How to Launch an Online Job Search

By Martin Yate

If you are new to online job hunting, you might want to start with a selection of up to ten sites from a number of the different categories, choose more and you won't learn what each site has to offer, and you might get buried in irrelevant emails. To begin your search, start with one or two large job sites like Hotjobs, Monster or CareerBuilder. Definitely include a professional association and a profession-specific site, a networking site, a recruiter site and sites from other categories as they apply to your needs. Add and subtract sites as you determine the relevance of each one to your particular circumstances.

When choosing, consider these important guidelines:

• Review the home page. Is it laid out so that you can find everything you need easily? If the home page is confusing, what's the rest of it going to be like?
• With a job bank site, determine if the site provides relevant jobs. You will need to try several different keyword searches to see what works best. Remember that any job posting you find, even if it isn't exactly what you want, is a lead to a company who hires people like you; and it can also be something to share with a network buddy. You can approach those companies directly by e-mail, mail and telephone; and don't forget to leverage your networking contacts to get personal introductions at these companies, go to the Networking Workshop on this site if you don't know how to do this.
• Is the site secure? Does it provide you with the privacy you need? Look for their confidentiality statement. Do they share your information with others? Unless you are unemployed and don't care who knows you are looking for a job, this is an important issue.
• How long has the job been listed? Look for a posting date or information on how long jobs remain in the database before being cleared. Is it easy to apply for a job? Is there a contact person with whom you can follow up with your application? If not, again go to the Networking Workshop and to Knock 'em Dead 2006 for how to find contact names. If the site has old job archives, CHECK EM OUT! Just because a company isn't advertising where you happen to be stumbling around, doesn't mean they aren't looking.
• Does the site notify you of new jobs with the criteria you select? Each site has a different name for the e-mail alerts that tell you of freshly posted jobs in your area of interest: job alert, job agent or job messenger are a few of the names. This is a useful tool that saves you spending hours on the site.
• If the site has a resume bank, is it easy to submit your resume? What happens to the information you submit? Can you easily edit your resume and cover letter? If you need more than one resume for your search, does the site provide space for it? When posting resumes, there are little known techniques for manipulating your resume to get more visibility, check out Resumes that Knock 'em Dead for advice on how to do this.
• How long will your resume be retained? If you are engaged in an urgent job hunt, you should renew or reload your resume every 30 days to be sure you're always near the top as many resume banks sort by date as well as by keyword.
• If you are not in an urgent job search and just want to keep an eye on the market for good opportunities, check the site's policy for purging resumes. Sites often purge old resumes over 90 days old from their main resume database so that they can sell advertisers on the freshness of the candidates they have to offer. You'll have to go in and refresh before any kill dates.
• For the fastest exposure, make sure you are posting your resume on sites that are not already partnered with another site to which you have posted. Often sites form partnerships with each other, so posting at two or three affiliated sites is a waste of your valuable time and energy. For example, CareerBuilder.com has many affiliate sites such as www.houston-guide.com and www.Classifieds2000.com. If you have already entered your resume on CareerBuilder.com, don't waste your time duplicating it on Houston- Guide.com. It's the same resume bank!

A Last Word on the Internet Resources
You'll notice as you use more and more of these sites that the online world is in a constant state of flux, in fact several sites changed during the time the research for this section was being completed. Keep your eyes open for new sites that help you in your job search. If you know great sites that are not listed here, or any changes to sites listed please Contact Us.

Now remember that while there are great job search tools here, Internet job hunting is only one of many job search tools available to you, and your job search will be over faster when your plan of attack uses a comprehensive job search toolbox.

All the best, and let me know how it works out.

Martin