This guide discusses best practice strategies to efficiently target companies, set up job alerts, and successfully find roles that are the best fit for most CodePath students.

1️⃣ POSTING-FIRST APPROACH TO JOB SEARCHING

• Best for:
  • Learning what kinds of different roles exist for someone with your skill set
  • Familiarize yourself with different job postings, industries, timelines, and requirements
  • Learning what job boards work best for your preferred region, industry targets
• What to avoid:
  • Avoid using general search terms or you will get overwhelmed with too many postings and it won’t save you time in finding the right roles
  • Avoid only relying on job alerts or big job board websites as they are also the easiest for all other candidates to access and it can sometimes be challenging to sift through sponsored roles

📈Popular job board websites

Note: the best job boards are the ones where you can both find quality roles that are a fit for your background and skills and ideally ones where you are competing against a smaller pool of candidates. Finding the job boards you prefer sometimes requires some experimentation.

• University Job Board (Handshake, etc.)
  • Companies who specifically want to hire from your university
  • Make sure you talk to your Career Center to get access!
• Big Job Boards
  • LinkedIn
  • Indeed
  • Dice.com (tech-specific)
• Early Career Talent Platforms
  • RippleMatch
  • WayUp
  • Simplify (easier to fill in application data)
• Startups
  • Wellfound
  • Workatastartup.com (YCombinator)
  • BuiltIn Jobs

📩How to set up job alerts from job boards

• Recommended search terms
  • Because not every company will title its software-focused internship “Software Engineer Intern”, it’s important to use different combinations of search terms to be inclusive of as many targeted jobs as possible
  • Consider combinations of the terms below:
    • “Software” (inclusive of developer or engineer)
    • “security”
    • “Intern” (will include internships)
    • “Computer science” (for Computer Science majors)
    • “Cybersecurity”
    • “Python” (or any technology you feel strong in where you would have advantage)
    • “New grad”, “early career”, or “recent grad” (positions for recent graduates)
    • “Program” (can include rotational programs for recent grads)
  • Other considerations
    • If looking for a job for a specific semester like a Fall internship, try adding “Fall 2024” or “September 2024” to search terms
• Recommended filters
  • Ideally you want to filter for job postings that are less than a week old and the more recent they were posted the better
  • You may choose to filter for additional things like location, etc.
• Using job alerts in the application process
  • CodePath recommends starting with 1-2 larger job boards (until you narrow down which you prefer, your university job board, and at least one smaller/niche job board
  • Document your job boards and search terms and audit/update them on a regular basis so that you are getting emailed opportunities that actually benefit you
  • Ideally utilize one email address for your job search and to manage your job alerts, but you must check it frequently; you could also create a label for all job alerts
  • Set aside a day or time every week to fo the following:
    • Sort through alert emails or saved job postings
    • Prioritize the ones you will apply to that week
    • Submit applications

2️⃣ COMPANY-FIRST APPROACH TO JOB SEARCHING

• Best for:
  • Getting ready for a recruiting season before roles are posted
  • Strategically acquainting yourself with and connect with employees at your top companies before you apply to them which can lead to a more efficient job search
  • For international students who need to seek out companies that are willing to provide visa sponsorship
  • Optimizing your networking based on the companies/industries you are either the most excited about or have the most existing connections in already
  • Those who have an idea of the types of companies and industries they most want to work in (hint: this is something a coach can help you with if you don’t know!)
• What to avoid:
  • Avoid using this as your only strategy because in tough hiring markets, it is always better to take multiple approaches to a job search
  • Avoid waiting for the perfect contact or application for a target company; do as much prep work as you can beforehand, but better your application doesn’t miss the open window