14 Must-Have FREE Digital Job + Gig Search Tools

Bottom line, you’re running a marketing campaign

What does a job or gig search have in common with a Fortune 100 marketing campaign? More than you might think.

I spoke about this in my recent Facebook live workshop as a guest on Digital Media Sync, hosted by my friend and colleague Giulia Gouge.

The 5Ps of Marketing (formerly known as the 4Ps) is the basic structure used to build a marketing campaign. My philosophy is that they’re the same for a job or gig search, only tweaked a bit:

Product = is YOU; Price = is salary; Place = is where you want to work; Packaging = how you present yourself; and lastly is Promotion = how you tell the hiring audience that you’re available. It’s this P where you’ll use these digital tools.

Now that you know how to approach your job search like a successful marketing campaign applying these 14 tools to your job or gig search gives you an advantage over your competitors. You’ll be using the same successful strategies as multi-million dollar marketing campaigns, only for yourself!

1. Gmail — To up your professionalism, create a separate email address solely for this purpose. Set up a signature block with your full name, maybe add your industry, and definitely add links to your LinkedIn profile and, if this applies to you, your website or online portfolio.
2. LinkedIn — So much more engaging and encompassing than a resume, your LinkedIn profile deserves the time and attention it takes to get it to All-Star status. It’s the place where you can follow or connect with industry leaders and, of course, set up alerts to be notified when a job or consulting gig is available. LinkedIn’s new feature, Open to Work’s green frame around your headshot, gets attention. They’ve recently made it so that you can set this to let only recruiters know you’re looking if you're employed.
3. Canva — The non-designers best friend, use Canva to create your LinkedIn banner. Don’t overlook this prime digital real estate. Having a banner that reinforces your skills or your industry is a must.
4. Bitly — This easy-to-use tool can provide a goldmine of information. When you set up a Bitly for your LinkedIn profile, use that Bitly on your resume to track clicks. You can Bitly just about any URL and have a dashboard so you can see if you’re getting traction.
5. FreePDFConvert — I love this site. For sites that only accept PDFs, you can covert .pages and .docs; even convert PNGs to JPEGs. Tip: Never send your resume or one-pager as a document because you don’t know what software the receiver has.
6. Hootsuite — If you think strategically and run your job or gig search as a campaign, Hootsuite is the way to set up your social media postings for up to a month at a time.
7. Paper.li — If you use Twitter, setting up a Paper.li newsletter will automatically tweet for you once a day. It will pick up the handles of those you’re connected to and follow and create a daily post. This helps because if you’re following industry publications or leaders in your field, they’ll be tagged and will likely check out your profile.
8. Hunter.io — Need the email of an elusive C-level exec? Hunter.io can help even when their email isn’t published anywhere. I don’t know how they do it, but they do, and it can be beneficial to get your materials in front of the right person.
9. Grammarly — A typo can kill your credibility, so use Grammarly. Even the free version is helpful to polish your writing.
10. Eventbrite — Not just for fun, many industry events are on Eventbrite, and if you follow the right topics or groups, networking is so much easier in front of the right people.
11. GoogleMeet — If you want to set up a live online meeting with more than two other participants, offer up a GoogleMeet link. It’s all the usability of Zoom or WebEx, but without the capacity or time constraint.
12. Wix — I used to be a WordPress snob, but no longer. If you want to enhance your online visibility, you can have a personal website up and running in minutes. It’s a great way to package your skills and have a place for your audience to land where you control the message, the graphics, and more.
13. BigInterview — This site has so many resources you can tap into to help you get comfortable in an interview situation.
14. Vistaprint — the only resource on this list that isn’t free, but it’s close. For under $10 you can get a stack of business cards to hand out to all the people you’ll meet at the events you attend, thanks to Eventbrite!

With these tools as your arsenal, you’ll be poised to take on your competitors with a big advantage. Taking charge of your search is empowering and gives you the confidence you need during a sometimes difficult and emotional task.

If you’d like to watch my Facebook live workshop, you can do that here.

Good luck!