All of /.’s hub-bub over the types of technical jobs available in the US got me thinking … not really about the types of technologies companies look for from applicants but more about the types of tools people use to pull this data.  In this case, the source was Indeed.com, a job aggregator. 

Indeed’s tagline is “one search. all jobs,” and it further describes itself as “a search engine for jobs; a window to search all jobs on the web.  Indeed enables you to search millions of jobs across all career fields – jobs that are listed on job boards, newspaper sites, and niche sites. In one simple search, you can find the very latest job listings throughout the web.”

It also offers RSS feeds which is a very cool feature.  (Yes, I hear ya, Scoble, but I don’t run our careers website ;-)

I think it’s a good concept, and I know there are other similar sites out there, but I should also warn serious job seekers about relying solely on a site that monitors only “job boards, newspaper sites and niche sites.” What you miss are corporate careers sites, and that’s where companies list most of their jobs.  Why pay a job board or newspaper to host your job descriptions when you can host most of them yourself?

Case in point.  According to Indeed, Microsoft has 320 positions currently available in Redmond.  But according to our careers site, we have over 2500.

Let’s go with another Seattle fav.  Starbucks has 95 openings in Seattle, per Indeed.  But per Starbucks, they have closer to 130 Seattle-based jobs. <Edit:  Apparently, that link doesn't work, but search for yourself here.>

It all depends on how often a company advertises their jobs, and in the case with most large companies, you’ll find the bulk of the postings are hosted on their own websites, and traffic is directed to those sites from other sources.

So I guess what I’m saying is use whatever service you prefer to learn more about the different types of employers or the types of positions available in your area, but once you ID your companies of choice, don’t forget to visit and set up agents on those coporate careers sites.  If you rely on job board aggregators or even job boards alone, you may miss some of the best positions.

And yes, maybe one day, too, Microsoft will join the 21st century with RSS capability on our site. :)

gretchen

P.S.  Thanks to Patric for sending me an email that prompted this thought. :)