interbiznet.com
S P O N S O R S
Search Engine Tips
December 17, 1998
The Teaching Library at UC Berkeley has a wonderful online resource available for Jobhunters that is a 'must see'. Try their
For example, Northern Light is very useful for finding articles relating to whatever topic you are searching. This page on the Berkeley site explains the benefits of using Northern Light for specific kinds of searches. There are also useful caveats for what NOT to do when searching on the Net:
Browsing subject directories. BROWSING is a sometimes fun but not very efficient way to use Subject Directories. You locate documents by trying to match your topic in first the top, broadest layer of a subject hierarchy, then by choosing narrower sub-subject-categories in the hierarchy that you hope will lead to your target. Browsing encounters the difficulty of guessing under which subject category your topic is classified. Also, the taxonomy in each subject directory differs, making browsing inconsistent from one search tool to another. The category "health" may contain documents on medicine, homeopathy, psychiatry, and fitness in one Subject Directory. In another "medicine" may include health, mental health, and alternative medicine, but not the term psychiatry and may classify fitness only under "lifestyle."
"Simple" keyword searching in large databases. "Simple" keyword searching is entering one or more keywords separated by spaces in the first white search box you encounter in any search tool. "Simple" keyword searching accepts the system's defaults, usually retrieves irrelevant or too many documents in large databases. In larger databases, we recommend learning and using more advanced techniques from the outset. In small databases of Web documents and in subject directories however, "simple" keyword searching is usually the best approach. The small size of the databases makes more complex searching unnecessary and may even exclude documents you want.
Have you used the Metasearch sites? Try
http://www.800go.com which runs 12 popular search engines simultaneously. This is a good shortcut approach to Internet Searching. If you are using the Net as part of your Job Search, then you are (surprisingly) in rare company. A survey by Bernard Haldane Associates found that only one in five Jobhunters used the Net for their Job Search. And only one in seven has responded to an Online Job Ad. So if you learn how to use the Net for your current Job Search, you will be better prepared for your next Job Search than 80% of other Jobhunters.With
Yahoo! Opening it's own employment website with classifieds and resume posting services, the trend line is clear. Employers and Employees will 'find' each other via online methods.-Mark Poppen
If at First...
December 16, 1998
On occasion, I search for Jobs that might match my previous Job experience. I have a BA in Philosophy, an AAS (Associate of Applied Science Degree in Paralegal Technology), an MPA (Master's in Public Administration), a Certificate of Aquaculture Training, and ten year's experience as a bartender. I tried Career Mosaic last week to see if they had any Jobs listed in the San Francisco Bay Area that might match my educational and experiential background. Here are the results:
Bartender 0
Paralegal 1 (requires 10 years experience)
Legal Asst 0
Fish Farmer 0
Trout Farmer 0
Asst City Mgr 0
This was neither heartwarming nor promising. However, when I repositioned myself as an 'Administrative Assistant', there were fourteen Job listings, eight with one company. Internet searching is still hit or miss. If you can think of different ways to label your skills, try those titles for Job openings.
Some of the better directories to find extensive listings of Job Titles are the "Occupational Outlook Handbook", the "Directory of Occupational Titles", and the "Encyclopedia of Careers and Vocational Guidance". These and other updated Career Information is available at your local library. I have recommended
Jobsmart and Riley's Guide before, here are two more good help sites: http://www.soicc.ca.gov and http://www.uhs.berkeley.edu/careerlibrary/links/careerme.htm . Finding a Job is a study in problem solving - use as many paths as are necessary to get to your goal.Another good site is:
Peterson's, an information services company, the leading provider of information on US-accredited educational institutions and special programs found around the world. Peterson's books, software, networking services, on-line activities (About petersons.com), and special admissions services are the most widely used channels of information dissemination about American schools, camps, colleges, universities, and other educational opportunities, reaching students, families, guidance professionals, researchers, and other interested people around the world.Peterson's information covers elementary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, professional degree programs, study abroad, executive management programs, distance learning, financial aid, internships, summer programs, and career information. It provides wide-ranging services to academic administrators in support of admissions and retention. The
Careers & Jobs section of their site has employment and job postings, as well as articles from a variety of publications. -Mark Poppen
Icons
December 15, 1998
Odds are you are either a member of the baby boom generation or the following demographic wave, now so poorly named generation X. The baby boomers (people born between 1946 and 1964) are almost 80 million strong. Generation X (born between 1964 and 1984, depending on which sociological expert du jour you listen to) is roughly half that number. Together they represent a huge segment of the population moving through the US timeline like a pig through a python.
Baby Boomers tend to have the following ingrained world-views:
Saving is better than Spending (from Depression Era Parents).
Hard work leads to recognition/promotion (again, from D.E. Parents).
To a greater extent, these views are being supplanted by:
Investing is better than saving (Ten years of increasing Stock Prices).
Self-promotion is critical to career survival (Ten years of Corporate Downsizing).
Gen X'ers are known for self-righteous individualism, and their leitmotif might be:
"Lying is smart, as long as you get away with it." Their list of 'Shining Examples' is too long to cite in it's entirety, but Ollie North, Ronald Reagan, O.J. Simpson, & Bill Clinton come to mind immediately.
These are, of course, crass generalizations for entire classes of people. Stereotypes are occasionally accurate descriptions for small segments of particular groups, and tend to lose their accuracy as the sample size is increased. What the aforementioned generalizations hint at is a working population that can easily rationalize getting ahead in life by whatever means are necessary. These tendencies have been documented by a number of authors (e.g. D.C. Feldman, Christopher Lasch, N. Lear). The ramifications for HR managers are frightening. Just as the Labor market for Industry specific Job candidates is tightening, Jobhunters are getting more accustomed to sprucing up their curriculum vitae with assorted half-truths, lies, and polished niceties. If the hiring manager seems dubious about your recent accomplishments, don't take it to heart. They're in a position akin to the house detective, rooting out undesirables before they cause any trouble. Be prepared to take tests, because screening out potentially bad Employees via new technologies is the HR Dept's next gimmick.
-Mark Poppen
Earn (Lose) $ on the Net
December 14, 1998
Are you getting inundated with offers for modern day snake oil, dressed up as 'Make a Million on the Internet?' If you can't wait for the real transfer of wealth (most of which happens by inheritance), than an urge for instant gratification may have caused you to stop for more than a moment and seriously consider sending $5 off to a list of five people. Or some other pyramid/multi level marketing scheme. These don't work because by the time you receive them, the first, second, third or fourth (and probably fifth, sixth, and seventh) wave of letters has been sent out. Since your name is last on the list, you need five more waves to go out before you see any money, and seven cycles (or generations) to see your first paltry profit.
From the following chart, if you received your offer in the 4th generation, then you wouldn't see a profit until the 11th generation, assuming 50 million other people played along and all sent $5 to the five people on the list above them. Fat chance. You can get better odds playing the Lottery, though the difference between them is marginal to anyone but a mathematician.
Gen People
1 5
2 25
3 125
4 625
5 3125
6 15,625
7 78,125
8 390,625
9 1,953,125
10 9,765,625
11 48,828,125
12 244,140,625 Roughly the population of the U.S.A.
13 1,220,703,125 Roughly the population of China
14 6,103,515,625 Roughly the population of the World
-Mark Poppen
Last Week On 1st Steps
Dec 13, 1998
IBN:interbiznet.com, Mill Valley, CA 94941, 415.377.2255