Have you noticed the jobs section of your local newspaper paper shrinking? Don't be fooled into thinking the jobs are not out there! Have you looked online? Maybe you have been to a national jobsite and been frustrated at the thousands of jobs you had to wade through to find something near you. Well, it seems a growing trend in the online job searching arena is the emergence of the local/regional job board. More and more national and local employers are realising the benefits of attracting candidates online and where better to do this than on a local jobsite dedicated to the local community? If you are struggling to find the perfect job, why not type "jobs in yourtownname" into Google and see what comes up.

Most local job boards will allow you to search for vacancies based on a range of criteria, usually based on your preferred job categories and salary range. To save time, you can often set up jobs by email alerts. This facility enables you to enter your criteria only once and the website will then automatically send you details of new jobs matching your criteria every day by email. You can usually cancel these subscriptions by clicking a link on the email once you have found a job.

When searching job sites, bear in mind that recruitment agencies advertise a lot of the vacancies. You may wish to look at the A-Z of recruiters - something you often find on job sites - which will help you to spot any local employers or desirable companies you may wish to apply to. You can usually click a link straight from the company profile page view that employer's jobs.

Before registering on a local job site, make sure your CV is up to date and that you have thought carefully about what kind of jobs you want to target. Once you have added your details you are likely to start receiving calls from recruiters and employers and it can be a waste of time for everyone if you set your criteria too broadly. To ensure your CV is correctly formatted, it is worth getting some quality advice. You will usually find a "Career Centre" on local job boards which may contain CV writing advice and interview tips. The CV advice tends to be pretty standard and is worth paying attention to. After all, you never get a second chance to make a first impression!

There might be a local jobsite right on your doorstep that you didn't even know about. Why not start searching now and see what you have been missing.