If a job-seeker is not making use of any of the On-Line Services for posting their resume and scanning the job listings, he or she is missing a real opportunity to find jobs.

We suggest that a person (a) use their Internet access to begin to do so, or (b) find a public library or school which can offer free or minimal-cost access to a PC and the Internet so you can use such services.

The reason is simple – such Online Job Search Services can simplify a job search and make the work involved more efficient.

Such services expose job-seekers to more job opportunities and automate the process. All of which adds up to more chances to find a good job. This is truly a change from what existed even five years ago.

I recently assisted a person in finding a new six-figure job by using an on-line service as the major key element in her job-search. The only other key element used was, of course, her resume. We worked on her resume to make it powerful and filled with achievements, posted it, and when a response came in from a recruiter who had seen the resume, we coached her on her response and then coached her through the interview process.

An interesting sidelight here: Her resume was almost three pages of small type in length. Prior to this, more than a page was considered too long. But now, because e-mail isn’t artificially segmented into 8 ½” by 11” pages and scrolls down, resumes that require it can be longer than the traditional one page so often recommended. In e-mail at least, that rule can now be broken. Content is critical, not length.

In addition to the services which list your resume and allow you to search their database postings of job opportunities, your local newspaper may offer an on-line service that posts local jobs. You can scan this in a similar fashion.

There are three ways to use on-line services:

1. Posting the resume so that it can be viewed by employers and recruiters.

2. Creating a series of key-words that describe what the job-seeker is looking for and launching a Personal Job Search Agent (PSA) in the sites that have this capability. This will automatically send the job-seeker an e-mail when a job listing matching his or her requirements is found. NOTE: Sometimes the e-mails get to be overwhelming, because the search criteria is loose. But it’s worth going through those listings.

3. Manually scanning the jobs in the database of the on-line service.

For anyone who is interested, I have a starter list of these services and would be glad to share it. I also will be glad to share copies of a few resumes that are known to work because they’ve gotten people jobs. Just give me a call or e-mail me and I’ll send this information to you.

Job positioning

Transferrable vanilla

Ethics of inclusion exclusion