Employment Spot

Local Job Listings

Are you tired of finding an amazing job online but then scrolling down the page only to realize that it is on the other side of the country?  Is an hour or even a thirty-minute commute too long for you?  It doesn’t seem like finding a job in your town should be so difficult… after all, you do live there.  When looking for local job listings, it is important to narrow down your search and make use of all resources available to you.  Here are some tips to finding a great job in your desired location:

1. Use the “Location” feature of online job databases.
This is probably the easiest and most obvious way to find local jobs.  Most online job databases, such as EmploymentSpot.com, allow the user to type in his or her city/state or zip code.  The best feature of this job search is that you can specify how many miles outside of your area you would be willing to travel.  This is extremely beneficial because it does not display any jobs that are out of your range, ensuring that your job results really are local.  For example, if you are interested in local job listings for Tulsa, Oklahoma, a location search such as this one will provide you only with jobs within ten miles of the city of Tulsa.  One helpful hint is that if you search by city, try playing around a bit by typing in neighboring cities as well – new local jobs may show up even if they were only a fraction of a mile outside of your original search radius.

2. Search for companies in your area.
Even though you may be fairly familiar with your hometown, you might be surprised to find that there are more companies in the area than you realized.  Try searching in the Yellow Pages online.  For example, the aircraft and aerospace industry is one of the largest industries in Tulsa.  If you type “aircraft” or “aviation” in the yellow pages search and use Tulsa, Oklahoma, as your location, it will will provide a list of local companies that you can investigate further.  Similarly, if you want to work in a law firm, search for attorneys in your city.  You could then contact the firm directly and inquire about employment opportunities.  If you are interested in advertising, you can search for local advertising agencies.  Often times, the yellow page listing will include a link to a company’s official Web site.  You will find that many companies have a “careers” or “employment opportunities” section of their site that includes local job listings.

3. Look for local government jobs.
If you want a local job in your town, why not try working for your town?  No matter how small your hometown, most cities, towns, villages and even townships usually have at least one administrative office.  Many also have their own park district, police and fire department, building department, planning and zoning commission, etc.  The best part about working for one of these government jobs is that they are local.  Furthermore, there are many more opportunities in local government than one might think.  For example, even if you aren’t a firefighter, you could still work for your local fire department.  The New York City Fire Department has civilian job listings for administrative assistants, mechanics, IT specialists, etc.  To find these local job opportunities, it is easy to get in contact with someone in your city’s government.  Most towns have a Web site, so try searching your city’s name in a popular search engine.  For example, if you want a job in Tulsa, their Web site at www.cityoftulsa.org includes local job listings within the city government.  Also check out government job listings in online job databases and search by location.

4. Don’t forget newspaper “Help Wanted” ads.
Squinting your eyes to read the newspaper classified section may seem a little old-fashioned, but it is still extremely worthwhile.  The Help Wanted section of newspapers contains job listings for major companies as well as smaller, local businesses.  These smaller businesses may not have the resources to advertise on a larger scale, such as on an employment Web site, so the newspaper might be the key to finding these local job listings.  Some newspapers even post their classified section online.  This holds true for larger papers like the Chicago Tribune and LA Times as well as many local newspapers from smaller towns.  There are also some websites, such as ChicagoJobs.com, that compile newspaper Help Wanted ads from a large number of different local newspapers.

5. Use your connections!
Last but certainly not least, talk to your friends and neighbors.  They all live in your town, most probably work in the area, and if they don’t there is a good chance they know of someone else who does.  If you are looking for local employment, let anyone and everyone know that you are on the job market.  The word will get around, and you never know when someone might mention to your friend that his or her company is hiring.  Using your connections and networking is a great way to get ahead in your career, especially when you are looking for local jobs.