Finding a Job on the Web

Black Enterprise, March, 2000 by Joanne Charles

Here's what you need to know before you post your resume online

BARAKA DORSEY STARTED OFF ON THE TRADITIONAL ROUTE IN his job search. Formerly a designer with the Web magazine Windows, Dorsey diligently read the Sunday New York Times classifieds. He considered hiring a headhunter and he pursued the recruitment agencies. But, as with a growing number of job seekers, Dorsey, who now works as a recruiter himself, didn't find his job until he ventured over to the nearest computer.

"Using the Internet in my search exposed me to more people than I could have reached if I'd tried to network on my own," says Dorsey, 28, an executive recruiter with Silicon Alley Connections in New York. "You can learn about benefit packages and corporate culture, then decide whether you really want to work for that particular company before the interview stage, and go forward in the search as an informed candidate."

Dorsey is just one of a legion of job seekers turning to their computers as the Web increasingly becomes a companion along the road to employment. As online recruiting continues to provide job applicants with access to information about job openings in a national arena and a direct connection to prospective employers, a number of blossoming career sites on the Internet can help with all your employment needs.

As the country becomes more technologically savvy, fewer and fewer job postings are finding their way to the traditional classified sections of local newspapers. "More employers are using the Internet for building a highly skilled candidate pool," says Mark Poppen, author of the daily Web newsletter 1st Steps in the Hunt and an online columnist for job hunters on the Internet Business Network's Website (www.interbiznet.com). In fact, a recent survey found that 45% of Fortune Global 500 companies were actively recruiting on the Internet.

Poppen, who is also marketing manager for the IBN Website, based in Mill Valley, California, says, "Three years ago, most of the people being hired on the Web were IT professionals, but that's not true anymore."

Indeed, don't be fooled into thinking that most of the jobs posted or found on the Web are technology-oriented. Employers from a wide range of industries are using the Internet to find job candidates. In a recent poll of public and private companies, staffing firms, recruitment agencies, nonprofit organizations and government agencies, the Recruiters Network (the Website for the Association for Internet Recruiting) found that 45% of the companies polled had up to 20% of their hires come directly from online recruiting. Poppen adds, "Healthcare, accounting and the hard sciences are the industries that have experienced top growth in online recruiting."

Mary Anderson, senior human resources advisor at Southwest Washington Medical Center in Vancouver, Washington, agrees. "We've gotten more nurses than information systems professionals from recruiting on our Website. It's been a very effective recruiting tool for us."

Employers and recruiters alike are turning to the Internet to solve many of the problems associated with traditional recruitment. It allows employers to manage recruiting activities with corporate human resource departments and to monitor recruiting more effectively.

The technology saves recruiters and hiring managers time and effort. "We've incorporated searching on the Internet into our recruiting activities because we've found that individuals on the Internet tend to hold advanced degrees and have many years of experience in their field," says Zakryscha Hayes, president and human resource specialist for Precise Staffing Services in Chicago. "We've placed talented directors, vice presidents and executive-level candidates for our clients through our Internet activity," she adds.

SEEK AND EMPLOY

Although the Web is a tool that should be used by job seekers, recruiters say care must be exercised. "Job hunters must understand the Internet is the electronic version of a Neanderthal job-hunting system that hasn't worked for years," says Richard Nelson Bolles, author of the What Color is Your Parachute? series and Job Hunting on the Internet.

However, Bolles says the Internet is extremely helpful for job hunters. It provides access to company research, contacts, tests and advice. "These sites are vastly useful for developing contacts and researching geographic areas and fields. Using traditional research methods, you would have a hard time doing this. But with the Internet, it's duck soup."

Margaret Riley Dikel, author of The Guide to Internet Job Searching 2000-2001 and moderator of the Riley Guide Website (www.dbm. com/jobguide), says methods of researching companies are significantly improved by what the Web offers. "My readers have told me that using the Internet helped them target employers and do the research that gave them an edge to win a job.

"The biggest problem for the hunter is where to look and where to post," says Dikel. She advises, "Find the sites that speak to your profession and start your search there." Visit sites that can provide information about the company's business practices and success. Register with sites that can provide detailed information on private companies as well. CompaniesOnline (www.com paniesonline.com) is such a site. Another Website, blackenterprise, corn, is also beneficial to job seekers. Not only can resumes be posted on our Website, but a variety of employment information can be accessed through the site.