Chapter 2 — Part

The online job search explosion

The online job search has exploded onto the scene to become the most heavily hyped way to find jobs today. Amid all the hubbub people tend to forget that the online job hunt is only a few years old; it’s still just an infant trying to find its walking legs. But some of the hype is rightly justified — the Internet in particular 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 ballyhoo than substance. Some 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 Non–Profits and Education 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 amazing 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.

Launching pads for your online job search

When you take your job hunt online, you’ll quickly discover that you could easily spend forever in cyberspace discovering new job sites through the links that many job sites offer to other sites. If you follow these links over a few weeks, you’ll also realize that the number of Internet job sites is growing rather rapidly and these sites frequently change their content and appearance. There’s simply no way that any book can keep current with all the changes in Internet job resources.

Planning/Communications maintains a free Update Sheet for the Non–Profits and Education Job Finder to apprise you of changes we discover in the online and offline job sources described in this book. As explained on page eight, you can always obtain this Update Sheet by sending a stamped, self–addressed envelope to Planning/Communications. You can also view these updates sheets online on our Web site at URL: http://jobfindersonline.com. Be sure to select the Update Sheet for the Non–Profits and Education Job Finder, 4th edition.

Gateway sites and meta–lists. There are, however, a number of other resources you can use to keep abreast of the latest changes in online job resources: gateway sites and meta–lists. These extraordinary Web locations include links to an incredible array of the same kinds of online job resources featured in this book. Many of them serve as “gateways” that open the door to other Internet sites through the extensive set of links they offer. To keep this book affordable, we had to make some tough choices of what to include. So some favorite sites of experienced web surfers probably did not make it into this book. However, the gateway sites and meta–lists offered in this chapter will connect you to virtually every site we could not include here. Use them prudently. It is very easy to spend hours wandering through the links these sites offer.

You should also use these gateway sites and meta–lists to identify online job sites that have appeared since the Non–Profits and Education Job Finder went to press, as well as Internet sites that added education positions and jobs with non–profits to their coverage after this book was printed.

Like most Internet job sites, the sites described in this chapter focus primarily on the private sector. However, the ones cited here also include non–profit organizations or educational institutions at all levels. Also note that many of these sites also feature their own job or resume banks and/or directories of non–profits or schools. Several key gateway sites that focus solely on non–profits or education are featured in the next chapter; in Chapter 10, “Education;” and in Chapter 30, the state–by–state chapter.

There is no separate chapter in this book devoted solely to the online job resources. Instead they are mixed with the offline sources throughout this book to encourage you not to rely solely on the Internet. As explained in Chapter 1, your chances of getting hired are greatly increased when you  conduct a savvy, full–fledged job search that utilizes at least three or four of the different types of job sources, not just the Internet.

Jobs in Higher Education is an Internet site that goes far beyond education. Go to URL: http://volvo.gslis.utexas.edu/~acadres/jobs/index.html where you are linked to the home pages of over 30 professional associations with job listings, Web sites of periodicals with job openings in education, sites of academic job banks, and home pages with job listings for individual colleges and universities. The site also links you to sources of jobs in student affairs, Web sites for several publications that feature ads from employers who seek to be inclusive in their hiring practices, and several major Internet sources of job openings in the non–profit sector. This is a great gateway site for academics as well as those who wish to work for professional associations.

Nonprofit Resources Catalog (Phillip A. Walker) free. This Interent site offers links to over 2,570 other Web sites related to non–profits. Go to URL: http://www.clark.net/pub/pwalker/ where you can choose from a dozen or so broad categories. To find links to over 20 Web sites related to jobs with non–profits, pick “General Nonprofit Resources” and then select “Jobs.” From the home page click on “Fundraising and Giving” to reach links to scores of foundations plus several online directories of foundations.

Meta–Index for Nonprofit Organizations (Philanthropy Journal; email: sbailey@nando.net) free. Go to Internet URL: http://www.philanthropy-journal.org and select “Meta–Index of Nonprofits.” Here you will find links to other general lists of non–profit organizations; links to Web sources of information about non–profit organizations and activists; links to sites dealing with human rights, civil liberties and politics, health and human services, and environmental issues and animal rights.

JobHunt located at URL: http://www.job-hunt.org continues to blow me away with its extraordinarily comprehensive collection of links to hundreds upon hundreds of job sites of all types on the Internet. It would take several pages to really describe everything that is here. Visit this site today to get a good idea of all that the Internet offers job seekers.

The Riley Guide situated at URL: http://www.dbm.com/jobguide offers an extensive set of links to other job sites on the Internet including perhaps the very best set of links to online job sites for individual states.

Internet Job Surfer located at URL: http://www.eng.rpi.edu/dept/cdc/jobsurfer/joba.html is a straightforward alphabetical listing of links to job databases, resume databases, and other services for human resources. It includes links to a plethora of job services. It’s an excellent place to quickly find links to new and obscure job sources on the Internet.

Career Resource Center (CRC, Suite 147, 2508 Fifth Ave., Seattle, WA 98121; phone: 206/233–8672) free. Go to Internet URL: http://www.careers.org where you can choose between “Jobs Available,” “Employer Sites,” “Regional Pages,” “Career Reference,” and a few other categories. This may be the motherload of all Internet job search resources with over 10,000 links with Internet newsgroups, online job and resume databases, online job–matching services, employer job listing pages and home pages, state employment services, directories of companies, and much much more. Online sources of internships are also included. We would need several pages to list all the types of job–search resources listed at this site, so just go here and use this site as a springboard for your Internet job search.

Elsewhere in this book we note that many colleges and universities offer very useful career services to their alumni. Use the Career Resource Center’s extensive links to college alumni associations to find your school’s alumni office and its services you can use.

America’s Employers (Career ReloCorp, 630 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017; phone: 212/681–6800) free. This Internet site offers extensive links to a multitude of job sites on the Internet. Go to URL: http://americasemployers.com and select from a list of “rooms” to access the type of job sources you want. “Professional Academic Openings“ gets you the sites where positions at colleges and universities are advertised. There are also choices for “Medical and Legal Positions,” “Jobs for Engineers and Scientists,” “Job Postings by Government Agencies,” and “International Assignments,” as well as “Advertised Positions” which gets you to links to job and resume databases including ones posted by individual companies. You can also find links to newsgroups where many jobs are listed.

Back in the “rooms,” you can also find links to “Recruiters” to access employment agencies and executive recruiting firms; “Company Databases” you can search by industry, location, and name (updated weekly); “Entrepreneurial Options” where you’ll find links to business and franchise offerings; “Networking;” and “Resume Bank.” All in all, this is quite an extraordinary place with which to start or expand an electronic job search.

Career Mosaic (Bernard Hodes Advertising) is an incredibly extensive site at which to enrich your online job search. Go to Internet URL: http://www.careermosaic.com/cm/ and choose “J.O.B.S. Database” or “CareerMosaic J.O.B.S.” to search through thousands of job ads. You can search by job title, city, state, and/or zip code. To place your electronic resume online here for free, choose “Resume/CM.”

This ever–expanding site is a great place to find links to newsgroups where 57,000 jobs are claimed to be posted daily. CareerMosaic’s index of these newsgroups is updated daily. To get to the newsgroup index, select “USENET jobs.offered” or simply go directly to URL: http://www.careermosaic.com/cm/usenet.html. You can search by keyword and/or location. Follow the instructions presented at the site. These newsgroups are for specific metropolitan areas or for states, for specific occupations within a metropolitan area, for specific occupations throughout the U.S., and for foreign countries. They are a rich source of job postings, albeit little is known about how many people actually get jobs via these listings.

To find links to the home pages of hundreds of major employers where jobs may be advertised, select “Employer Profiles.” For job listings specifically in the health care industry, select “The Health Care Connection.”

JobWeb™and the Catapult on JobWeb™ (National Association of Colleges and Employers, 62 Highland Ave., Bethlehem, PA 18017; phones: 800/544–5272, 610/868–1421) free. Go to Internet URL: http://www.jobweb.org where you will find a rich variety of offerings. To access the job database, click on “Jobs.” Next choose “Job Postings.” You can limit your search to “internships or co–op opportunities.” You search by keyword and state, national, or international. You can alternatively select “Employer Directory” to search an extensive listing of employers by keyword, state(s), nationally, or internationally.

There’s much more here. To access an abundance of links to job resources on the Internet, go to URL: http://www.jobweb.org/catapult/catapult.htm where you’ll find the “Table of Contents,” which is filled with great links to Internet employment centers and a wealth of Internet job resources. One of the most valuable links appears, oddly enough, under “Business Sites on the Web.” There you will find “JobWeb’s Database of U.S. School Districts,” which is a searchable database of 16,588 elementary and secondary school districts throughout the U.S.

American Society for Agricultural Engineers Home Page offers links to over 175 job sites on the Internet including job and resume databases as well as specific non–profit agencies and schools with job sites. These linked sites are great resources for all job seekers, not just agricultural engineers. Go to URL: http://asae.org/ and select “Employment” and then browse through “Other Sources of Employment.”

Quintessential Career and Job–Hunting Resources Guide links you to a veritable ton of other Internet job sites. Go to URL: http://www.stetson.edu/~hansen/career.html and select “Lots of Career Links” which does exactly what its name implies. You’ll find links to Web sites, each of which connects you to other job sites.

Emory Colossal List of Career Links is an Internet site that offers a surfeit of links to Internet job sites. Go to Internet URL: http://www.emory.edu/CAREER/Links.html where you’ll find commentary on favorite sites and links to many more career sites. This is another great place to start an Internet job search and to keep your Internet job search sites current.

Advancing Women located at URL: http://www.advancingwomen.com features a job database. Pick “Women and Workplace Strategies,” then choose “Career Resources and Job Search,” and then select “Employment, Jobs and Careers” to access the job database plus links to other job sites and networking contacts.

What Color is Your Parachute: Job Hunting Online is an Internet site offered by the Washington Post at URL: http://washingtonpost.com/parachute where Parachute author Richard Bolles offers extensive lists of links to job–search sites on the Internet. His listings include sites like those mentioned in this chapter that are gateway sites, sites that will refer you to lots of other job–search Internet locations. He also includes a lengthy list of vacancy or job–listing sites. Also included is a list of links to resume banks and sites that help you write your electronic resume. He also includes sites for networking purposes and sites where you can obtain information about potential employers. Career counseling sites are also listed.

College Grad Job Hunter offers online job–search advice geared toward college students and recent graduates. Located at URL: http://www.collegegrad.com. It includes a job database with over 100 positions that you can browse or search by keyword or job title. Select “Job Postings” and then enter your keyword to search or pick “View All Employment Ads.” Includes links to lots of job–related Internet sites. This site is closely related to Brian Krueger’s incredibly thorough guide to the job search, College Grad Job Hunter, ($14.95, 340 pages, 1997, available from Planning/Communications’ Job Search Resources page on this web site).

Kaplan Career Center is a strong resource center for job seekers located at URL: http://www.kaplan.com/career. The resume database can be accessed by selecting “Resumes and Cover Letters” and then picking “Career/NET: Multimedia Resources.” Choosing “Classifieds” gets you to links to many sites of job databases as well as links to advice on interviewing, preparing resumes, and other job search sites.

Portland State University Career Center offers links to numerous sites where internships are posted. Go to Internet URL: http://www-adm.pdx.edu/user/carc/ and click on “Internship Information.” You’ll also find links to other sites where job vacancies are posted.

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 Non–Profits & Education Job Finder is divided into five parts. Use the numbered buttons below to navigate within this chapter.

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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.