Chapter 2 — Part

The Internet job search explosion

The online job hunt is only a few years old; just an infant trying to find its way. Yet the Internet job search has exploded onto the scene to become the most heavily hyped tool for finding jobs today. Not that some of this hype isn’t justified — the Internet offers an astounding array of job resources that enable job seekers to quickly and inexpensively find current job vacancies where they live as well as thousands of miles from home. My mind boggles at the scope of these online job sources and how they add a new dimension to today’s job search.

But the cyberspace job search is still very much in its infancy. In 1994 it barely existed. By the beginning of 1996, fewer than 35 percent of all U.S. households had a computer and less than a third of them were actually connected to the Internet. Still, that’s nearly 9 million U.S. households using the Internet, a figure expected to double or triple by the year 2000.

As of this writing, many Internet job resources are really more hype than substance. Many job databases simply lift job ads from other venues, such as newspapers, specialty and trade periodicals, and other Web sites. Many others fail to remove job ads, or “postings,” after a vacancy is filled. The result is that online job seekers are looking at job ads and applying for positions that have been filled, but are still being advertised. Despite all their value, Internet job search tools do have their weak spots and need to mature before they are ready for prime time.

But as the end of the twentieth century arrives, electronic job seeking tools have become an important new supplement to the more concrete job resources of specialty and trade periodicals, job hotlines, job–matching services, directories, and networking. A job seeker who relies exclusively on the Internet to find a job is as foolish as one who relies solely on networking or on job hotlines. Maybe by the time the Chicago Cubs get into a World Series — well, maybe sooner, like in your lifetime — the electronic job search will mature sufficiently, and become accessible enough to replace the traditional tools used in today’s job quest. Until then, the Internet offers another vehicle, albeit an exciting and promising one, for finding jobs. The successful job seeker will use the Internet alongside the other job search tools reported upon in the Government Job Finder.

This chapter introduces you to the players in this electronic job search revolution and gives you enough information to enable even “techno–bozos” to effectively use these online resources to find job vacancies and get hired. For readers who want to know even more about the online job search, this chapter also presents some excellent resources that go into far more depth about using computers, modems, and the different online job search tools. The chapter ends with detailed descriptions of astounding Internet sites that are good places to start your online job search; sites that contain links to many job and resume databases and/or directories and other job–related sites. These sites are great places to discover new job resources on the Internet as they become available.

Know any job seekers who don’t have their own computers? They can still access the Internet. Click here to learn how.

Know any job seekers who are blind or have serious vision difficulties? Click here to see how they can surmount these disabilities to still use the Internet in their job search.

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This chapter of the Government Job Finder is divided into five parts.
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The Players in the Online Job Search: Learn all a job seeker actually needs to know to get her online job search started. Get the scoop on the World Wide Web, email, search engines, gopher servers, usenet newsgroups, mailing lists, ftp file transfers, and bulletin board services.

Growing Pains Online: Learn about all the weaknesses of the Internet job hunt that nobody wants to talk about! The Internet is a great place to find jobs for some professions, and pretty weak for others. Some job databases waste your time by listing jobs that have already been filled. Discover how to use resume databases safely so your current employer doesn’t find out you’re looking for a new job.

Offline Resources for the Online Job Search: Some great books offer fabulous, very detailed advice on using the Internet and bulletin board services in your job quest. They'll give you specific sites for individual companies. And two of them help you write an effective online resume you can submit directly to employers via the Web.

Great Sites to Launch Your Online Job Search: These are the “gateway” sites, many of which are collections of links to an enormous number of online job databases, resume databases, directories of companies, lists of job hotlines for governments and companies, and sites that offer job hunting advice. You'll be linked directly to these sites and can visit any of them from Job Finders Online.