This article will introduce you to using RSS feed readers to help to simplify your jobsearch.
An RSS feed aggregator is like a news reader. What the heck is that you say? Some web sites utilize what is called an RSS feed to “advertise” their site updates. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. These feeds make it easy for the visitor to see what sites have new content without having to actually visit the site. If you visit a lot of sites (15-30) per day, a feed reader can save you a lot of time looking to see which sites have new content. If you have an RSS feed reader you can quickly see what job boards have posted new jobs that meet your criteria without having to visit each site. For a great explanation on RSS read How to explain RSS the Oprah way at Back in Skinny Jeans.
You can either install a feed reader on your system or use one of the many free online feed readers. Using an online feed reader is like using Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, or any other web based email system. If you find that you conduct your job search at numerous locations I would recommend an online feed reader so you can conduct your job search anywhere. There are several free readers outlined in How to explain RSS the Oprah way.
I going to recommend Bloglines for now because it integrates well with Indeed.com and some of the other popular job boards. You can sign up for a free Bloglines account by visiting http://www.bloglines.com. In the upper, right-hand corner of the page you should see a link that says Register, just click it and register; you’ll only need an email address and password. Be sure to check your email after you sign up to validate your new account. Go ahead, register now and then come back. 
Once you’ve created a Bloglines account you’re ready to find some feeds to read. Most of the popular job boards will create an RSS feed automatically when you search for specific job terms. We’re going to take a look at Indeed, a popular job aggregator that allows you to search multiple job boards at one time. Open http://www.indeed.com in your favorite web browser. Type keywords that relate to your desired position in the What box, press the tab key, type in your target zip code in the Where box, and click Find Jobs.
The search results will appear on the page, you can scroll through and read all of the results. When a web site supports RSS feeds you should see an RSS icon somewhere on the page. This icon indicates that you can subscribe to the page and see updates via your feed reader. On Indeed you should see the feed icon on the right-hand side of the page. Also towards the top of the page, just below your search terms, you should see a link that says RSS feed.
Once you get the hang of using a feed reader you will find that many modern web sites have RSS feeds. Blogs, like the one you are reading, news related sites, sports sites, forums, and most other sites that update their content on a regular basis will include online feeds. When you visit web sites look for the RSS icon (see images to the left and right of this paragraph) or if you use Firefox look for the RSS icon 
in the address bar of the browser. Internet Explorer 7 also has a similar feed icon to the right of the tabs.
Since you’ve already created a Bloglines account this will be easy. Click the RSS Feed Link.
Once you click on the link a new page will appear for subscribing to the feed. Just so you’re aware some browsers, including Internet Explorer 7, have built in feed readers. If you are using IE7 or Opera the subscription page may not appear. We will address how to override your browser’s feed reader and use Bloglines instead later in this article.
Click the Subscribe with Bloglines icon.
After clicking the icon a new page should appear prompting you to login to your Bloglines account; login to your account as indicated.
Once the Bloglines subscribe page appears you should see a description of the Indeed feed and a check box next to it; click the check box next to the feed description.
It’s a good idea to keep your feeds organized by subject area. Click the drop down arrow next to Folder Top Level and click New Folder… A dialog box will appear prompting for the name of the folder, type Job Search and click OK. You should notice that the selected Folder is now Job Search instead of Top Level. The rest of the settings on the page don’t really need to be changed; if desired you can add some descriptive notes about the feed. Click the Subscribe button at the bottom of the page to subscribe to the feed.
After you subscribe to the feed the main Bloglines page will appear; on the left-hand side of the page you can view and organize your feeds. Click the plus symbol next to the Job Search folder to see the job search related feeds.
The Job Search folder will expand and you should currently see one feed. As you gather additional feeds this list will grow and you will be able to quickly check the different job boards for new listings.
Click the feed link that you want to view.
The right-hand side of the page will display all of the new job postings that match your keywords. You can scroll through the posts to see if there are any that you are interested in. Clicking the title of the job (in blue) will bring up the actual job description.
You can use this same process on most of the major job boards. Unfortunately, not all of the boards integrate as easily with Bloglines. For example, if you search for an RSS Feed link on the results page, but if you click the link you will see a lot of code. Instead of clicking the link, right-click the link and select Copy Link Location (Firefox) or Copy Shortcut (Internet Explorer). Open Bloglines and click the Add link. Click in the Blog or Feed URL box and press CTRL+V or right click and select Paste from the menu. You can also use this technique to override a feed reader that’s built into a browser.
Click Subscribe. Click the check mark next to the feed name, select the Job Search folder from the list and click Subscribe. You’ve added another feed!
You can create multiple feeds for a single site in Bloglines. This is great for the job seeker who may have a couple of different career focus areas. For example, I might search for jobs as an instructor and also as a web developer at Indeed.com. After performing each search I would save the feed to Bloglines.
You can also use the Easy Subscribe Button from Bloglines to easily add any feed to your Bloglines account. This button integrates with most popular browsers.
Many of the popular job boards now offer RSS. Here are a few to get you started:
http://www.indeed.com
http://www.monster.com
http://www.hotjobs.com
http://www.simplyhired.com/
http://www.jobster.com
Please note that while these job board are effective, you should always visit your target companies’ websites on a daily basis to see new job listings. Companies post their openings on their own sites before they post on job boards.
Remember that you can also keep track of other sites you visit often with Bloglines. I use it to follow web development sites, news sites (Wall Street Journal, Contra Costa Times, etc.), technology sites, and other sites I visit often. RSS feed readers really save a lot of time. Just remember to create new folders for each subject to keep your feeds organized.
In closing I just want to mention that Google also offers an RSS feed reader called Google Reader. The Google Reader is free and all you need to use the reader is a Google/Gmail account. Also if you’re looking for a feed reader that integrates with Firefox check out Sage.
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