Many of these I got from the best list I could find: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2342781,00.asp The PC Magazine article focused on the "top 20" search sites. I'm casting the net much wider and including work alternative sites and other related sites that are of interest to job seekers.
I'm categorizing my list because some of these are not so much search sites as helper sites. I'll try to make it useful for job seekers. You might also want to look at my article on the job search process: http://williamrandymiller.blogspot.com/2009/10/overview-of-job-search-process.html
The notes on each site are just my impressions. If you have experience with a site and have different impressions, please comment and let me know. I generally listed the sites within each category in my perceived quality or interst level.
Job Search Sites
Free:
You need to get an account and post your resume on a few of these. I wouldn't spend time getting on all of them, personally, unless I got really bored and ran out of other things to do.
Indeed
Big aggregator site with a reputation of having a good search alogrithm and interface.
RealMatch
I'm a detail-oriented sort of person. I really liked their breakdown of skills and categories and such. Pretty easy to use. I'm going to spend some real serious time here soon.
Jobster
Lots of jobs, easy search engine. Clean and straight-forward. But lots of false positives in the initial search results. Seems to get better after you create a profile and do many searches.
Monster
Big well-known site.
CareerBuilder
Big well-known site.
SimplyHired
Big well-known site.
JobServUS
A US version of a British site (other national sites are linked.) The terminology is British. It's a recruiter first, and a self-directed search engine second. But it looks to have lots of jobs, and clear information about the jobs. I really like the 'Apply Now' buttons, that make me feel like I am in control of the search. They really want your resume, and it seems safe to give it to them.
SoloGig
I found them under 'Contract Work'. All of the listings look to be through staffing firms. There are some short-term contract listings, but mostly they looked like permanent (as permanent as any staffing jobs.) Not a ton of listings, but a reasonably nice site. Might be a good way to get yourself into the database of several staffing firms, if you are interested in going that direction.
Execu|Search
Execu-Search is more like a recruiter that you self-register for. I had poor luck actually searching through their job search tool, which was very rudimentary. They push you to submit your resume. I submitted mine and didn't hear anything back after 72 hours, other than the generic 'welcome' email. I don't guess it could hurt, but don't bother searching here.
6FigureJobs
Like TheLadders, but it looks like you can actually apply for positions without paying their membership charges. I'm still investigating that.
JobCentral
I don't really understand this site. It sort of looks like it is run by the government, or maybe it focuses on government jobs. The search enging is so rudimentary that is it laughable. And there are not that many positions in the database, from what I can see.
Craigslist
Lots of stuff in here. Companies that advertise salaried positions here are often super-cheap or have a strange culture--I know because this is the only job board I used to use when hiring at Journyx.
Oodle
A prettier-looking craigslist. It appears to have more general companies. If oodle generally a more female/non-technical friendly competitor to craigslist? That's what it looks like to me.
SnagaJob
Their tagline: "The #1 source for hourly employment." Nice looking site. But they run a lot of ads and ad tracking cookie stuff. So it seems to me right off that they are more interested in showing me ads. I didn't try much farther than that. I'm not looking for hourly employment, so I passed it by on the other side.
JobTarget
This is a job board software vendor that has a job search portal on their site. Basically it is searching their clients' sites. I've run across a few of their clients (PS Village, in the Niche section, below) and those niche job boards are really ripe with positions that don't look to get posted elsewhere. The real trick is finding the right niche job board. So search for a broad-title job and right-click on each opportunity and open in a new window or tab. Then on those pages drill up to find the parent site and decide if it is a good niche for you. This is a rich enough vien that I'm considering mapping it out manually. Look at the Ps Village link in the niche section. Note the URL has a "?site_id=" plus a number. Just iterate the number. 100 looks to be the lowest number of a client site. I've seen 800+. There are a few gaps, where some sites must have been taken down. I'm guessing that there are 600 of these niche sites.
StandOutJobs
These guys work on behalf of some companies to build portals specifically for them for recruiting. This site is an aggregator of all of the jobs that their clients post on those portal sites. Theoretically the postings might be fresher than on some other sites. But all of the posts here probably end up on the other big aggregators. I've only scanned it. The first link I found was a scam. All of the others go straight to the clients' portals, so right-click and open in a new window or tab.
JobHunt.org
All of the search results are coming from indeed.com. Ignore this site. Except that they have lots of free job search advice articles that might be worth perusing.
GoJobs
All of the search results are coming from indeed.com. Ignore this site.
http://www.hound.com/
(I run a Firefox plugin that gives user reviews of sites safety practices, called Web of Trust. WoT gives this site a poor rating--poor enough that it recommends I avoid this site completely. Either someone really hates this site, a competitor is spamming them on WoT, or they must link to some sites that have pop-ups and spyware. So search with caution. I'm not linking to them until I figure out the WoT issue, or they get that cleared up.)
I did not try this site, yet.
http://www.beyond.com/
(I run a Firefox plugin that gives user reviews of sites safety practices, called Web of Trust. WoT gives this site a poor rating--poor enough that it recommends I avoid this site completely. Either someone really hates this site, a competitor is spamming them on WoT, or they must link to some sites that have pop-ups and spyware. So search with caution. I'm not linking to them until I figure out the WoT issue, or they get that cleared up.)
I did not try this site, yet.
Free, but Regional:
Lots of spam. Lots of links to postings that might not be elsewhere. It's an unmoderated forum, so beware of NSFW and harmful spam. I'm assuming that there are similar forums for other locations, but I didn't surf around to find the master list.
Powered by JOBBEX (http://www.jobbex.com/jobbex-job-boards.cfm), which is another job board software package that runs lots of niche boards. I couldn't find a list of other cities that they host boards for, but you could probably search them out.
Niche:
I like niche job boards, so long as there is activity on the site that they are attached to. Niche boards in your field usually seem to have posts that are not elsewhere; or at least not yet. Also there is very little junk to wade through. You just have to find your niche. How do you do that? Try searching for articles written by wanna-be experts in your field. So if you are in payroll management, then search for forums and websites where payroll managers write articles and post news articles for one another. Or Google 'payroll management articles'.
JoelOnSoftware's Job Board
If you are a software developer then you should be reading Joel's site. And his job board is top-notch, for developers of all stripes. But read the whole site before you apply for any of these jobs, and explicitly mention that you found the job on this site. Joel's readers are cliquish (yes, I had to look up how to spell that), and someone who hasn't read the site won't get the job offered there.
Careers.StackOverflow
A career/job board for software developers. Comes highly recommended.
GrowInFinance
Finance jobs. Looks to be world-wide. I don't know finance, so I didn't dig too deeply.
VC backed startups. Don't go if you need stability. But it might be worth rolling the dice.
VentureLoop
VC backed startups. This one looks like it breaks down the positions by VC firm, which could be really handy if you have previous experience or connections with a VC firm. I didn't find a whole lot of positions here, but that may reflect the economy more than the site. There is little junk to wade through. (contributed by Stacy MIller from the Austin Job Seeker's Network.)
Healthcare. I didn't look at it much because that's not my field. But it looks very big for a niche board.
PS Village. Software Professional Services. The job board is pretty small, but very very well targeted. There are lots of "contributors" who would make good networking contacts at companies you might be interested in, if this is your niche.
This is the first of the Job Target niche sites, site number 100. I didn't look to see how active the site really is. This is just the first URL you can use to start looking for a JobTarget niche job board of interest.
Software gaming industry. This was a redirect from Job Target site 101.
Job Target sites 102 and 103 don't exist any longer, this is site 104.
A UK-focused recruiting website. They list US positions, but there were very few.
Paid:
Sites that you have to pay for, but may do some of the work for you.
JobSerf
You pay them $4.95/huor and they search for jobs and submit your resume for you. I haven't tried it.
The Ladders
Claims to only have $100k+ jobs. Costs a minimum of $30 for 1 month of access. You can't get anything but teaser information without paying. I've set up a free account, and I'll have to get pretty desparate before I pay them that much.
Resume Aids:
Lots of the big general sites have resume advice and/or review services. There are lots of sites on Google. I'm just going to list this one site that seems very unique.Visual CV
Lets you build a webpage resume that is pretty attractive. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks interesting.
Company Research:
General:Gist
A search aggregator. You enter a company name and it keeps you updated every time someone posts anything related to the company. Press releases, twits, youtube, blog posts, etc. Easy way to keep up with the current status of a company you are interested in.
Jigsaw
You get points for entering information about who works where. You spend those points asking for information about who works where. Some of the data is old or inaccurate, but much of the data isn't readily available anywhere else.
ZoomInfo
More detailed and organized information about companies (staff size, competitors, etc.) and people (prior positions, contact data, etc.).
Search for the company name to see what people are talking about. Or search for people to follow them. Especially helpful if your hiring manager twits--read up on them before you go to the interview.
Google Blog Search
Search blogs for news and opinions about companies.
Google News Search
Search for news about companies.
Hoovers free site
You can see quite a bit about the company, history, products, finances, staff size, some executive bios. They are going to constantly press you to upgrade to the paid service. I haven't tried that, but what I have heard is that you won't need any of that paid data for your job search.
Better Business Bureau
Search the BBB to find out if customers have complaints out against the company you are interested in. That's the sort of thing that you might want to ask about in the interview, or at least before you accept the offer.
Pay and insider perspective:
GlassDoor
Employees anonymously post their salaries and tell what they like and don't like about working there. You can find out what they pay for your target position. Maybe. I haven't dug deeply, but I'm skeptical. If I were a CEO I would make posting here an immediate firing offense. But maybe that's just me.
Regional:
Austin Chamber of Commerce
Site holds some data about local companies. If you are not in Austin then Google to find your local Chamber....
Austin Business Journal
Site is especially good for finding who has been funded or who is moving into new space--both good indicators of growth or hiring. If you are not in Austin then look for the local equivalent.
Networking and Marketing:
You need to maintain your network on LinkedIn. Then look at some of these other sites for really managing your marketing campaigns (to individual hiring managers and to your network of friends and helpers.)Not optional for any salaried or upper-level hourly employee. If you want to have a business card you must be here. I haven't heard anyone tell me anything about the paid sevices that I would pay for, personally.
CardboardResume
I haven't tried it yet, but they were recommended by a guy who seemed to know what he was talking about. I'll probably try the free version soon.
Salesforce
You can get a free account and manage your contacts and marketing campaigns here. And putting Salesforce experience on your resume is probably a good idea.
Training and Advice:
There are lots of books. I've been underwhelmed with the books I have read. These two speakers both impressed me and helped me out.Dig Your Work
Ken is in Austin. He's great. He'll save you a week or two of floundering, especially if you are thinking of changing fields or searching for your calling in life. His steps for job searching are the best program I have seen.
Market for Me
Brian is also in Austin, and has some connection to the CardboardResume site. He has some interesting motivational and marketing ideas. He has a free ebook on his site.
Contract Work:
Contract work sites. I don't know anyone who has officially made this their career, but I suspect that the world is moving this direction. Contract work is a good way to get a little bridge income, if you need that. It makes nice resume padding and could make good networking contacts. And there is always the chance that if you knock their socks off you could find a permanent position.ODesk
You can dig in here and find opportunities for short and medium term contract gigs, and do the work remotely through this site. I think it is the future of work, and these folks are ahead of their time.
(If I had the money I would start a company that competed with these guys. I think that there is a bigger opportunity here that these guys don't indicate they see. If you are from ODesk, contact me about being your CVO--Chief Vision Officer).
GoFreelance
When I searched for 'Contract Work' this is exactly the site I was expecting. It operates much like a normal job search site, but all of the positions are contracts. They have some good articles and advice about doing freelance work.
Project4Hire
Mostly software technical contract positions. The site is more technical and less flashy, which probably suits the target audience just fine.
Recruiters:
I'm not sure that I want to link to every recruiting firm in the world. But I'll try to check out any that get recommended.Ascentador
Ashley recommended this site in the comments. They have a splashy flash intro, but I couldn't get past that to actually see the content. The intro looks like they are an executive recruiting firm based in the UK.
Still Examining:
I haven't had time to really work through these yet to even know how to categorize them:http://www.lanwanprofessional.com/mainsite/
http://hubpages.com/
http://www.execunet.com/
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