How to Find a Job Online With an estimated 40 million users, the Internet and its most popular incarnation, the World Wide Web, are a gold mine of resources for job hunters. Whether you're a seasoned professional or fresh out of college, your next job could be as close as your modem. In this article, you'll learn how to navigate the mountains of online information to find a job that's right for you. Part One shows you find and apply for jobs online, while Part Two shows how to make employers come looking for you. Part One: The Hunter First, begin at an employment Web site where you can search a database of job openings. Two excellent choices are E-Span (http://www.espan.com) and the Online Career Center (http://www.occ.com). At either site, you can search for jobs by title, salary and geographic area. Searches are free. Let's say you want a computer programming job in Chicago. Searching for keywords such as "program" and "Chicago," would probably yield a glut of job postings. Refine your search; change "program" to "programmer" or "programming." Next, search for specific computer languages, like "C++" or "Visual Basic." You could even narrow your search to openings with a particular company, such as "IBM." You can also use Web search engines to find job postings on Usenet. Go to AltaVista (http://www.altavista.digital.com) or DejaNews (http://www.dejanews.com). Both let you search newsgroups by keyword, to uncover job openings worldwide. While your first searches may not find jobs that match your career goals, that's OK. Keep experimenting until you find the right combination of keywords, then search at least twice a week. A third job-hunting method is to contact companies directly via the Web. Let's say you have a burning desire to work for the Ace Novelty Company. Go to Yahoo and search for "Ace Novelty." Once at the Ace Novelty Web site, look for an e-mail link to the company; links usually have names like "Feedback" or "Comments." Compose a brief cover letter and send it, along with an ASCII version of your résumé, to the Webmaster at Ace. In your letter, politely ask that your résumé be forwarded to the Personnel Department. Better yet, address it by name to the person who can hire you. In either case, submitting your résumé through a company's Web site shows you understand the Internet, which can set you apart from most job hunters. Part Two: The Hunted Now it's time to become the hunted and have employers find YOU. There are two main ways to do this: upload your résumé to an online database, and create a Web page for your résumé. To upload your résumé, you'll need a keyword version of it. A keyword résumé is a noun-intensive document containing buzzwords or "keywords" describing you and your experience. When employers search résumé databases for candidates, they use keywords pertaining to the position they want to fill. If their keywords don't match those in your résumé, you won't be found. For this reason, traditional résumés are often ineffective. For example, the phrase, "managed mechanical engineering projects" would fail compared to "MBA, mechanical engineer, manager." So be sure to rewrite your résumé accordingly. (If you're unsure of your writing abilities or don't have the time, you may wish to work with a professional résumé writer. Please see the end of this article for more information.) Once you have a keyword résumé, format it as an ASCII (plain text) file. Doing so means you can safely upload it to any Internet database without it appearing illegible. Now, you're ready to upload your résumé. Free. To upload your résumé to the Online Career Center, send it by e-mail to: occ-resumes@occ.com Subject: (your job title) Body: (text of your keyword résumé) Executives, professionals and those in technical fields can send their résumés to Management Recruiters International, the world's largest search and recruitment firm. Send your résumé by e-mail to: mricorp!resume@mrinet.com Subject: (your job title) Body: (text of your keyword résumé) On the Web, upload your résumé to JOBTRAK. Point your browser to: http://www.jobtrak.com/resumes/ Follow the directions to copy and paste the text of your keyword résumé into JOBTRAK's database. Next, upload your résumé to the Usenet newsgroup misc.jobs.resumes, which is nothing but résumés. Tip: recruiters around the world comb this newsgroup for people they can represent to employers. So your résumé will do double duty -- it will be seen by employers and head-hunters. To upload, simply post your résumé to the newsgroup: misc.jobs.resumes Subject: (your job title) Body: (text of your keyword résumé) Now you're ready to create a version of your résumé for the World Wide Web. With a basic knowledge of HTML programming, you can create a stellar résumé and post it on your own Web site or on a host's. Your résumé Web page should follow the keyword format mentioned earlier. Replace action verbs with appropriate nouns -- this is your most important task. Also, your Web résumé should have an e-mail link so that employers can quickly get in touch with you. And your résumé should have a counter at the bottom of the page to show how many times it has been visited. Some things to avoid: pictures, audio files and anything else that may make your résumé Web page slow to load. Unless you're trying to find a job as an HTML programmer or graphic artist, don't showcase your design skills. Stick to your keywords, follow the above guidelines and you could make the Internet work for you. Literally. ===== Guaranteed Résumés is a full-service résumé shop. Services include résumés, keyword résumés, cover letters and Internet job searches. All backed by the industry's only unconditional money-back guarantee. GResumes@aol.com http://users.aol.com/GResumes toll-free 800.875.8378 fax 612.825.4441 Guaranteed Résumés 3240 Grand Ave. S. Minneapolis, MN 55408 Copyright © 1996, 1997 by Kevin Donlin. All rights reserved.