Taking your job search online: don't limit your job hunt to the classifieds. You can increase your prospects by entering cyberspace

Black Enterprise, Jan, 1996 by Cassandra Hayes, Nadirah Z. Sabir

Don't limit your job hunt to the classifieds. You can increase your prospects by entering cyberspace.

IN 1988, WHEN OLA KUDU went online to register for classes while a student at Wesleyan University, he knew the Internet could open new doors. What he didn't know was that six years later, those doors would open to a new job. During a chat session on the BBS, New York Online, the 25-year-old graphic artist mentioned that he was looking for a job. Tired of the "stiff" art departments of the financial and management firms he had known, Kudu jumped at the online invitation to visit the office of Vibe magazine.

"I thought the person who invited me would be this computer nerd" recalls Kudu. "It ended up being the president of the company." The Brooklyn native was offered the job of chief graphic designer and programmer for the black music magazine's online service and took it. Now, as art director for the hip-hop magazine The Source, Kudu says taking his job search online helped him to find a job where he could be creative as well as productive.

Whether you surf the Internet, subscribe to America Online, Prodigy, CompuServe or any of the other online services, you can find scores of job databases, resume banks and job matching services--200 or more according to some accounts. If that's not enough, computer stores are stocking their shelves with job search and resume-writing software. One benefit to minorities, in particular, is that posting online is "color-blind." Until the face-to-face interview, employers are evaluating you solely on your qualifications, not race or ethnicity.

But the process can be time consuming, and there's a lot to learn. Online job searching isn't a substitute for tried-and-true want ads, hard resumes and all-important networking. Computer novices and experts alike must ask questions and follow directions carefully before launching their vitae into cyberspace. Click the wrong icon and you'll send your resume into oblivion, or worse, into the hands of your current employer!

Employers who use newspapers, trade magazines and recruiters to find qualified candidates are now also looking electronically with listings on various services, and the company's World Wide Web "home page." In fact, a recent poll of 435 human resources professionals, conducted by Lee Hecht Harrison, revealed that 47% use the Internet to recruit; 31% said they use resume banks.

"In the last two months, our last eight hires have come off the Internet," says Danny Thomas, national employment manager of the business market division at MCI Telecommunications Corp. in Atlanta. Thomas and 16 other MCI recruiters across the country use Internet services like job Bank USA and Online Cancer Center--the "pot of gold on the Internet rainbow"--to find technical and sales support professionals. "We're really moving away from newspapers and into the online world," Thomas says.

Low-tech companies conduct electronic searches as well. "I find more diversity online, because I can post with specific SIGs (special interest groups) like Netnoir, LatinoNet and the Ebony Room," says Marianne Blanchard, human resources consultant at Abt Associates Inc., a social policy research and management consulting firm in Cambridge, Mass. "We don't get a large response to our online ads, but we do get applicants whose qualifications fit more specifically with what we're looking for."

Blanchard posts jobs on at least 40 online sources when searching for seasoned research professionals. On average, Blanchard considers only 50-60 of the 1,000 resumes she receives from newspaper ads, whereas 80% of the mere 100 resumes she receives from an online ad usually qualify.

Despite the acclaim of human resources'professionals and some career experts for electronic job searching, the phenomenon is still in its infancy. "Though it has been around for close to 15 years, it has just started to take off in the past two," says Daniel Lauber, author of the Professional's Private Sector Job Finder, Government Job Finder and Non-Profit's Job Finder (Planning Communications, 800-829-5220). But, warns Lauber, "It has a long way to go before it replaces traditional job search methods."

Currently, between 50% and 80% of jobs listed with the nation's job banks are in technology and technology-related industries. But the number of jobs in finance, banking, sales, manufacturing and consulting industries is rapidly increasing. Going through the Web sites, home pages and services may take hours or even days at first, but once you're familiar with the process, you can quickly go right to the appropriate database. But researching the different services and software programs available is critical. Don't try to compose your resume and go online in one day. Some listings charge a fee, so check the cost before you start your electronic search.

Generally, finding the right job openings depends on the key search words you plug in. A recent search of the World Wide Web's E-Span job database (http://www.espan.com. Tel: 800-682-2901) turned up 250 mostly technology-related positions each in sales, management and engineering, along with short descriptions of each company. Help Wanted - USA (http://www.webcom. com/-career/hwusa.html. Tel: 813-725-9600) provided thousands of job listings in marketing, a little over 300 in nursing, but more than 2,600 in engineering. Few listings appeared for the key words agriculture, economist or professor.