What is a Listening Post?
A listening post is simply an automated method of monitoring what is published on the web. The web is full of content and to filter the noise from the news, listening posts are excellent tools that save time while monitoring relevant information. Automating your job search with listening posts can help you stay informed quickly and efficiently but whether or not you are currently seeking a job, I highly recommend that you always use listening posts to monitor the market. Why?
Why Should I Monitor What is Published on the Web?
Massive amounts of data get published to the web daily. If you take your own professional development seriously, you should constantly stay informed so you can adjust to market trends and remain relevant. You may be very happy where you are working currently but if you don’t monitor the market, you may miss an opportunity to apply to your dream job simply because you never knew about it. Moreover, monitoring the job market helps you learn of market trends, employer expectations, and jobs you didn’t even know existed. This can all seem overwhelming unless this information gathering is broken up into small, focused components over time. This is where listening posts can help you. Listening posts are a curation technique allowing you to curate relevant content from which to learn and share with your network. Listening posts should also be established to help you monitor your own brand.
How Do I Set Up Listening Posts?
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a means to publish frequently updated content. Many job search engines provide an RSS feed option that allows you to automate a specific search. Here are a few different types of listening posts:
10 Listening Posts to Monitor the Web
- Indeed – Automate a job search for your area in any industry
- Simplyhired – Automate a job search for your area in any industry
- oDesk – Automate a search for contract work
- jobchangenotifier.com – Get email alerts when LinkedIn connections change jobs.
- Careernotify.com – Automatically monitor when friends’ job titles change on Facebook
- Changedetection.com – Monitor a company web page for changes such as when they change employment listings.
- Yotify.com – Monitor online classifieds for new job postings
- Twilert – Monitor the Twitter stream
- TweetBeep – Monitor the Twitter stream
- Google Alerts – If you don’t know about this one, god help you! Monitor what is published on the web using search terms.
Do you have a listening post you like? Please leave a comment and share it here for readers!
You may also want to read:
- 10 Ways to Find a Job on Facebook
- HOW TO: Properly Name Your Resume
- Job Search 3.0
- 3 Ways to Find a Job on Twitter
- Career Services Training in Social Media
- The “P” Word
- Improve Your Job Search with these Online Resources
