When it comes to searching for jobs, most people immediately think of LinkedIn and Glassdoor. While both of those are great tools, they make it hard to personalize your search and to filter by anything apart from a company’s location and a job title.
There are a lot of other free job search tools out there. In fact, there are so many of them that it is difficult to know in advance which tool is most useful and how to get started with it. In this blog post, I’ll share my three favorite job search tools and how I’ve used them to find my dream job at Smartcar.
1. AngelList
If you’re looking for a job at a startup, AngelList is a great start. The tool is free. Most startups use AngelList to post their job openings and to find talent.
How to use it
On the AngelList homepage, hover over the “More” tab and click on “Companies” from the drop-down menu.
You will now see a list of companies and several different filters to choose from. Here’s an example of how I found Smartcar when I was hunting for jobs.
Once you click on a company name, you will see their profile including who the founders are, what the work culture is like, what benefits they offer, and which job openings they currently have.
The good & the bad
All in all, AngelList is a great tool for job hunting. Nearly all startups have profiles on the platform, which makes it easy to browse and discover new companies. The search filters allow you to filter by your exact preferences. Finally, the fact that job openings show up directly on AngelList is a huge plus. The only negative point is that the search filters are pretty limited compared to tools like Crunchbase.
2. Crunchbase
If you are looking for anything from small to large-sized companies, Crunchbase is a great tool to use. If you use the free version, you get limited search abilities. However, Crunchbase offers a 1-week free trial of the Pro version, which includes advanced search and filters.
How to use it
On the Crunchbase homepage, click on the top search bar. Several filters will appear. Even if you are using the free version, the Crunchbase filters are more detailed than the ones that AngelList offers. For example, you can filter by location, investment stage, number of employees, and industry (i.e. category).
The good & the bad
Crunchbase is a great way to create a list of companies in a certain industry that is of interest to you. Unlike AngelList, Crunchbase includes companies of all sizes and investment stages, and it offers detailed filtering. The only negative point is that you can’t see a company’s job openings directly on Crunchbase. Instead, you have to click on the company website from their Crunchbase profile and check out their careers page.
3. Apollo.io
Apollo.io is a tool that allows sales and marketing professionals to find accounts they want to sell to. However, it’s a great tool for finding your next job as well!
How to use it
To use Apollo.io, you need to create a free account. Once logged in, click on “Companies” in the left-hand-side menu bar. Now you can filter by things like industry, keywords, number of employees, funding stage, and location.
The good & the bad
Apollo.io offers more filters than AngelList but less than Crunchbase. The negative point is that you can’t see a company’s job openings. However, just like Crunchbase, Apollo.io shows a link to every company’s website.
The big advantage of Apollo.io is that it shows you a list of everyone that works at a specific company. You can even filter those employees by their roles and find their emails. This way, Apollo.io allows you to find the recruiter or hiring manager for a job opening and to email them or message them on LinkedIn.
Hopefully, these three tools will help you jumpstart your job search. If you know any great tools that we haven’t mentioned here, I would love to hear about them. Feel free to reach out to me, and happy job hunting!
