S P O N S O R S

December 20, 1996 --- You might remember that our favorite introduction to using the web in a job hunt is the remarkable set of resources at JobSmart.org. The site is remarkable both for its content and for its unique public / private partnership. The material was prepared by a public librarian under a federal grant. The site is managed by a San Francisco television station with community publishing aspirations. It's the kind of innovative partnership you can only find on the web.

In a fit of keyboard clumsiness, we ended up visiting the site at JobSmart.com. (We're sure it has something to do with age). JobSmart.com, which bills itself as "New England's Premier Resource for Job Hunters" is a product of the Community Newspaper Company. It's a much better than average offering from the newspaper industry and features a job matching agent, resources and so on. The unconfirmed rumor on the street is that JobSmart.com has locked down the franchise for Yahoo: Boston's employment advertising section.

We're also big fans of boston.com's employment section which is an offering from a coalition of Boston based periodicals including the Boston Globe (their big local paper). We see the makings of a heavyweight bout and an intensifying of regional competition in the New England employment advertising market. Because of their roots in the Newspaper industry, boston.com enters the ring with their hands tied behing their back. They can only sell employment ads that are tied to paper classifieds.

If you're looking for work in Boston, use these local resources first.

December 19, 1996 --- We had a quick look at a website offered by Survival Systems who serve the Power Electronics and Analog Industry. The site (which is pretty standard fare on most levels) includes a fledgling industry news section. It's a reminder that these very docused recruiters stand the most to gain in the small niches of the net. By knowing precisely who they're searching for offline, finding them becomes easy online. Small and precise operations have a much better chance of effectively navigating the little talent pools online.

To find operations like Survival Systems, the best bet is to use the subject matter indexes like Yahoo. Rather than searching through their jobs and employment sections, look into the areas of your specialty. You'll find professional associations, discussions and, of course, industry job and employment areas.

December 18, 1996 --- As in any job hunting method, the net offers two basic ways of finding a new job: responding to an ad or "worming" your way in. A recent market survey suggested a wierd paradox in the employer-employee mating ritual. Employers believe that they make 80% of their new hires through the use of advertising. Employees, as a group, believe that 30% of hiring happens through ads. So, while employers spend more money on advertising to get better results, potential employees aren't necessarilty swayed to review more and more ads as a result.

The Internet presents an interesting middle path

For years now (literally), we've been suggesting that the first thing that you do in a job hunt is finely hone your resume so that it:

• Is Chock full of nouns describing your skills
• Is easy to read in email
• Contains a separate keyword section
Then, we suggest sending it to as many places as you possibly can.

(In the process, you'll end up sending it to several places like this newsletter. On a good day, we just throw them away. On a bad day, we send grumpy responses. Whatever, your goal isn't to get positive feedback, it is to get your resume into as many resume databases as is humanly possible.)

The reason there's such a disconnect between the perceptions of hiring managers and job hunters is that the hiring managers are measured on the growth of their resume databases. Job hunters measure success based on getting a job. So, while advertising generates resumes, there isn't a one to one correspondence between responding to an ad and getting a job.

From a job hunter's perspective, we tend to think of a resume database as a hole waiting to be filled with your resume. Rather than an extensive search for meaning or solid matching. We think that job hunting is a marketing problem for the job hunter.

The job isn't finished after you've sent out tons of resumes, but, if that isn't your very first step, you're making a mistake.

December 17, 1996 --- It's a great time to be starting a career. The entry level recruiting business is a hotly contested marketplace with players as diverse as Tripod,Mainquad, AboutWork, Job Direct, JobWeb and JobTrak all competing for a piece of the direct action. Meanwhile, the entry level offerings from hiring employers are hardly shabby. Microsoft and KPMG are two easy to remember bright points in the hundreds of coporate HR assaults on the entry level marketplace.

The competition is just beginning. 1995 represented a demographic high pont. There won't be as many entry level candidates as there were in 1995 until about 2012, a full generation of entry level candidates in scarce supply. The competition for these native computer users (who coincidentally have the highest levels of educational accomplishment of any generation to date) is already getting intense.

If you're just starting out in the job market, relax a bit. It's a good time to be where you are.

December 16, 1996 --- Career Publishing, Inc. publishes several different career oriented materials. Their most popular line right now is material on Truck Driving. Their series on training the Allied Health Care worker deals with one of the fastest growing industries in the country. They also publish books on career guidance, with titles like "Planning for Success on the Job," "Mid-Career Changes," and "Interview for Success." Their web site is currently under construction, but there is some interesting stuff there already.

• Companies with Job Ads (Nearly 1500 Links to Companies and their Job Postings)
• Tools (Everything You need for a Job Hunt)
• The daily newsletters are archived in weekly volumes in the Archives. Past issues include:

Many of the items are also included in the Tools Area. The Web's largest collection of Employment related resources is also included in the Tools Area. -----------------