My short answer
Today, you find new jobs everywhere — if you stop looking only where everyone else is looking. The channels have multiplied: major boards, niche communities, company sites, freelance marketplaces, recruiters, and even AI tools. What matters is strategy: where you look, how you present yourself, and how quickly you follow up.
A modern map: the places I check (and why)
- LinkedIn — For professional networking, direct recruiter outreach and signal-driven job posts. It’s where relationships turn into referrals.
- Major aggregators — Indeed, Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter: broad reach, good for volume and salary/review research.
- Company career pages — The fastest way to find openings that aren’t always mirrored on boards. I watch a handful of target companies’ career pages daily.
- Remote job boards — FlexJobs, Remote.co, WeWorkRemotely, RemoteOK, Jobspresso: great if you want legitimate remote-first roles and fewer junk listings.
- Startup platforms — Wellfound (AngelList/Wellfound): direct founder/early-team access and transparency on equity and stage.
- Niche boards — Dice, Dribbble, Behance, ProBlogger, Idealist, and industry-specific listings: quality over quantity for specialists.
- Freelance marketplaces — Upwork, Fiverr, Toptal: short-term income, portfolio-building and a bridge to longer contracts.
- Aggregators and search features — Google for Jobs and job aggregators that pull listings from many sites so you don’t have to hop around.
- Recruiters & staffing firms — For some roles (contract, executive, specialized tech), a good recruiter is time saved and access gained.
- Professional associations, alumni networks, meetups and Slack/Discord communities — the quiet corners where many roles are first shared.
- Government and public-sector portals — e.g., USAJOBS and local civil service sites for structured public roles.
- Social channels and communities — X (Twitter), Facebook Groups, Reddit, developer communities, and Discord channels where hiring posts appear fast.
How I search — a simple routine that keeps the noise down
- Choose 4–6 primary sources that match my goal (e.g., LinkedIn + company pages + one niche board + one remote board).
- Set job alerts and email digests — treat them like a radar, not a distraction. I scan alerts twice daily.
- Maintain a small list of target companies and check their career pages directly twice a week.
- Keep an ATS-friendly master resume and a short tailored version for each application. Use keywords from the job description.
- Show work publicly: GitHub, Dribbble, portfolio site, or a short case-study PDF. Real work gets attention faster than buzzwords.
- Use informational outreach — one short message to people inside a company beats cold applying 9 times out of 10.
- Track every application in a simple spreadsheet: where applied, date, follow-up, outcome. It saves time and keeps momentum.
Practical tips that actually change outcomes
- Tailor fast: match 3–5 keywords from the JD into your resume and opening message.
- Apply early: new postings get fewer applicants in the first 48 hours.
- Use referrals: ask one relevant contact inside the company to forward your resume — referral moves you up the pile.
- Vet remote jobs: prefer sites that vet listings (FlexJobs or curated boards) to avoid scams.
- Freelance to full-time: use short gigs to demonstrate fit and convert to staff roles.
- One message, not a novel: keep outreach concise, respectful, and specific about why you fit.
- Improve the signal: add a short project or public writing sample that proves your current skills.
Tools I use for speed (AI included)
- Job alerts + RSS feeds from targeted boards.
- A short template library: three tailored cover messages and three resume variants.
- Chat-based drafting (use AI to draft and then edit — never send AI text verbatim) for outreach, resume bullets and interview practice.
- A tracker (spreadsheet or simple ATS-lite) to avoid duplicate applications and missed follow-ups.
Where my thinking comes from — a small continuity
Years ago I wrote about searching city-first when geography mattered to candidates and employers; that focus still matters for many people today when location dictates decisions. See my piece on city-wise job search for context and how that idea has persisted over time.City-wise Job Search
I’ve also talked about new interviewing formats and candidate assessment before — video interviewing and assessment tools are now part of the flow for many hires; prepare for them early in your process.Video Interviewing — Candidate Assessment Made Easy
Quick checklist before you hit submit
- [ ] Is the resume tailored to the job? (3–5 keyword matches)
- [ ] Do I have a one-line message for the hiring manager/referrer?
- [ ] Did I attach or link to a relevant work sample or portfolio?
- [ ] Is the job fresh? (posted within 48–72 hours)
- [ ] Did I set a reminder to follow up in 7–10 days?
Closing thought
Finding jobs today isn’t about a single site or trick—it’s about building a small, repeatable system that blends visibility (where hiring happens) with signal (what proves you’re the right person). I treat job-hunting like short sprints of focused, well-measured effort rather than a marathon of scattershot applications. When you combine that with a few trusted sources and quick follow-up, opportunities appear faster than you expect.
Regards,
Hemen Parekh
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