Using IFTTT to Automate Your Job Search & Everything Else

I have been smitten with the online service IFTTT (which stands for IF This Then That)for about a year now, and now that I’m freelancing full-time, it makes life far easier. I have everything from my job search to my coffee being controlled through this service. And I could even make my job search cue the making of a pot of coffee. You don’t need to know a single line of code, something I wished I had known before I devoured a few weeks worth of CodeAcademy, and it can make everything you do online easier. Sold yet? It’s also free, responsive, and has iOS apps. Read about a few ways I use the service on a daily basis to automate the job search after the jump.

Control all your social media

Through a series of actions, you can basically post once and have it fly out to all of your different social networks simultaneously. The example below should allow you to take a picture with Instagram on your phone, and cross-post to Facebook, twitter and make a new post with Tumblr.

For example:





I haven’t actually tested the specific formula above, but if you run into any hiccups, it’s incredibly easy to fix them, swap out different pieces, and basically make it do whatever you need it to.

Any job site to any service

I utilize this the most. As I’m sure most of you know, there are a plethora of job sites out there (some more shady than others), but many of them require you to sign up or pay some ungodly amount just for the chance to apply to a job. Fortunately, many of them have RSS feeds and for the ones that don’t you can have converted into a feed via feedity.com. Combine that job site search with a few filters, and a few actions and you’re good to go. Craigslist also has a native app if you’re really desperate.

Make me coffee!

I actually use the service to turn my coffee machine on in the morning at a certain time, but there’s a million other cool uses. Here’s a few more of my favorites.

Hugely helpful, check out more weather related recipes here.



While I don’t have any Android devices, the deep integration is very slick.

One for the iphone users.



If you have anymore helpful recipes, feel free to sound off in the comments!