interbiznet.com
S P O N S O R S
1ST STEPS IN THE HUNT
- An online column for the online candidate
| Resources | Bugler | The Blogs | Advertise with Us | Trends |
Between the Lines
September 03, 1999
Reading help wanted ads is part of the drudgery of being a Jobhunter. And being a successful Jobhunter requires that you learn how to read between the lines of typical Job ads, whether they are posted online or in the classified section of your local paper.
Fortunately there are places that can help you decipher what Employers Really mean when they post those uplifting and inspiring descriptions of open positions. Your 'Dream Job' almost always sounds too good to be true, which, of course, it is. They don't call them ads for no reason, you know. Fortunately there are a few web sites that can correct your vision by adjusting for the rose colored lenses that Employers want you to look at their ads through.
One of my favorite 'perspective adjusters' is the aptly named NetSlaves, and provides acidic commentary on web work, and how to survive in the information age. From a recent article on what an Employer's online help wanted ad is really looking for:
Ad reads "internships are unpaid and require a minimum of 2 days per week (10:30am to 6:30pm). An enthusiastic and flexible attitude is needed. Punctuality is a must. Interns will gain hands-on experience and will have exposure to ALL aspects of web publishing."
Ad really means "Be here on time. Work like a pig. Pay no mind to the fact that the rest of us are writing scripts to indie films on the side."
Ad reads "We're looking for a few motivated, technically-savvy, hard-working, fast-learners to help produce our Web site."
Ad really means "We don't have the budget to hire a real production staff. But we will fire you if you don't catch on quickly."
Ad reads "Candidates must be creative and artistic, fluent in basic Web development tools: HTML, Photoshop, Illustrator, browser issue, write good, clean code as a habit, have familiarity with Javascript, Quicktime, QuicktimeVR, CGI, and know Flash."
Ad really means "Candidates must be too stupid to realize that if they already know these things, they can skip this internship bullshit and go right to the sweatshops."
It shouldn't take long before you can read right through the help wanted hype and get a clearer picture of what Employers are truly looking for in an Employee. Usually it's faster, cheaper workers who won't be able to move to another better paying Job any time in the near future. And this is one of the many reasons you need to talk to Employees already working at the Company you are thinking about joining. Do any of the Employees there have a web site where they openly talk about what is wrong with working there?
Search Sites
September 02, 1999
How extensively do search sites really search the web?
Currently, not very extensively at all. The most comprehensive search site now is AlltheWeb, it claims to have indexed over 200 million web pages, or 25% of what's available. Their goal is to approach 100% by the end of the year. The vast majority of the time you don't really need to access 'everything' on the web, the top 10 - 15% is sufficient to find relevant web pages on a search engine results page.
AltaVista is one of the pioneers of the search engines, and views about 15% of the web. It is very reliable and has a large core group of faithful users. Their new owner (CMGI, Inc) plans to increase the site's indexing capabilities and turn it into a broader functioning 'portal'. Another old-timer on the web, Excite accesses just under 10% of all web pages. It is combining forces with LookSmart, a directory of categorized web pages, creating a portal hoping to access 'all the web worth finding'. Go Network (roughly 10% of web pages) is Disney's recent portal acquisition.
Google accesses about 10% of the web, though it looks for things through a slightly different process. They give higher ratings based on how many times a site is linked to by other sites. The more times your web page shows up hotlinked on other sites, the higher up the page will be your results when a search is conducted. Direct Hit uses a similar scheme - sites are ranked by not only how many times people surf them, but by how long they stay there. Sort of like popularity times stickiness.
Yahoo! and Northern Light are comparable search sites for accessing the web (in the 8 to 15% range, respectively). Yahoo!, a search directory, claims the most traffic by searchers; and Northern Light is one of my favorite search engines. Lycos has changed from a search engine to a directory model, and accesses only a quarter of the web pages that the other sites look at.
Fresh from a recent multi-billion dollar IPO, Ask Jeeves allows searches in the form of a question. Responding to almost ten million questions/day, it is very useful for basic questions of fact, like 'What is the capital of Bulgaria?', but falters as the questions become more complex. If you are looking for pictures on the web, try the image icon in AltaVista (right above the query window). Ditto and Scour also have excellent indexes of images available online.
Eventually, there will be just a few portals that access everything, and a bunch of search directories that are best used for targeted niche searching. Till then, you just have to pick and choose.
Search Engine Primer
September 01, 1999
There appear to be more Search Engines every day, all with some new twist that makes them 'the bestest ever'. And some of them describe themselves as portals or directories rather than Search Engines. What the hell is the difference between them, and which are the most appropriate for your searches?
It all depends, of course, on what you want.
Generally they all use 'spiders' or 'robots' (software applications) to find answers to questions that are posed to them. Ask Jeeves allows you to ask questions in the form of a question, which turned out to be a rather novel concept. Other Search Engines require the use of Keywords. These keywords are included in the metatags that the websites submit to the Search Engines as a description of what the sites have to offer.
For example, if you are looking for information on how to write a better resume, you might use keywords like the following: resume, CV, vitae, curriculum vitae, job, job application, employment. Sites looking to attract people who want information about resumes will use keywords like these when submitting their site to the major Search Engines. When you are looking at websites, take a second and look at their metatags on their opening page to see what Keywords the site owners think are important.
Yahoo!, Looksmart, and Lycos are Directories rather than Search Engines. These sites separate search results into easier to use categories so that you (hopefully!) don't have to sift through as much extraneous information, which can be a royal pain in the ass. How many times have you run a search and ended up with pages and pages of irrelevant crap? Hundreds, I bet.
Most Search Engines make use of Boolean Operators. Contrary to popular misconception, these are not switchboard workers from the Saharan Sub-Continent. Separating Keywords by And, Or, & Not increases search efficiency. Entering Civil And War will produce different results than Civil War. For Exact phrase matches, use quotation marks. Try "Civil War" and see how results differ from the previous two examples.
The help menus can give you decent directions for using the independent search sites, spelling out whether they use these Boolean Operators and how to make the best use of each site. Surprisingly, no search sites even come close to accessing 50% of the available web pages out there, though some sites are shooting for a fairly complete indexing of the web.
Tomorrow, a look at some of the different search sites and what they have to offer Jobhunters.
Parlor Games
August 31, 1999
Deciding what major field they want to work in often paralyzes Jobhunters into inaction. Keeping your options open is a good idea, at least in general. But when push comes to shove you need to pick one thing at the expense of something else - that's just the nature of choice.
But how do you go about choosing what to choose?
Begin by using your imagination. Try playing hypothetical games like the following: Jobs almost always involve some kind of problem solving. What kinds of problems do you feel most adept at solving? You might be a natural mediator, helping two or more sides in conflict see the same issue from a new and shared perspective. Or you might be an organizer, someone who can recognize other's strengths and weaknesses in such a way that you can mold a successful work team and keep it humming like a fine tuned machine.
Others are born analyzers, but couldn't lead a work group if their life depended on it. Some can write reams of stuff off the top of their head, and a few of us can remember intricate details that require intense observational talents. You may be a teacher, or find that planning things falls easily into your lap. Everybody has some talents, and most of us have a wide variety of them. Which ones bring a smile to your face when you bring them to bear on some obstacle?
All Jobs have something that is interesting or can be made interesting. The catch is figuring out what things interest you naturally and then refining your skills to solve the inherent problems that arise involving these kinds of people, things, and data.
Office Romance
August 30, 1999
Once you get a Job, there are a number of ways to screw it up. While it is possible to get laid off because you just can't do the work at hand (or don't pick it up quickly enough), this is not the reason Employees tend to get canned.
Most firings occur because of personality conflicts. Sometimes it is between the Boss and the soon to be axed Employee, and other times it is an inability for new workers to get along with entrenched members at the Company. If office politics are difficult to negotiate, try maneuvering around politics of the heart.
Despite your best intentions to not get involved romantically with a coworker, lust often gets the better of us. And everyone knows someone who met their 'true love' (or 'good enough mate') in the workplace - we do spend a huge amount of our waking life at our Jobs. Humans have enough trouble finding an interesting partner without setting fifty odd hours a week off limits right from the get-go. And for many of us, our work life is our social life.
Employee Handbooks are generally pretty clear about interoffice dating - do it and suffer the consequences. While the payoff looks promising (satisfying your lust up to landing Mr/Ms Right), the potential downside is huge. If your intended is a subordinate, you run the risk of giving the appearance of favoritism to them in a whole range of activities, from pay raises to career advancement. Even if you are completely impartial, morale is likely to suffer among coworkers because they "just know" sex is affecting your decisions.
Employers really hate office romances from a legal standpoint. Sexual discrimination is an easy charge to bring and difficult and time consuming to disprove. Even if the targeted Employee is shown to have done nothing wrong, it may take years to get to this common understanding of the events in question. By then, the damage has already been done, both to the Company and the careers of the people involved.
So, what do you do?
Discretion is the better part of valor, and the war of the sexes is no exception. People are going to flirt and behave basically in whatever manner they've grown accustomed to, despite warnings, threats, and dire consequences. Avoid unprofessional, sexually explicit email contact with a coworking paramour. Try to separate your lives into what happens in the office as distinct from what happens outside the cubicle.
And consider your exit strategy - most office relationships are short-lived. Are you on friendly terms with your previous sexual partners? If not, what would it be like to work for (or with) one of Them? Your answer to this last question may be the best determining factor in deciding whether to make the leap, or to stay put.
LISTS:
Last Week On 1st Steps
RESOURCES:
- Industry News
- 1999 Top 100
- 1997 Top 100
- 1996 Top 25
August 29, 1999
Public Companies
in Electronic Recruiting
|
Materials written by John Sumser © TwoColorHat. All Rights Reserved.