Looking for a job may never be the same. With the huge growth of employment-related Web sites
on the Internet, a job-seeker cannot afford to overlook searching for a job electronically.
Successfully navigating this frontier, however, requires new skills and strategies. The
focus of this article is to provide you with a roadmap that will guide you through the maze
of Web sites related to career development and job-hunting and give you directions to the
best resources currently available to job-seekers.
Before we begin this journey, one caveat: Job-hunting on the Internet should, in no way, be
your sole means of looking for a new job. The traditional methods of networking, job boards,
classified ads, and targeted job searches should still be part of your overall job-hunting
plan. The Internet simply expands the job-hunting resources that are available to you.
For those unsure of their career direction, the first step might be to one of several
Web sites that offer Career Assessment Tools,
such as the Ansir Self-Perception Test
or the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, which score
results from online questionnaires and provide suggestions of appropriate careers
for your type.
Most others will start the journey by going to one of several career development
Web sites, such as Quintessential Careers
or The Riley Guide, which can provide
assistance with developing or honing your resume and cover letter writing, finding
the best sources for researching companies, strengthening your interviewing skills,
learning how to network, mastering salary negotiation, as well as perfecting other
key career and job-hunting skills. If you only have one type of resume, then you
should definitely start here. Most job-hunting experts now talk about three kinds
of resumes:
the traditional resume:
this version has all the bells and whistles, including nice formatting. The focus is on
action verbs and accomplishments.
the scannable
resume: this version is a stripped down version of your traditional resume,
in plain text for easy scanning into computer databases. The focus is on nouns
and phrases, as well as key accomplishments.
the Web-based
resume: this version is similar to your traditional resume, but published on
your personal Web site so that is always available to potential employers.
See some sample Web resumes.
Once you've honed your skills in these areas, the next step is to develop a strategy for
job-hunting on the Internet. If you're a college student or recent college graduate,
your approach will be much broader than if you are a seasoned veteran, partly because of
the need for confidentiality of people currently in the workplace, partly because of the
availability of Web sites at different career levels, and partly because a less developed
network. Keeping these issues in mind, there are four different types of Web resources
for job-seekers:
Job networking Web sites and discussion lists.
There are thousands of Internet-based discussion lists on almost every subject and
profession imaginable. Join one or more of these lists and network with people in your
field; employers sometimes subscribe to these lists to screen potential candidates.
Finally, many professional organizations have Web sites that have forums to facilitate
networking. Visit The Art of Networking
for more information and links.
Specialized job sites. There are also hundreds of specialized job Web sites,
from employment recruiters of all types to specialized job databank sites that focus on a
specific industry. If you're an executive, you might want to go to
FutureStep.
If you're an accountant, you might want to go to
JobsinThe Money.
And if you're a marketer, you might want to go to
Marketing Jobs.
A list of the best of these specialized job sites can be found at
Quintessential
Careers: Career and Job-Hunting Resources by Industry.
Company sites. If you have a specific set of companies you would most like to
work for, the best solution might simply be to go the each company's Web site and review
job postings. Many of these companies allow you to apply online, and they often list the
contact person so you should be able to easily follow-up, as you would if you sent a cover
letter and resume to an employer. We link directly to the career centers of hundreds of firms in
our Quintessential Directory of Company Career Centers.
Will these steps guarantee you success in finding a new job or career? No. No method
is guaranteed to work, but as more and more companies go to the Internet for faster and
more efficient job searches, it does not make sense to ignore this new avenue of networking
and job-hunting.
Questions about some of the terminology used in this article? Get more information (definitions and links) on key college, career, and job-search
terms by going to our Job-Seeker's Glossary of Job-Hunting Terms.
Dr. Randall S. Hansen is founder of Quintessential Careers,
one of the oldest and most comprehensive career development sites on the Web, as well CEO of
EmpoweringSites.com. He is also founder of
MyCollegeSuccessStory.com and
EnhanceMyVocabulary.com. He is publisher of
Quintessential Careers Press,
including the Quintessential Careers electronic newsletter,
QuintZine. Dr. Hansen is also a
published author, with several books, chapters in books, and hundreds of articles. He's often
quoted in the media and conducts empowering workshops around the country. Finally, Dr. Hansen is
also an educator, having taught at the college level for more than 15 years. Visit his
personal Website or
reach him by email at randall(at)quintcareers.com.
