Anyone have good or bad experiences with Ziprecruiter?
Or Linkedin which I find amazingly expensive for the upgrade version. It is something ridiculous like $150 a month or $75 I have to go back and look. I remember laughing when I saw the rates. I am not in the job market but my kids are that age and I interact with college aged people so hoping to share what other know about finding a job in the digital age. I will do further research on top of whatever you share.
Employer here. Haven’t used Ziprecruiter; have used LinkedIn; Indeed; Craigslist. Recent college grad DD was recruited via LinkedIn. I think a lot depends on the industry. ActiveRain for sales people, for example. Good luck to your kiddos!
My daughter found a job two weeks ago through an industry-specific job board.
@Classof2015 is right. It depends on the industry. There are niche job boards for some-my H is job-hunting and uses several that would have no meaning to people in any other industry. My son is also looking and had an interview yesterday. He goes directly to company websites and looks at their career sections. It’s a small, niche industry and most companies don’t advertise on outside sources. He checks and has had success with Craigslist for side jobs. I work at a church-there are special boards for pastors, and another for the musicians we hire, and so on.
I just recommended to my son that he go out there and visit the businesses that he’d like to apply for. Ask them if they’re hiring, and if he could get an application. He’s doing plenty of online apps for tech jobs (over 300), but he’s just trying to get something, ANYTHING to work part time to earn some money and feel like at least he’s working. But I’ve looked at some of these jobs in NYC that theoretically should be easy to get…“Busperson, restaurant is looking for two years of experience in fine dining”. Seriously? As a busperson? 
But my point to him is that if you go out there, dressed nicely, they can see this is a smart, friendly, conscientious person. You’re not just a name on a resume (plus his resume is full of tech stuff, not customer service), and for those kind of jobs, showing up as a motivated, hard working person seems like the best thing you can do. At least it used to be. I went door to door looking for jobs, as a skinny, mangy, unkept teenager, and actually got a few.
I’ve recommended that he apply for anything whatsoever. Babysitter, bicycle messenger, waiter, office work, tutor. Well, I did see this job as a male stripper that I didn’t pass on. Yet… :-S
Having a LinkedIn page is critical. Paying for premium is not necessary. We get a lot of traffic from Indeed.
I am in the midst of job change. One offer came through people I have worked with, and another is through a recruiter finding me on Linkedin.
D1 is 5 years out of school. She gets calls regularly through recruiters, and I think they find her on Linkedin.
It is important to have key words on Linkedin, so when those recruiters do search that your name comes up.
I don’t pay for premium.
At what point during college is it good to develop a Linkedin page? My daughter is a junior and has had internships since the summer after high school. Already has one lined up for this summer. Does she need one yet?
Yes!
ASAP. 
Yes. Employers often check Linkedin, especially HR.
A friend who worked in HR was the person who told me about Linked In several years ago. I am not job hunting but keep my page updated with new titles, projects, etc. you would be surprised at how many do not.
The benefit to HR is that they can check that she is officially linked to people that are employed at the places she has had internships at? Is it a short cut to checking references?
If people post their experience on Linkedin, it is most likely to be accurate.
Glassdoor is a great site to check out company’s reputation and get employees’ feedback. Our HR tell us very specifically on how to treat our recruits and employees because they do not want negative feedback on the site. You can also get a sense of company’s pay and benefits.
One company I am speaking with told me specifically they have totally revamped their HR and IT departments with brand new management. When I checked them out on Glassdoor, I noticed there were many negative feedbacks on those two areas.
LinkedIn doesn’t replace contacting references when you make a decision to hire. But it does offer valuable information about job applicants. Some of the things I look for include:
The last one is especially important - I’ve made decisions to move forward or not with a candidate if I get input from someone I trust who has worked with them sometime in the past
For a college student a LinkedIn page doesn’t provide as much value as for someone with significant work experience - but it does provide the platform for building those connections in your network that can prove to be valuable. A student should definitely link to people they do internships with - you never know when that could help lead to a permanent job.
Yes to Linked In. All 3 of mine built their pages probably around sophomore year. For job hunting I recommended the kids post their resume and sign up for job alerts on LinkedIn, indeed and zip recruiter and to apply through the actual company website. But honestly all my kids have found their jobs through networking. They saw the job then found someone they knew who made the connection along with the application. This works for highly socialized kids who are comfortable talking to non-peers or people they don’t know well.
zip recruiter—here is my experience…(employer view)
I got multiple mailing pieces for a “free” trial…needed to hire someone .I started to set up the account than at the end of the process zip recruiter needs a credit card because they are going to bill you a lot lot of money. you can cancel at anytime by calling an 1-800 line. Which I know probably means used car sales men trying everything to keep you “enrolled” and multiple follow up calls that credit card was billed… please remove the charges. so the free deal was not free and their actual monthly charge after the first " free" ad was actually very expensive. (I stopped the sign up process)
as I have mentioned before in previous posts the best way to find a job is go to a temp to hire agency let them find you a job. (the company hiring pays not you) and if you pass the probation period , you get a full time job. it is a much easier smoother path to employment. is there ever issues?? Yes of course. but it is 100000x times easier and better than the old job search of sending out 1000x of resumes , going to job fairs where you wait in line to hand someone your resume only to get a generic postcard 3 months later saying your resume is on file.
p.s. for people like my ex who never got my sarcasm or purposely non literal exaggerations 100000x is not an actual amount it is figurative and made up.
My S has had a number of contacts via his Linkedin page. He has the free service. I can’t recall how he got his last job. His first job out of college was in response to a Craigslist ad. I think his 2nd job was also a response to a Craigslist ad. Many ads are fake but it worked for him. He is a Graphic designer. He makes sure he lists all the different softwares he is proficient in. As someone suggested know the keywords for your field.
Zobroward suggestion of a temp agency is not a bad one. I know a couple of very desirable companies in my city who hire through temp to hire agencies. For one company a friend of my S had been trying to get an interview with them for over a year. A friend of a friend who worked in HR at that company suggested she apply through the temp agency. She got a job with them in a short time.
I have also hired several people who started working with us as temps. And if we don’t have any positions available at the time when temp contract is over, we speak to the HR and help the person find a position in other departments. However, it only works at certain position levels - we hire B.S. and M.S., but not PhD as temps.
In addition to temp agencies, the best way to find jobs for college students is definitely through internships. In some industries, finding a summer internship after a junior year is vitally important, and this is how the majority of students get jobs. Also, depending on industry, I often recommend to attend professional conferences and connect to potential employees during poster sessions, trade shows, exhibitions, or social events (rather than carrier fares). Poster abstracts or vendor lists are usually published ahead of time, and it is easy enough to identify potential companies and contacts, and they are usually much more accessible and “friendly” during these events.
For a person who is already employed, Linked in is a very good tool - I get approached by recruiters very often, and I know that our HR recruiters post our open positions, and approach prospective candidates via Linked in all the time
mom60
the temp agency of yesterday has morphed…and many people wrongfully think of most agencies today as" temp agencies"…today they are called Staffing Agencies (a large part of their business now come from direct hire or temp to hire placements) .
it allows someone who is looking for a job to get in where they never would have and to compete against 3 or 4 other pre screened applicants as opposed to maybe 100x people who were among the lucky few to get past the resume reading stage…and still faced long odds being number 110 of those being interviewed.