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The Winner Is... November 7, 1997 4work.com is not your typical job search site. That statement in itself should be enough to make you want to visit it. Of course the 4work.com site offers employment listings, searchable by state and keyword. That's a given. But it also offers much more. When you search for a job by keyword, you'll probably find at least a few. Interestingly though, you'll also get a listing of other keywords you might want to try. Excuse us? What's this? An employment site that attempts to help you wade through the logic they use when posting positions? Most sites that post job ads do so by requiring recruiters and employers to fill out online forms in which they describe the position available. On those forms, often the employer-to-be is asked to also include keywords that s/he thinks the hunter will look for. What 4work.com does is make those keywords available to you. It's no longer just a game of hunt and seek. You are given the tools you need to make your search more productive. But, 4work.com offers even more. Are you between jobs and bored? Are you employed but have extra time on your hands? Or do you just want to give something of yourself? Check out their internship and volunteer listings. Do you want them to do the hunting work for you? Subscribe to Job Alert. A quick registration and input of up to 5 keywords becomes a personal job hunting robot. Once you register, you'll be notified by email as soon as postings are available that match your keywords and are within the geographic area you want. There's a Human Resources Directory as well. The directory lists links to resume services, conferences and workshops, other job sites, and relocation services. There's also a ReThinking Work section. This area covers the typical areas of working and finding work, but also reminds us of our human side and includes "some wise and wonderful essays on topics relevant to your life like Social Security, building equity in yourself, and sacred violence." ("Sacred Violence" is a marvelous essay based on the ideas of René Girard, a French literary critic, philosopher and anthropologist.) 4work.com works. It blends the acts of hunting for work and recruiting workers. It automates that which it can and provides insights into the logic and categorization used in its database. It provides easy access to information related to employment and issues related to living. In essence, from a job hunter's perspective, 4work.com treats the hunter as a person with a life and needs--not merely as one who is hunted, in demand, and destined to become a recruiting statistic.
Gates' Gateway November 6, 1997 Want to work for Microsoft? Want to learn about work at Microsoft? Want to see pictures of people at Microsoft? Interested in the juxtaposition of corporate and personal cultures? Then visit the Microsoft Career Explorer site. The site offers
Even if you're not interested in working for Mr. Gates, take a look at the site. See just how far companies are willing to go to recruit you and your expertise. For instance, take a look at Microsoft's culture: At Microsoft, we dress casual so we can work and play hard. The lights are always on, the music is always playing, someone is constantly tinkering. Teamwork is vital, since each team owns the product it brings to life -- yet the freedom of self-motivation is prized. The work stays challenging because every day (and most nights) uncharted terrritory gets explored. Music? Play? Freedom? This is work? Microsoft, like the majority of firms in the computer industry, is desperate for employees. Not all of those companies though understand the need for prospects to understand what they're getting into before they sign up. Microsoft wants you to think it understands. Does it? Perhaps. But rest assured that each of the current employees populating the chat room have been carefully picked. Remember, Microsoft's goal is to snag you. Is this a good way to do it? Perhaps. For this site demonstrates what the internet is good at--connecting people with people; encouraging people to share ideas and interests; providing information and exchange.
Contractors Are People, Too November 5, 1997 Contractors have to work hard to sell themselves and their services. Often, they spend loads of time marketing themselves and bidding on contracts. It's hard work and not many sites offer postings just for contractors. So we were thrilled to learn about Oxford & Associates, especially when we read what Michael McGowan, chief operating officer of Oxford, said: E-Contracting extends the client service orientation of Oxford & Associates to the world of online contracting, [and] offers the high-tech contracting community a new level of ease of job searching and job posting. Our pleasure however, turned to dismay after our visit. Although we liked Oxford & Associates' graphic and its symbolism, we didn't appreciate waiting more than 2 minutes with a 28.8K modem for the front page to load. And, while the site has interest to those of you who want to contract your services, you'll need patience to access any of Oxford's pages. Doesn't seem overly service oriented since we had to wait so long. That said, we still tried to be enthusiastic about a new site dedicated to contract work. You can search for contract positions by state and skill-based keywords. When there's a match, you see a very brief description of the job, its starting date, and the contract duration. There's no contact name though, nor is there a posting date. Again, not a big plus on the consumer service side, is it? If you're interested in the position, you can apply (to Oxford) online and upload your resume (ASCII only). Since we decided not to apply for anything, we're not sure whether you need to upload your resume for each position you find, but it appears that such is the case. Oops. Perhaps a site with a clearer understanding of "level of ease" is needed. So, okay. The site design and interface leaves little to be desired. Oxford will probably not last long as more and more sites that specialize in contract opportunities come along and remember they're dealing with people who don't have lots of time to cut and paste. But, for now, it's a start-- a poor one to be sure, but one that other recruiters can learn from and one that job hunters can use until the more and bettter ones come along. Of course, there's always: But, we'll talk about them another time.
New Laughing Stock November 4, 1997 Positive Support Review (PSR) doesn't get it. PSR is "a Los Angeles-based management consulting firm that focuses on Management Information Systems, and in particular on the strategic application of information technology to gain competitive business advantage." One would think they'd know better. They've launched a Web-based IT job listing service. But, you have to pay for it. Huh? Haven't they heard? IT people are in demand. There's a drastic shortage of and a desperate need for them. IT people have choices. They can pick and choose jobs, geographic areas, benefits packages, and salaries. Do they really have to pay to find a job listing? Get real. However, while PSR seems to have totally missed the idea about employment sites and recruiting in general, they do have a page worth looking at. Their brief descriptions of IT job functions by job title page is a great resource. They offer 67 IT job titles and give a brief explanation of what that job entails. For instance, a Vice President Consulting Services is described as: The Vice President Consulting Services is accountable for directing the business and operational application of information and data in the enterprise and its groups including reviews of applications including computerized and manual systems; software acquisition, storage and retrieval approaches; and definition of the strategic direction of all information processing and communication systems and operations. He or she provides overall management and definition of all computer and communication business and operation activities within the enterprise. These descriptions can be particularly helpful for IT newbies. You can use them to add to your collection of keywords which will make your job hunt (on other sites, of course) easier to manage.
Increase Your Options November 03, 1997 There's a new industry poking its head up through the ‘net. The HTML-ing of resumes. Not a bad idea since not everyone knows HTML. Not a bad idea since putting a resume on the Web is a way to increase your exposure to recruiters and future employers. Not a bad idea since we're sure the HTML-ers will gain a few clients. But, it's an unnecessary idea. Learning the basics of HTML is not overly time consuming. You can use your browser to help you learn simply by using the "view" option in your toolbar. Try it. In Netscape, click "View" and then "document source". In Explorer, click on "View", and then on "source". You'll see the HTML code that was used to make the page look as it does. There are also several places on the Web that can help if you want to learn HTML. You don't need to become a professional coder. Nor do you need to know all the intricacies of the language. You should know the basics. After all, it'll help you design your own resume. And, it'll be another skill to add to your repertoire. A good place to start learning HTML is by visiting the HTML Writers Guild. Start with the basics and work your way through their listings.
Maybe you're thinking you've already posted your resume to the job sites we've suggested and need do no more. Well, you could take that approach. But what about those recruiters who are tired of sifting through the hundreds of thousands of resumes sitting in those databases? What about those recruiters who now actively search for "hidden" resumes--those that reside on home pages, those that have such superlative meta--tags, that they get lots of look-overs?
Creating a Web version of your resume in addition to the version you submit to databases, improves your chances of being seen.
And hey, if you get good enough with HTML, you can open your own Web-front store and offer to HTML-ize the resumes of others who didn't read this column.
More Resources
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.
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