How can a Job Seeker Effectively use the Internet?

Industry knowledge is critical for career success. Stay on top of the news by reading industry journals, newspapers and business publications. You can access much of this news on the World Wide Web, or subscribe to electronic newsletters that offer specialized information for your industry. Learn about new innovations, new products, emerging trends and the major companies in your industry.

Gain industry knowledge

Business, professional and industry associations, career-planning tools, career fairs, job listings – they’re all on the web, so it makes sense that you should be, too.

• Many businesses have their own sites where you can find basic background information, an understanding of their role in their industry, a glimpse of the corporate culture, job opportunities, contact information, and more.
• Some sites provide company data on a multitude of organizations; others provide detailed financial information through annual reports.
• You can look up industry information, trends and job prospects through government sites, professional associations and industry guides.
• There are a number of employment guides that provide employment statistics, useful articles and links to other job-related sites.
• The web is full of directories of career and job fairs, electronic job listings and classifieds that you can search by location and keywords.
• Regional and relocation information can be found online through local, state and federal sites such as chambers of commerce, tourism bureaus and embassies. Online magazines also provide this information with searchable directories and reviews of various cities and countries.

Communication and Guidance

Since the Internet is a massive network, what better place to do your networking? After all, networking is the single most effective means of finding a job. Whether its advice you seek, networking and informational interview opportunities, or you want to respond to an internship ad or job posting, people around the world are available online through their sites and through e-mail, mailing lists, bulletin boards and web conferencing. The net’s friendly place, because of its interactive nature, you can contact business people, non-profit people, career professionals and placement offices, professional association and special interest group personnel, fellow students and job seekers, and even employment support groups.

College and University Sites  

Many college career offices and placement offices have their own sites online and they are a great source of career-related information, particularly for college students, recent graduates, alumni, new job-hunters, and even career changers. You can access information from your own school’s career and placement office, but feel free to take advantage of other school’s sites as well. These sites generally contain a wealth of information ranging from self-assessment tools to resume and interview schedules to job listings. Most also offer descriptions of other worthy career-related sites and provide links to them.

Special Interest Sites 

There are also more specialized sites that cover specific topics. Professional associations and other specialized groups make valuable career-related information available to all interested parties, not only their members. Whether it’s an industry organization that provides information on “what’s hot/what’s not,” where the jobs are, and announcements of open positions, or it’s an outreach group that helps employ a particular segment of society, such as women in business, people with disabilities, racial and ethnic groups, or part-time workers, these sites can be information gathering and networking bonanzas. 

Some self-assessment testing organizations offer their services online to help you evaluate your own skills, interests and values so that you can better focus your career goals.

Advice and Insider Information 

There are also plenty of opportunities to seek advice online. Professional associations and career specialists are online all over the world, providing information on employment and particular industries. You’ll find that some information is already posted online, and through e-mail. There are also mailing lists to which you can subscribe that enable you to communicate with a large number of people, all of whom are interested in the same subject as you and some of whom are experts in the field. You can subscribe to one or more of them to ask questions, increase your network, or even just to be a fly on the wall and observe what’s going on in your field of interest.

You can also participate in web conferences and post your requests, questions, concerns, resumes, job postings, and more on electronic bulletin boards, and people will respond, sometimes even directly to you.

Using the Web to Succeed in Your Job Search

What You Studied is Not as Important as What You Learned

Don't despair if you haven't chosen a 'practical' major course like business computer science. In general, companies are less interested in what you are studying than in what you have learned.
Someone who has strong communication, academic, problem solving, analytical, writing, and/or public speaking skills - regardless of major - could well be a strong contender for a variety of jobs

   Ideally, you want your job search to take as little time and energy as possible, while yielding optimal results. Sound impossible? It's not. Especially if you use the web to its best advantage. This article describes the kinds of career information you can find online and how to use them.

The Ideal Job Search

The most successful job search is a multi-faceted one. Efficient, effective career planning is a matter of achieving the right balance between research, preparation, and action, while drawing from a mix of resources. Good career planning means you have to cover more bases, but in the end you expend less energy and vastly increase your chances of finding a job that matches your needs and skills and allows you to grow professionally.

   If you take a singular approach to a traditional job-hunt campaign, you may devote an excessive amount of time and effort that yields little reward. For example, if your only job-seeking activity is checking the classified listings and blindly sending out your resume to multiple venues, you’ll probably find yourself with a handful of interviews at firms that may or may not be right for you and a lot of time wasted. On the other hand, you greatly increase your chances of finding the right job and getting hired by also expanding your professional network, researching companies, and targeting organizations that are a good fit for your skills, interests and experience. Happily, in today’s world, much of this work can be done on the web.

What are the benefits of using the Web in career planning?

The rapid expansion of the World Wide Web has marked a huge development on the Internet. Over the last year or two, organizations and individuals rushed to create their own presence on the web. The good news is, that means there’s more information for you to access. At the same time, too many choices can be overwhelming. After all, the last thing you want to do is spend more time finding the best resources than using them.

Convenience, Flexibility and Cost Efficiency

You can access the web at any time of day or night. Having your own computer and Internet access means you can also conduct a good deal of your job search on your own schedule and in the comfort of your own home. Also, because web resources are categorized and searchable by keywords, you can broaden or narrow your focus as you choose and access large amounts of information easily and efficiently. Links between and within sites enable you to pick and choose your direction, providing a non-linear approach to information gathering. That ability means you can navigate multiple sources of information with ease and go directly to the source that most appeals to you. In addition, the web provides a cost-effective means to access information from all over the world about job-related issues. It’s relatively cheap (even free at many schools) to access the web, and once you do, most of the information is free. If there’s ever a time when cost efficiency matters most, it’s when you’re looking for a job to help cover your expenses!