USING THE INTERNET IN YOUR JOB SEARCH

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The Internet has already had a large impact on how people find jobs; however, remember that it is a part of the advertised job market (which consists of only 15-20% of the available jobs). Therefore, while it is wise to use the Internet to find job openings, it should only be a part of your overall job search strategy plan. Although it depends on the type of job you are applying for, typically no more than 25-30% of your job search time should be spent pursuing jobs in the advertised job market.

Some of the most commonly advertised jobs online include: technical jobs, engineering, financial services, sales and marketing, administrative, telecommunications, communications, teaching, business and professional services, medical and legal. The Internet is a valuable resource even if you don't find jobs that are of interest in the job databases you visit. While visiting the web sites of organizations that are of interest to you, you not only can research the company, but may find a list of jobs openings in the company, as well. Also, you can use e-mail to contact employers directly about jobs that aren't advertised--those in the hidden job market. Finally, the Internet provides many opportunities for networking.

The following are some guidelines for using the Internet effectively when responding to advertised job openings:

1. Create three versions of your resume: a formatted resume, a scannable resume and an electronic resume.

a. A formatted resume is the typical type of resume that most people use. It has a visually pleasing format. It can include different fonts, tabs, bullets, underlining, etc. Here is an example of a formatted resume. Before sending this type of resume, however, ask if the resume will be scanned into a database. If so, then you will want to send a scannable resume (described below).

b. A scannable resume is a paper resume that the employer can electronically scan into the company database. It is now common for companies, especially larger ones, to scan your resume into their database. If your resume isn't in a scannable format, it may not become part of the company's database, and you therefore would not be considered for a position. Scannable resumes are simply resumes without any boldface type, underlining, hollow bullets, italics, fancy fonts or tabbed columns. If you are not sure whether or not an employer scans resumes into a database, you may want to use a scannable resume.

c. An electronic resume is what you will use when you are e-mailing a resume or posting a resume to a job database or employment web site. Electronic resumes include plain-text or ASCII resumes, and formatted electronic resumes. Similar to the scannable resume, your electronic resume will have no italics, underlining, boldfaced type, hollow bullets or "fancy" fonts. Also, set your left margin to "0." When you "save" your electronic resume in your word processing program, choose ASCII text (pronounced As-kee) as it is a universal computer language and can be read by almost all computers.

Send your electronic resume in the body of your e-mail message unless the employer asks you to send your resume in an attached file. If you are attaching a file, you can send your formatted or scannable resume.

2. Prepare a sample electronic cover letter.
Begin your e-mail message with your cover letter. Keep your cover letter short and to the point (usually no longer than three paragraphs). An example of an electronic cover letter follows the electronic resume example.

3. Practice sending cover letters and resumes.
E-mailed messages can look very different when they are received. Prior to sending out your cover letter and resume to an employer, send it to yourself or a friend to see how it looks when received.

4. Research which online sites you would like to post your resume on.

Note 1: Be aware of privacy issues. When you post your resume to some databases it can be viewed by anyone with a computer. To be as safe as possible, post your resume only on password protected databases. This way only legitimate employers or recruiters will be able to access your resume.

Note 2: Never pay to post your resume online. The best sites never charge you to post your resume.

Listed below are some of the top databases. Many of these also allow you to post your resume:

Christian Career Center's Job Bank
www.ChristianCareerCenter.com/jobs/

America's Job Bank
www.ajb.dni.us/

Career Mosaic
www.careermosaic.com/

CareerPath.com
www.careerpath.com/

The Monster Board
www.monster.com/

Online Career Center
www.occ.com/

5. Post your resume at the sites you have chosen and begin to search for positions.

(If you want to learn more about using the Internet in your job search, check out resources such as Job Searching Online for Dummies by Pam Dixon, Job Hunting on the Internet, 2nd ed. by Richard Nelson Bolles or browse our resources related to using the Internet in your job search.)

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