fits will display. This is a good option for freelance jobs or for those very flexible in relocating, but the function won't be much help if you are constrained in your job search. It can also be too broad, as a search on freelance now just returned "Conference Manager/Investigative Research Professional" as well as "Freelance Photographers." Not much help if you specialize in health writing.
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