Job Alerts: Why you should be using them, and how to get started

Freerecruit.co.za is a free online recruitment site for employers to post job vacancies and for job seekers to find the best jobs in South Africa. Hundreds of South Africa’s top companies are posting new jobs every day, so you do not want to miss any job opportunities. There are many difficult, labor-intensive aspects to the job search which is why we have created Job Alerts tool for jobseekers that is easy to use and really helpful.

So what are job alerts?

A job alert is a notification that comes your way via email when a job with specific criteria (that you determine) becomes available. Whether you are searching for certain types of jobs or searching for a specific company, job alerts will keep you informed.

Rather than continuously searching job sites or company websites, set criteria of what you are looking for and let technology do the work for you!

Why should I use them?

Besides the convenience, another reason to use alerts is because it gives you the advantage of being one of the first candidates to apply for the job vacancy.

When a company posts a vacancy, they are going to wait for some applications to come and then start looking through them. If you’re not in that first batch, it may be possible that your application might not get looked at. This is not always the case but being an early applicant does give you an advantage.

What the best ways to use job alerts?

Follow companies

You might want to follow job openings for a specific company. You can set up a Job Alert for specific companies and each time that company posts a job vacancy, you will be one of the first to receive a notification.

Find a certain type of job

If you can figure out some keywords or job titles that describe your jobs of interest, you can set multiple alerts according to those terms and receive notifications as soon as those jobs are posted on the site. For example, if you’re looking for a Pharmacist Assistant role, you may setup an alert with “pharmacist assistant” as your keyword and receive those notifications as soon as they become available.

In fact, when it comes to setting these job alerts, there are many combinations you can come up with. For example, you can select only the Job Category, “Pharmaceutical Jobs” and you will then be notified of any jobs posted in the pharmaceutical category. The options are endless!

How do I set up a job alert?

There are a few areas on the website that you will find “Create Job Alerts“. If you are using a PC, have a look at our top menu bar. There you will find a link that says “Create Job Alerts”. You can also find this by going to “For Job Seekers” (Top Menu Bar) and then select “Create Job Alerts”

If you are using a mobile device, click on the “Hamburger” icon (Top Right) and select “Create Job Alerts” or Select “For Job Seekers” and then “Create Job Alerts”

How to create your first Job Alert

1. Alert Name: Give your alert a name. For example, “All Pharmaceutical Jobs”
2. Keyword: For this example we will leave this blank.
3. Location: For this example we will leave this blank.
4. Categories: For this example we will get alerts for all “Pharmaceutical Jobs” so I will select “Pharmaceutical Jobs”.
5. Job Types: For this example we will leave this blank, but you could select “Full Time”, Part Time” etc.
6. Email Frequency: Here you can select how often you receive the alert. ie. Daily, Weekly or Monthly.
7. Save Alert Button:  Clicking on this will save your alert.

Once you have created an alert you can always create others or edit, delete existing alerts.

You can see that there are many options and search combinations possible, but here are a few tips to keep in mind:

If you’re not sure exactly what job titles you’re looking for yet, try starting out by selecting only “Categories” and leaving the keywords blank and start seeing what results come your way. It may take a few tries for you to feel like you’re getting a list of jobs that are a right fit for you.

Have a look at this YouTube video tutorial to help you.

If you need any assistance please do not hesitate to contact us we will be more than happy to assist you!

I hope this article has helped you understand the benefits of setting job alerts and will make your job search a lot easier!