What job search tools do you use? Maybe you partner with a recruiter, peruse job boards, and go to networking events…these are all great job search tools that make a big impact on your career. But, what about using mobile apps?
Choosing the Right Mobile Apps for Job Seekers Can Make All the Difference
There are an increasing number of mobile apps you can add to your current range of job search tools. To help you weed through the thousands of available mobile apps, several members of the MAKE team took some top apps for a test drive. Here’s what we found (all of these mobile apps are free downloads from the iTunes App Store):
CV/Resume Lite
Billed as a tool to help job seekers create a professional resume, CV/Resume Lite has a simple interface, allowing for easy navigation within the mobile app. The templates feature is one of the great job search tools for someone who hasn’t created a resume in awhile. Specifically, it allows you to plug in your personal information; then the app creates a basic resume using one of its templates.
Unfortunately, the app is too generic for job seekers with advanced skills or who have experience creating and updating their resume. Particularly in IT, where the ability to highlight specific projects, skills and expertise is critical to catching the eye of recruiters.
Overall, our Liz Hesse found that this could be a valuable addition to the tools of young job seekers or for those professionals who haven’t created a resume recently, with the caveat that it is extremely basic. Otherwise, most IT professionals should go elsewhere to create an effective resume.
Interview Prep Questions
Interview Prep Questions features a unique “flash card” interface to help job seekers prepare for many popular interview questions. Our Diana Jacklin found the app extremely easy to use, and loved that users can create their own favorites list of questions to focus on for interview preparation. She noted; however, that the variety of questions could be a bit wider to allow for better preparation and exposure to more intricate interview questions.
One of the best features of this app is its convenience. Job seekers can calm their nerves by brushing up and practicing right before an interview. You can take a few minutes to review common questions in the car before heading in for the interview — helping to relax you so that you’ll be more confident. Finally, Diana likes the information that’s available in this app.
While there could be more questions, the questions that are provided are thoughtful, and “flipping” the flash card offers you some helpful guidance for answering the question. This app could be a nice, free resource for any professional looking to boost his or her confidence before an interview.
LinkUp
A newer entry into the job board fray, LinkUp is both a website and an app that focuses on direct postings from companies (rather than sourcing job posts from other boards). MAKE’s Jenna Dillon and Caitlin Dobson took LinkUp for a spin. Both thought that the app was convenient and easy to use; however, both had difficulty finding accurate search results using the criteria in the app. In particular, featured postings seemed to “hog” the search results. Additional results weren’t always accurate to the search criteria used.
Our team thinks this app could be a convenient way to continue your job search while you have a few minutes to spare; however, the inaccurate search results may affect the time savings from using the app. Additional time savings can be found by avoiding unique searches on every company website — you’ll find postings from many top companies, including unadvertised job posts (according to LinkUp) in one place.
Overall, this app can be a good tool for finding jobs directly with top companies; however, beware the quality of search results — you may have to do a little digging to find the right opportunities.
Are there any mobile apps in your job search tool kit? Have you created a CV or resume using an app? We’d love to hear your stories — feel free to share them in the comments section below.