Usenet Job Posting

Recruiting with Newsgroups

There are many places on the Web to post job openings. Some recruiters have success posting in targeted email discussion groups. Others use a combination of the hundreds of free and fee-based posting sites on the Web. Still others turn to UseNet newsgroups.

Newsgroups are similar to email discussion lists in that they are usually centered around a subject of interest to the subscribers. The big difference between the two is that newsgroups are not email-based. Instead, you connect to them through a newsreader provided to you by your internet service provider (ISP).

Sometimes a conversation within a newsgroup has many participants and entries. To help keep track of who said what to whom, most newsreaders allow you to "thread" the conversation. This puts subjects and responses to the subject together in an organized fashion. It also allows you a decent chance to choose to read only posts of interest to you.

There are many thousand newsgroups. Close to 200 of them are related only to those advertising and seeking work. But, don't limit your postings to just these groups. Because newsgroups are subject based and have any number of people accessing them, you may also want to explore newsgroups that would be interesting to the people you're trying to find. Participating in a special interest newsgroup may help you find people with the particular skills and knowledge you seek.

If you want to explore the use of newsgroups for posting jobs, there are a few steps you should become familiar with.

• First, find out which groups you can access from your computer. Do this by trial and error, by contacting your ISP, or by purchasing JobFind an internet newsreader that will find out for you.
• Second, find a few newsgroups that interest you and a few that deal with employment. Spend a few days reading through the discussions and see what types of postings are made and where your postings will be best situated.

Where to Find Newsgroups

• Cyber Fiber has created 24 categories into which they've put the thousands of newsgroups. At this site you can do a general interest search, or you can point to a category and search within that for names of appropriate newsgroups.
• Tile Net allows you to search for a subject in general or to browse through the index, the newsgroup hierarchies, or by a description of the group.

Specific Employment Related Groups

• Job Search Usenet Newsgroups offers a hyper-linked listing of newsgroups dedicated to jobs offered and sought. While much of the list is geared toward CA, a definite attempt was made to include as many US states as possible. A resource well worth looking at.
• Job Find has put together a compendium of information about newsgroups geared toward employment. At this site you can find out which newsgroups your ISP offers, which ones are local to your area, which have heavy traffic, and more. Importantly, it also offers information about new newsgroups geared specifically toward certain professions and industries.

Don't Forget To Read The Article on Searching Usenet