[Air-L] advice about researching job search boards

[Ryan Burns]

Hi colleagues,
In one of my research projects I'm trying to get a sense of labor market shifts in a particular industry, and my intention was to dig through postings on popular job search boards like Indeed, CareerBuilder, LinkedIn, and so on. I am mostly interested in linguistic shifts over time, geography, job function, and so on. Not surprisingly, though, this is nearly impossible due to the sites' overall highly restrictive user agreements, closed nature of postings, inaccessibility of past posts, and so on -- all the stuff we as internet researchers would expect.

I still think that given the very prominent role that these boards play in socio-political and economic organization/processes, that someone amongst us has to have figured out a way to do it. Or, at least, someone must have thought of a workable substitute method.

Are any of you aware of a study that monitors such changes in job search boards? As I said, I'm mostly interested in linguistic changes, but studies across the board (i.e., salaries, geographies, etc.) would be useful. I've done a fair amount of digging but am coming up short...

Thanks so much, in advance, for any suggestions, ideas, or pointers. I appreciate any help you can offer!

Best,
Ryan
--
Ryan Burns, PhD, FRCGS
Department of Geography
O'Brien Institute for Public Health
University of Calgary

Visiting Professor, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
Associate Editor, GeoJournal
AAAS STPF Fellow (NSF: National AI Research Institute)

https://burnsr77.github.io/

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The University of Calgary is located in southern Alberta on the traditional territories of the the Treaty 7 peoples--Blackfoot Confederacy (comprised of the Siksika, the Piikani, and the Kainai First Nations), the Tsuut’ina First Nation, and the Stoney Nakoda (including Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Goodstoney First Nations). The City of Calgary is also home to the Metis Nation, Region 3. I am privileged, grateful, and indebted to be allowed to work within these lands.