Use The Internet To Find The Job You Want!

Here are the five best ways to use the Internet to find the job you want!

1. Job postings

A January 2003 survey shows that almost 60 percent of companies that hire through the Internet hired through their own Web sites, not through job boards. Find a company you want to work for and check its Web site for opportunities.

Another strategy for finding work with a particular employer is to research the company. If you can identify problems the company hasn't pinpointed yet or doesn't know how to solve, you can pitch yourself for the job.

2. Résumé postings

It probably won't hurt to post your résumé on a job board in hopes that you're exactly what an employer wants. After all, that January 2003 survey shows that 14.3 percent of companies hiring from the Net hired from job boards like Monster.com. This site also has sections where you can research salaries, read about writing effective résumés, and more.

CareerBuilder.com, HotJobs, and America's Job Bank work in a similar way. There are also hundreds of job boards that cater to specific industries, geographic regions, and special interests.

All of these sites work by matching key words. When you write your résumé, include the key words that (you hope) employers will use to describe the job opening they have available. Naturally, if you and the employer use even slightly different language to describe the same thing, there'll be no match and you'll remain unemployed.

All of the larger sites include advice on how to most effectively write your résumé to ensure a match.

3. Testing and counseling

Need help deciding what you want to do? Need to uncover your skills and strengths? The Internet can help you divine your skills, personality aspects, and so on. Some sites are fee-based, but there's still a lot available for free.

4. Research

Research is what the Internet does best, no question. Search engines such as Google and Yahoo will soon become your friends.

Web sites supporting newspapers such as The New York Times as well The Boston Globe make their online archives available to the public (you may have to pay)

The government provides a host of information online. It's almost all free of charge. If you are doing serious research, you will need to check out the Bureau of Labor Statistics

5. Chat rooms and newsgroups

Most successful job hunters get hired through networking. Networking allows you access to people and resources you know to find people and resources you don't know.

There's no better way to reach out and touch someone who just may know of a job opening for you than with online groups.

There are thousands of newsgroups out there, and it seems like every possible interest is represented (not all of them helpful in your job search, so try to stay focused).