Career and Job Search Help Blog

Many websites and blogs that have frequently updated information offer RSS feeds or news feeds. This is good news for job hunters. You can subscribe to be automatically notified about new jobs that match your keywords and location.

The new information on the website is specially configured to be read by a news reader program. You subscribe to the feed of the new content and the new information automatically appears in your news reader.

• The news reader organizes the information so that you can quickly scan'the headlines for the ones that interest you.

• If you subscribe to an RSS feed instead of subscribing to email updates, you can reduce clutter in your email inbox and make emails from potential employers more prominent!

• You can read the feed when you wish. The posts will be available for reading in your feed reader until you have read them.

• You can read the current posts or retrieve the older ones if you need to see them again.

• For sites that don’t require registration, you don’t have to give your email address to get the RSS feed. It’s a free service.

First you need a news reader. There are lots available that are free and are web-based. This means that you can log in on any computer, not just your own, to see the latest jobs waiting for your review in your feed reader.

Create a free account for Google Reader or Bloglines.

1. For Google Reader, you can use your Gmail login. (Google Reader is available from the Google homepage, choose More.)
2. For Bloglines, you can use your Yahoo Mail to log in and create a free account.

You will need to go to your email to confirm your account

In the library you will find it easiest to use the Firefox browser, rather than the default Internet Explorer.
After logging in to the computer, choose the Mozilla Firefox browser from the Start menu.

With Firefox, you can easily subscribe to RSS feeds. At home, you can download Firefox for free.
 
It’s easy to subscribe to feeds for new job postings! Here’s how: 

Go to:

jobbank.gc.ca

1. Choose Job Search. (menu on the left)
2. Do your search as usual, using the dropdown menus to choose your job category.
3. Then, choose View as RSS from the menu on the left, in Page Tool.
4. A page will pop up allowing you to subscribe using your favourite feed reader, Bloglines, Google Reader, etc. When you are ready to read the posts, go to your feed reader, log in and  read about the new jo

Eluta works the same way. This website searches employers' career pages for new jobs and job announcements.

Some websites don't offer the easy subscribe feature when you are in the library. (At home with Firefox or IE7, your preferred RSS reader should kick in.)

Workopolis FastTrack  

1. Click on a topic and then on the orange RSS label for the category you wish.

2. Copy the URl by right-clicking and paste the URL from the address box which was generated by the command to subscribe. (You can use Copy and Paste from the Edit menu, rather than right-clicking.)

3. Don't use the link "subscribe to this feed" on library computers, only use it at home on your personal computer.This command saves the subscription for viewing on that computer only.

4. Just open a tab in Firefox (File menu) and open your feed reader in that tab and log in to your feed reader. Paste the address into the subscription box in your feed reader from the job search page.

Indeed.ca  Search for a job then refine the search if you wish. For example, translators' jobs can be refined by language. Then click on RSS feed. Follow instructions as for Workopolis.

Working.com  Search for a job. Then scroll to the bottom of the page. You need to click on the orange XML label. Same instructions as Workopolis.

Visit your RSS feed reader regularly to scan'the new jobs that have been posted. Just go to Google Reader, Bloglines or whatever feed reader you have selected. Log in to look at the new content. Click on a headline for more detailed information about the job posting.

How can you tell if there is an RSS feed available for a website? Look for the letters RSS or the orange XML or the word "feed. You might also see this orange icon. Some browsers show the icon in blue (Safari).

And don’t forget to subscribe to this blog!

For more information, see this short video, RSS in Plain English on YouTube.