Chapter 1— Part I

Job hunt tools for your successful job search

While a record–setting 11 million new jobs were created between 1992 and 1997, the public sector did not share in that growth. Political pressures continue to force cutbacks at all levels of government, cutbacks that sometimes threaten the ability of government agencies to perform their jobs effectively. Local and state government now employ over 13 million workers while the federal government has less than 3 million civilian employees. As government continues to shrink, competition for the remaining jobs has intensified.

In light of these changes in the government job market, the really savvy job seeker uses every edge she can get to find the job vacancies that remain. This all–new third edition of the Government Job Finder gives you that edge by providing full details on over 2,002 of the best job search tools for conducting every kind of job search. It enables you to quickly and easily find job vacancies at all levels of government whether or not you are connected to the Internet.

Planning to network your way to a new job? Intending to strategically pick government agencies for which you want to work and steadfastly pursue them until one hires you? Use the print and online Internet directories described in this book to identify individuals in your profession with whom you should network and ascertain how to contact them. Discover how to reach hiring executives by email who would never respond to a real world letter or take your phone call. Use other directories in this book to learn a great deal about the government departments that hire people in your discipline and decide which ones you want to approach for a job even before a job vacancy is advertised.

Want to find ads for job openings? Use the specialty and trade newsletters and magazines detailed in this book to find thousands of vacancies in any of the government fields listed on page four. Follow the instructions in Chapter 2 and use some of the online Internet job databases presented throughout this book to find job vacancies in your profession and for the state in which you’d like to work.

Prefer to find jobs from the comfort of your easy chair? Just call some of the job hotlines referenced in this book where you’ll find an abundance of job vacancies just a phone call away.

Want to have somebody else do the work for you and match you to job vacancies? Want to have lists of new job vacancies regularly pop up in your electronic mailbox? Sign up for some of the job–matching services and online mailing lists recommended in the chapters that follow.

All the practical tools you need to conduct every type of job search are now in your hands. This book gives you enough information about each job–quest resource so you can decide which ones you want to use without having to spend time and money making long distance phone calls or writing for additional information. After you read this chapter and Chapter 2 to get a thorough overview of how to use this book and its resources, it’s up to you to decide which job–search strategies you’ll utilize and which of the myriad job resources in this book you’ll use. Employ all the techniques that work best for your occupation.

In his best–selling career classic, What Color is Your Parachute? Richard Bolles strongly warns readers not to rely on just one strategy to find jobs. He yanked the words right out of my mouth. The most successful job seekers are those who are astute enough to employ three or four different strategies to find employment. This savvy job hunt should be the foundation of every job seeker’s efforts. The Government Job Finder delivers to you all the resources you need to conduct all of these job search strategies you choose to use.

No single job search strategy is so much better than all the others that you should use it exclusively. The remainder of this chapter examines the major job–hunt strategies and explains how to use the 2,002 job–quest tools presented in the Government Job Finder to find job openings and get hired. I cannot stress enough that the smart job seeker uses three or four of these strategies to greatly enhance the chances of landing the job you want where you want to live.

 Tools for finding job vacancies  

Many years ago the local newspaper was the place to look for job openings. Experts now estimate that only seven to 20 percent of job vacancies make it into the local newspaper. During the 1980s government employers began to realize that their ads in the local classifieds were generating far too many responses from unqualified applicants. Since somebody on the payroll had to spend time looking at all these applications, employers sought venues to advertise their vacancies that would attract a more qualified body of applicants. The result has been a blossoming world of sources for job ads both in print and in cyberspace on the Internet.

Specialty and trade periodicals offer employers a more focused audience, often members of a professional association who are much more likely to be qualified for a job than many of the people who respond to an ad in the local classifieds. Employers also found that job listing periodicals offered an even more focused, bigger–bang–for–their–advertising buck. In more recent years, the Internet has become a source of job vacancies with job databases, newsgroups, mailing lists, and home pages of government agencies and states which often include connections to job vacancies with the government. Chapter 2 offers a detailed explanation of how these online Internet–based sources of job ads work and how they are presented in this book.

From the job seeker’s perspective, print publications still have a big advantage over online services. As explained in Chapter 2, there is no way to know where the job ads offered by an Internet site or bulletin board service come from. Many of these services lift job ads from other sources which means that many of the ads are for jobs that have already been filled. Periodicals, however, charge employers to advertise their positions. You can be pretty confident that a government agency will not spend money to advertise a position that is filled.

Specialty and trade periodicals. Many specialty and trade periodicals include a good number of job ads for the profession the publication serves. Chapter 3 introduces you to specialty and trade periodicals that feature ads for jobs in all aspects of the local and state government. Chapters 4 through 27 each cover a broad occupational area. Chapter 28 gives you periodicals for each individual state that have job ads for all types of government positions in that state. Chapter 29 covers the federal government. You should also consult the Index to locate the job sources that are listed in places you would not intuitively expect them to be found.

The vast majority of specialty and trade magazines are available to the general public. If a professional association is the publisher, members usually receive the periodical as part of the dues package or at a substantial discount. Some are available only to organization members. As will be noted several times in this book, you’d be wise to join your professional organizat

Job listing periodicals. One of the best sources of jobs for an occupation is the periodical devoted entirely to job ads or announcements. The number of job ads in a typical issue ranges from about a dozen to several hundred. As with specialty periodicals, a job listing periodical may be available only to members of the organization that publishes it. Most, however, are available to nonmembers as well, although members often receive the job magazine as part of their membership package or for a reduced subscription fee.

Since so many professional organizations publish job ads in their periodicals, Chapter 3 also tells you about several directories of associations so you can track down associations that escaped our attention.

State chapters of professional associations. Many of the associations that publish periodicals with ads for private sector positions have state or regional chapters that also announce job openings in their chapter newsletters. Some also operate job services. Unfortunately, few of these national federations could tell us which of their chapters publish job ads or operate any job services. You will have to contact an organization’s national office to obtain the current addresses and phone numbers to reach the chapter president or chapter newsletter editor who can tell you if their newsletter features job openings. Throughout this book, the address and phone number given for a publication or job service an association operates is almost always that of the association’s headquarters. In some instances the address or phone number will be strictly for subscriptions. In those instances, ask for the organization’s direct number.

As noted earlier, you would be very wise to join the national professional association for your occupation. Not only will this give you access to the association’s job services and periodicals which may be available only to association members, but simply belonging to the association demonstrates a tangible commitment to your profession that most employers like to see. In addition, most professional associations include in their membership package publications at no extra cost that offer a great way to continue your professional education.

Positions wanted. In addition to listing jobs which are available, many of the periodicals included in this book let job seekers advertise themselves under a category like “Positions Wanted.” We’ll tell you which ones offer this option. Before placing a “Positions Sought” ad, you’d be smart to first examine the periodical. Try to get a sample copy or inspect one in a library. After you’ve identified the periodicals in which you want to advertise yourself, contact them directly to learn if they place any restrictions that limit such self–advertising to members only, how much it costs to advertise yourself, and whether you can publish a “blind” ad without your name in it. In a blind ad, a box number at the publication is given for responses. The periodical regularly mails the responses to you. This way you can remain anonymous and avoid tipping off your current employer that you are in the job market. You can find many of these periodicals at your local public library or a university library. The libraries of professional associations are also likely to carry relevant periodicals. It’s usually worth it to subscribe to a periodical rather than rely on seeing it at your library because subscribers invariably receive their periodicals at least a few days to weeks before they are available at any library.

Internships. Throughout the chapters that follow, you’ll come upon some directories of internships as well as some periodicals and job services that carry internship announcements. These directories function more like the periodicals described above since they provide job descriptions for the internships they list. Be sure to consult the Index under “Internships” to find job sources scattered throughout this book you can use to find internship opportunities.

Local newspapers. Even with all these new job sources, do not ignore the local classifieds. The classifieds are still the primary place to advertise jobs that do not require an advanced education, like blue collar and clerical positions, or that are very localized in nature. In some locales the Sunday edition of the local newspaper may be the most accessible source for state and local government job openings, even for positions that require advanced training and education. In some states, a major newspaper is the best source for job ads for locations throughout the state, and in areas like New England, throughout the region. The Government Job Finder identifies these newspapers in Chapter 28. If you wish to see classifieds from newspapers in other parts of the country, Chapter 3 offers you a number of periodicals and online computer services that compile want ads from many papers throughout the country.

About half the nation’s daily newspapers have placed their classified sections on the Internet thus giving you immediate access to them even thousands of miles away. Chapter 2 gives you a number of key sites on the Internet that will get you to these online job classifieds.

What descriptions of periodicals with job ads include. The Government Job Finder tells you everything you need to know about each periodical or online classifieds section so you can make an informed decision whether or not to subscribe without having to call or write the publisher for more information. Sources of job ads are listed under the heading “Job ads.”

Each entry includes information on subscription rates for members and nonmembers, frequency of publication, where the job ads appear in the periodical, how many jobs are advertised in a typical issue, and the publisher’s phone number and address for ordering a subscription or sample issue, if available.

There’s a lot of confusion about what bimonthly and semimonthly mean. The prefix “bi” means every other and “semi” means twice within the time period. So when a periodical comes out “bimonthly,” you receive an issue every other month. A “semimonthly” publication will be delivered to you twice a month.

Job databases. There’s been a wild growth in online job databases and job banks which anybody can access with a computer and modem. Most job databases are located on the Internet for which you’ll also need special software to access. Other job banks are located on bulletin board services (BBSs) which do not require special software. See Chapter 2 for details on all the elements of the online job search.

Some universities and colleges participate in online job databases for use strictly by their graduates. Since you can simply ask your school’s placement office for details on any such services in which it participates, there is no need to include them in the Government Job Finder.

What descriptions of job databases include. In this book, Internet sites and BBSs that feature only a job database are listed under “Job ads.” Each entry for a job database includes its name and Internet address, the “URL” that is explained in Chapter 2; the typical number of job openings listed; the identity of the operator, when available; how to contact the operator by phone or regular mail, if available; costs, if any; any membership requirements; any registration requirements; and, in the case of a bulletin board service, how to set your modem and the phone number to dial to connect to the BBS.

Job hotlines. Many professional and trade associations operate job hotlines which usually offer a prerecorded announcement of job openings. These hotlines have become much more sophisticated thanks to the wonders of the “automated attendant” device. You will almost certainly need a touch–tone phone to call them because the recorded voice at the other end will give you instructions that can be implemented only with a touch–tone phone. The most sophisticated job hotlines allow you to specify the geographic area(s) in which you are interested and the types of jobs about which you want to hear.

Some of the low–tech hotlines simply give you a recording that lists jobs. You have no control over what you hear. Often you will first hear a list of all the job titles available. If you want to hear a detailed description and how to apply for a particular position that was just listed, keep listening because that information is often conveyed next.

Pay attention to the area code of the job hotline you are about to call. If the area code is 900, the call not only isn’t free, but you will be charged an additional fee directly on your phone bill. When a 900 number is given, the charges are usually specified.

The Government Job Finder tells you about job hotlines that cover different types of territory. You’ll find a number of job hotlines that include jobs for all occupations with local and/or state government throughout the country. Other hotlines consist of jobs for a specific occupation. Still others are for specific states, cities, or counties. Finally, this book gives you job hotlines for the entire federal government as well as for specific federal agencies and departments. Listing all of the job hotlines that exist could fill a book of its own. Fortunately, Chapter 3 will tell you all about that book.

What descriptions of job hotlines include. In the Government Job Finder job hotlines appear under the heading “Job services.” If a job hotline is free, the Government Job Finder gives you the phone number to call. If there is a telephone device for the deaf phone number, that number is also given with the acronym TDD in boldface type. The entry for most job hotlines also includes the names of the job hotline and of the entity that operates it; the operator’s address and regular phone number, if available; operating hours and days; how many job vacancies are typically offered; how often job listings are changed; and whether or not membership in an organization is required to use the job hotline. If association membership or a prepaid fee is required to use the job hotline, the actual hotline number is not given here. You’ll get the hotline number after you join the organization or pay your fee. Entries for specific federal agencies just include the job hotline number. These hotlines will tell you how to apply for the vacant positions they list. In addition, you’ll be told about several directories of federal agencies that give you addresses for submitting job applications.

User newsgroups. These online sites include listings of job vacancies and allow users to reach one another via electronic mail (email) which also makes them quite useful for networking. Chapter 2 explains how to use newsgroups in your job quest.

Mailing lists. These online services will send you lists of job openings when you subscribe to them. Subscriptions are nearly always free. Job openings are sent by email. Chapter 2 presents a detailed discussion of using mailing lists in your job search.

Government job pages on the Internet. Many municipalities and counties, state governments and state agencies, and federal government departments maintain home pages on the Internet where job openings are announced. See Chapter 2 to learn how the Internet works. Chapter 2 also gives you information about a number of prime Internet sites that connect you to these job pages on the Internet. Other online sites that include directories of government home pages are noted throughout this book.

Continue with Part II of this chapter.

Continue with the dark side of government: Patronage.

To see the current update to the Government Job Finder, click here.

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Seven steps to job hunt success