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June 13, 1997

A cursory search in a couple of search engines for jobsearch/recruitment sites in the Boston area uncovered a plethora. An embarrassment of riches as it were.

The problem is where to start.

Well, a good place is The Massachusetts One-Stop Career Center Network.

This is a "virtual" equivalent to the "real-world" network of State and Federal funded Career Centers.

It's a comprehensive site, although it's fair to say that the architecture can be confusing, alrgely due to the sneaky use of borderless frames.

Nonetheless, the four sections relevant to job seekers ( Search for a Job, Job Seeker Services, Education & Training, One-Stop News) all contain good, relevant information.

Search for a Job, for example, not only allows you to search their database, but also contains links to recruiters in the fields of Internet Jobs and Business Jobs.

Job Search Tips contains advice on cover letters and resumes, interviewing and negotiation - and even has an interactive mock interview. This latter is multiple choice and more fun than instruction.

(Sample exchange: Hi, I'm Mr. B. Igwig, Director of Personnel. How are you?

A: I'm fine, sir. Thanks for seeing me today.
B: Just ducky, and you?
C: Tripping, dude! Did you know that your face is melting like crayons on a radiator?)

There's extensive research data in the Labor Market Info section, covering employment trends, prevailing wage and salry scales and so forth.

Employers can also use this site to plug into the "real world" career center network.

Newspaper Mania

June 12, 1997

Newspaper Mania contains links to over 5000 newspapers around the world. As such, it's a good place to keep up with what's going on

The site also contains a Job Center.

The Job Center lists literally dozens of links to jobs in journalism, including permanent and contract positions for editors, journalists, editorial writers and freelancers and more.

A block of the links have been compiled by the Chicago Tribune. This bank of links also includes jobs in TV and radio, including Public Radio.

In addition, the site also lists links to general recruitment sites and the Saludos Career Web For Hispanics.

If you are a journalist or writer looking for a staff or freelance position, this is a great resource.

And if you have a hankering to make journalism a career, this is an excellent site to get a feel for the field as a whole.

Virtually Hired

June 11, 1997

If you are looking for a High Tech Career in the Greater Chicago Area, then you will probably want to stop by Virtually Hired.

In visual terms, the site departs from the norm - although we must admit to having found the "island/pirate" theme a trifle twee.

That said, the site is full of buried treasure.

You can search for a position through a keyword search, or by position/salary/location (which is probably a good way to get an idea of your market value).

You can submit your resume by one of three methods:

• Fill Out Detailed Resume Form. (preferred)

• Fill Out Quick Form and Copy/Paste Resume from Word Processor.

• Fill Out Quick Form and FAX Resume.

Each resume is personally reviewed (so they say), and if there are job opportunities that appear to offer a good match, then Virtually Hired will "contact you directly & discretely [sic] by telephone".

The "Pools of Inspiration" is a series of tips and hints covering:

• Before The Interview

• During The Interview

• After The Interview

• Work/Jobs/Tools

All in all, if you fall into the narrow (but doubtless expanding) field covered by this site, then it's well worth looking into.

Leadership Tools

June 10, 1997

Part of anyone's career development is the mastery of basic leadership skills. In today's hipper organiozations, the emphasis is on leadership of the learning organization. If that sounds like gobbledygook to you, or, if you want to really know more about new leadership styles, check out these three resources.

• LeaderAid: Internet Resources for Leadershipis a gateway to lots of collected resources that discuss and describe learning organizations and teamwork

• The Army is a tremendous source of leadership material. After all, they teach people to lead on a very regular basis. The Center for Army Leadership is a good source of material for your own personal leadership development program. Surprisingly. the Army pioneered much of the current theory about learning organizations

• Learning Organization Home Page offers the collected and archived wisdom of over 1500 subscribers to the "Learning Organization Mailing List". You can also join the list from this site, but watch out for an overload of email. We prefer browsing the archives.>

We hate to be cynical (well, not really). Sprinkling your resume with a pinch of these new leadership buzzwords might well be an important part of your next update.

Easy Money

June 09, 1997

Though we hardly condone their approach, there is a nugget of truth in the pitch made by Direct Reference Check. The company checks your references before potential employers do so you know who is saying what. They even hint at the idea of making money by catching a reference "bad-mouthing" you.

Applicants want to know. . . "How good are my employment references?" When bad data clouds your good name you must take immediate action, or suffer career retardation. DRC provides employment assessments from previous employers.

• When you're eye-to-eye in an interview, how much does your interviewer know?
• Are previous employers passing on conjecture, personal opinion,rumors, or accurace legal facts?
• If DRC does uncover negatives (justified or not), we offer additional services that may clear up future negative comments.
• All investigations are performed discreetly and confidentially.

DRC goes on to describe the potential windfalls for their customers:

By employing such investigative reports, a recent case Frank B. Hall and Co., Inc. v. Buck, 678 S.W., 2d, 612 (Tex. App. 14 Dist., 1984), received an award of $1,905,000 for the former employee. Hall had hired Buck away from another company. Soon he was terminated because he had not written sufficient business to justify his job. Suspicious, Buck hired a firm to expose the true reason for his dismissal, and received a written report that contained some surprising quotes. Employees stated Buck was "untrustworthy, not always entirely truthful, disruptive, paranoid, hostile, guilty of padding his expense account. . . ." A prospective employer was informed, "Buck did not reach his production goals." The office manager refused to discuss Buck's further, saying only, "I can't go into it, but I would not rehire him." The jury believed the report concluding Hall lost their qualified privilege because of their malicious remarks.

Many attorneys avoid defamation cases because they are difficult to prove. However, for smart attorneys these cases have been profitable. In the April 28, 1992 issue of Financial World, the magazine stated. "In 1989, American Express admitted that people acting on the corporation's behalf coordinated a campaign of disinformation and defamatory news articles about Safra, (Edmund J. Safra) a former Amex executive." This spiteful act, the article continues, cost American Express over $8 million.

Clifford Zalay's curiosity about possible negative references prompted him to check his suspicions--the results were startling. The January 4, 1990 issue of the Wall Street Journal stated, "$25 million in punitive damages was awarded in September to Clifford Zalay from his former employer, John Hancock."

• 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. -----------------