Job searching is terrible. You sign up for job alerts with different companies you admire, as well as a ton of email newsletters in the hopes that a perfect job will fall into your inbox. And then, you scour LinkedIn, Slack communities, and other job boards—while obsessively refreshing your email inbox for new jobs and recruiter emails.

I've been there. This was my routine for eight months after I was laid off from a previous job. While I was pretty strategic in my job search despite my circumstances, looking back, I could've made my job search easier.

I could've combined all of my job sources into a single RSS feed so I only had to check one place for new listings. Lesson learned.

If you're currently looking for a new job—whether you were laid off or just need to look for something better—this tutorial is for you. I'm going to show you how you can use Zapier to combine your favorite job sources into one RSS feed.

Why an RSS feed?

When I worked as a journalist, my coworkers were impressed with my ability to stay on top of the latest developments. My secret: RSS feeds.

RSS feeds are the unsung heroes of productivity, in my opinion. RSS (or Really Simple Syndication) feeds are online files that contain details about every piece of content a website publishes. When you use an RSS reader app, you can catch up on any of your favorite news sites or blogs that have an RSS feed.

We'll be using RSS by Zapier to create a personalized RSS feed.

Before you begin

You need some sort of RSS reader app, which will help you organize RSS feeds from your favorite sites in one place. I'll be using Feedly in this tutorial, but you can use whatever app you'd like.

Set up your RSS reader app so you have at least one section for job-related feeds. Most RSS reader apps allow you to organize your feeds by topic. Once this is set up, open your RSS app and have it ready on standby. You'll need it in later steps.

You'll also need to set up a free Zapier account if you haven't already. Because we'll be combining various sources into an RSS feed, there will be different instructions depending on where the job listing is coming from. Jump to the section that's most applicable to your situation:

• Job newsletters and emails

• Slack messages

Job newsletters and emails

If you're searching for a job right now, I bet you're checking your email obsessively. After a while, it can get exhausting. Unfortunately, some company job boards will only send you alerts for new jobs by email. Or perhaps you're subscribed to a newsletter that rounds up the latest job postings in your industry.

Some companies have RSS feeds for job listings—such as Zapier—but many default to email digests. We'll cover how to automatically add them to an RSS feed, so the only emails you need to worry about are from recruiters.

Here's how to set it up:

1. If you don't already use an RSS reading app, sign up for one.

2. Click the button below to use our template (and create a Zapier account if you haven't already).

3. Connect Gmail and customize your search criteria.

4. Create and customize your RSS feed.

5. Test your Zap.

6. Add your email RSS feed to your reader app.

7. Begin using your Zap.

We'll be using this Zap template—a pre-made automated workflow—for this section:

Connect Gmail and customize your search criteria

Click the button above to get started. You'll be directed to the Zap editor, where you'll be prompted to select your Gmail account. If you've connected Gmail to Zapier before, select your account from the dropdown menu.

If this is your first time, click on the dropdown menu and click + Connect a new account. You'll sign in to your Google account and give Zapier permission to access your Gmail.

Once you've connected your account, click Continue.

Next, type in the criteria under Search String you'd like Zapier to use when a new email comes in. For example, if you only want your Zap to trigger when you receive a new email from a specific person, you'll type in the person's name or email. The same search operators you'd normally use in Gmail work here. By default, Zapier will trigger on emails in all folders. To limit results to your inbox, include the in:inbox search operator.

Click Continue when you're done.

Now we'll test our trigger. Zapier will find the most recent tweet, according to the Gmail search criteria we set in the previous step. Zapier will use this test information in later steps to create the rest of our Zap. Click Test trigger.

Review the test information. If Zapier isn't pulling the right emails or can't find an existing email that meets your search parameters, go back to the previous step, double-check your search operators, and retest.

If your test information looks correct, click Continue.

Create and customize your RSS feed

The Zap template will pre-select the action app and event—the thing your Zap will perform once it's triggered. Click Continue.

Now we'll customize our feed URL and title. Under Feed URL, type in a short slug. Use an easy descriptor to remind yourself what this feed is all about.

We'll need this URL in a later step, so open up any text editor—it can be Google Docs, TextEdit, Microsoft Word, or whatever you'd like. Click Copy next to your feed URL.

The URL will be copied to your clipboard. Now, paste it in your text editor.

We'll come back to this link later. Toggle back to the Zap editor. Under Feed Title, give your feed a name. You can call it whatever you'd like.

If you're using the Zap template, it will automatically fill the Item Title, Source URL, and Content fields.

The Item Title will appear as the article headline in your RSS reader. The Source URL is the clickable link or button your RSS reader will direct you to read the rest of the content. The Content field will already have the email body selected in HTML format.

If you'd like to add or change any of this information, feel free to do so. Just click on the field and delete what you don't want. You can type in text, which will appear the same every time your Zap runs. If you'd like the information to vary depending on the content of the email, select a Gmail field from the Insert data dropdown.

In this example, I want to change the Content field to show my email content in plain format. I deleted the default and selected the Body Plain option from the Insert data dropdown.

When you map a piece of data—such as a contact name—what you see in the editor is a placeholder. This placeholder data will only be used by our Zap when we test it. Once the Zap is turned on, real data from Gmail (or any app you select) will be used when your Zap runs.

Under Automatically Truncate Messages Over 10KB?, click on the dropdown menu and select Yes. This ensures we don't hit an error if we have a particularly lengthy email.

The template will pre-fill the Author Name and Author Email fields. Under the Pubdate field, you can type in "now." Once you've customized your RSS feed item to your liking, click Continue.

Test your Zap

Now, let's test our Zap to make sure it's working. Zapier will add a new email that meets our search criteria to our newly-created RSS feed.

You can skip this test if you'd like by clicking Skip test. However, if you want to make sure specific information is showing up correctly, or it's your first time using an RSS reader, you should test it.

Click Test step to continue.

You'll be greeted with this message if the test worked.

Let's check our RSS reader to see how it looks.

Add your feed URL to your RSS reader app

We'll need to add our RSS feed URL to our reader app. Earlier, you copied your email job listings feed URL into a text editor. Toggle to that window and select and copy that link.

Open your RSS reader app. Each app will have a different method of adding new RSS feeds. Add your feed link, according to your app's instructions, to your job search folder or section. Here's how it looks in Feedly:

And here's how our entry looks in our jobs feed.

Click through to the article and make sure everything is working how you want it. If something doesn't look right, you can go back to the Zap editor and make adjustments to the previous steps.

Once everything is set up correctly, you're ready to begin using your Zap.

Slack messages

Slack and other chat apps are becoming a popular gathering place for professional communities. Depending on the workspace, there may be a jobs channel where workspace members are encouraged to share job posts. This Zap will add Slack channel messages to an RSS feed. While we use Slack in this example, you can substitute with any team chat app Zapier integrates with.

Here's how to set it up:

1. If you don't already use an RSS reading app, sign up for one.

2. Click the button below to use our template (and create a Zapier account if you haven't already).

3. Sign in to your Slack workspace when prompted and select the Slack channel you want to follow.

4. Create and customize your RSS feed.

5. Test your Zap.

6. Add your feed URL to your RSS reader app.

7. Begin using your Zap.

Connect and customize your Slack workspace

Click the button above to get started. In the Zap editor, you'll be prompted to connect to your Slack account. Click on the dropdown menu. If you've connected Slack to Zapier before, the workspace you previously connect will appear in the dropdown menu. If you'd like to connect a different workspace, click + Connect a new account.

This will trigger another pop-up window, in which you'll grant Zapier permission to access your Slack workspace. If you're a member of multiple workspaces, click on the dropdown menu located at the top right-hand corner to toggle to the correct workspace. Click Allow.

Once you've connected your account, click Continue.

Next, we'll choose which Slack channel will trigger our Zap whenever there's a new message. Click on the dropdown menu under Channel and select the desired channel. If the channel has bot messages you want your Zap to ignore, select No under Trigger for Bot Messages.

Click Continue.

Now we'll test our Slack trigger. Zapier will try to find the most recent message in the Slack channel we selected earlier. This sample information will be used in later steps to finish creating our Zap. Click Test trigger.

If your test information looks correct, click Continue with selected record.

Customize and create RSS feed

The Zap template will already pre-select the action app and event for you, so click Continue.

Next, we'll customize our feed URL and title. Under Feed URL, type in a short slug. Use an easy descriptor to remind yourself what this feed is all about. We'll need this URL in a later step, so open up any text editor—it can be Google Docs, TextEdit, Microsoft Word, or whatever you'd like. Click Copy next to your feed URL.

The URL will copy to your clipboard. Now, paste it in your text editor.

We'll come back to this later.

Toggle back to the Zap editor. Under Feed Title, you can call your RSS feed whatever you'd like.

Under the Item Title field, the Zap template will automatically pre-fill with "New post by" and the Slack username the message came from. In your RSS reader app, this will appear as an article headline.

You can always change this if you'd like. To do so, click on Enter text or insert... and delete fields or text you don't want. You can type in text, which will appear the same every time your Zap runs.

If you'd like the information to vary depending on the content of the post, select a Slack field from the Insert data dropdown. This is information Zapier pulled in when we tested our Slack trigger earlier. In this example, I selected the Team Name field.

The Source URL field is typically where an RSS reader will turn into a clickable link. This will usually be a link to the full article. In this instance, we want to link to the specific Slack message. Click Enter text or insert data... and select the Permalink field.

The Content field will already have the text of the Slack message selected. If you'd like to add anything else here, feel free to do so.

Under Automatically Truncate Messages Over 10KB?, click on the dropdown menu and select Yes. This ensures we don't hit an error with a Slack message.

The template will pre-fill the Author Name and Author Email fields. Under the Pubdate field, you can type in "now." Once you've customized your RSS feed item to your liking, click Continue.

Test your Zap

Now, let's test our Zap to make sure it's working. Zapier will add a new message from our desired Slack channel to our newly-created RSS feed.

You can skip this test if you'd like by clicking Skip test. However, if you want to make sure specific information is showing up correctly, or it's your first time using an RSS reader, you should test it.

Click Test step to continue.

You'll be greeted with this message if the test worked.

However, we need to verify that our test worked by checking our RSS reader app.

Add your Slack feed URL to your RSS reader app

We'll need to add our RSS feed URL to our reader app. Earlier, you copied your Slack feed URL into a text editor. Toggle to that window and select and copy that link.

Open your RSS reader app. Each app will have a different method of adding new RSS feeds. Paste your feed link, according to your app's instructions.

Your RSS app may generate a preview of your newly-created feed. Add it to the section or folder of your choice.

Once everything is set up correctly, you're ready to begin using your Zap.

This article was originally published in November 2020, written by Krystina Martinez. It was most recently updated by Will Harris in December 2023.