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IPL Pathfinder: Job Hunting On the Internet

General Career Information and Resources on the Internet

First of all, don't forget that your local public library probably has a lot of resources relating to careers and job hunting, including listings of local job openings, or information on local agencies that help with the job search, as well as books about using the Internet for job hunting. Also, some local libraries are beginning to compile Web sites with local and Internet job and career-related information. An example is the Ann Arbor District Library's page on Job-Searching and Career Information. http://www.annarbor.lib.mi.us/referen/jobs.html

Also, don't forget to check out the IPL's own reference section on employment, and list of employment-related serials.

Here are some other general Internet resources with career information:

JobHuntersBible.com. http://www.jobhuntersbible.com/ Richard Bolles, author of the book "What Color is Your Parachute", is the host of this site. He writes, "There are five ways in which the Internet can be helpful to job hunters or career changers:

  1. As a place for you to search for vacancies, listed by employers (often called job listings).
  2. As a place to post your resume.
  3. As a place to get some job-hunting help or career counseling.
  4. As a place to make contacts with people who can help you find information or help you get in for an interview at a particular place.
  5. As a place to find information or do research on fields, occupations, companies, cities, etc."
He uses these five headings: Job Listings, Resumes, Career Counseling, Contacts and Research as the outline for this site.

The Riley Guide. http://www.dbm.com/jobguide/ This is a gateway to a lot of other career and job-related sites.

Occupational Outlook Handbook. http://stats.bls.gov/ocohome.htm Published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the "Occupational Outlook Handbook describes what workers do on the job, working conditions, the training and education needed, earnings, and expected job prospects in a wide range of occupations."

Monster Board. http://www.monster.com/ This is another site with a wide range of career-related resources.

Guide to Internet Career Resources. http://www.ukans.edu/~uces/ Compiled by the University of Kansas' Career & Employment Services office, this site compiles a wealth of Internet employment resources, including sections on particular job fields, the nonprofit sector, career planning help sites, and lists of relevant newsgroups.

CareerMosaic http://www.careermosaic.com/cm/cm1.html is an employment site that bills itself as international in scope. It has a resume-posting service, job listings, and online job fairs.

Resources for Specific Job Openings

America's Job Bank. http://www.ajb.dni.us/ This is a computerized network that links 1,800 state Employment Service offices. It provides information on approximately 100,000 jobs. On this site you can search for a job using a menu of occupations, keywords, or various occupational codes. You can also link to the Web sites maintained by the public Employment Service in your state, or link to jobs at employers' Web sites or private placement agencies' sites.

CareerBuilder Mega Job Search. http://www.careerbuilder.com/mjs/megasearch.html This is a searchable index of employment ads from numerous major U.S. newspapers and other large job databases. It also includes an online resume posting service, employer profiles, and other career resources. You have to register for some services, but it's free.

There are also several Usenet Newsgroups that are specifically for job postings.

Career-Related Online Magazines

Career Magazine. http://www.careermag.com/ "The networked world has career opportunities to offer you whether you are changing positions or building contacts and ideas for the future. Career Magazine is a comprehensive resource, designed to meet the individual needs of networked job seekers." It includes features, employer profiles, a resume bank and a list of job openings, among other resources.

Researching a Company

Hoover's Online http://www.hoovers.com/ allows you to research specific companies. Some information is only available if you subscribe, but some is available without subscribing.

Preparing and Posting a Resume

You can send your cover letter and resume to potential employers by email, much as you would send one in the mail. Basically, you have to save them as text, also called ASCII or DOS text, and send them together as one file. In order for it to look good on different size screens, keep the width to under 70 columns (or characters). In a plain text format, you can't use boldface, underlining, or bullets, so consider using asterisks (*) or plus signs (+) instead, and maybe a series of dashes (-----) to separate sections. Consider using capital letters to replace bold type, or using asterisks to surround headings to draw attention to them. After you do this, you might try sending it to yourself to see how it looks, before you send it to apply for a job. You can post yours on the Usenet newsgroup misc.jobs.resumes, and also look at ones already posted there for ideas for electronic resumes.

On many of the sites mentioned above, and many others, you can post your resume for potential employers to look at. You might want to think about how you feel about making your resume public. Since this brings up some privacy issues, you might want to do some reading on this too, as well as on other issues and technical recommendations relating to electronic resumes.

You might want to look at the resume sections of some of the general resources mentioned above, or look for books on this. The call number to look under at your library is 650.14 . One good book on this is Electronic Resume Revolution : Create a Winning Resume for the New World of Job Seeking by Joyce Lain Kennedy, Thomas J. Morrow, 1995. Another is Electronic Resumes : a Complete Guide to Putting your Resume On-line by James C. Gonyea and Wayne M. Gonyea, McGraw-Hill, 1996.

Also, look at JobSmart's page on Electronic Resumes http://jobsmart.org/tools/resume/res-elec.htm and the links it provides.

This pathfinder created by Charlotte Gerstein, with help from the Ann Arbor District Library and the Public Library Association's Guide to Internet Job Searching.

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Last updated Nov 2, 2000