Best sites for job help online

One topic from readers that regularly appears in e-mails is the viability of job searching on the Internet.

My answer has changed through the years as the Web has outgrown early shortcomings to become an extremely helpful tool for job seekers, especially those looking to relocate to distant states or even find work in foreign countries. With that said, there’s certainly no reason why your computer can’t also be used for job searches right here at home as well.

So, here are some of the best and easiest-to-use sites – all dedicated to helping you find the job of your dreams in 2006.

www.careerbuilder.com. What better place to begin than on The Post’s partner site? This has grown into one of the overall best sites for job seekers of all ages and in all stages of employment in pretty much any career category you can think of. A simple search of jobs available within 30 miles of Cincinnati, posted within the past 30 days, brought up 133 pages of listings with 25 job descriptions per page. You can search by specific company, job description, city, state and even pay scale. My only complaint here is the lack of screening, so use discretion before getting involved with most “work at home” or “get paid for shopping/eating out” offers.

www.4jobs.com. I love this one. Very easy to use, very helpful and very detailed with information on job popularity, career trends and even additional resources to help you narrow your scope, which, trust me, is extremely important if you want to keep your sanity while sorting through all these postings. 4Jobs also offers one of the most detailed search tools. Better than most, you can pinpoint your desires if you know exactly what you’re looking for, or open up the search for related areas you might not have thought of. For example, the “Media and Communications” section is divided into 27 sub-categories including copywriter, motion picture set worker, television announcer and poet. Of course, some sections may not have jobs listed in every city or state, but it only takes a couple of click to find out.

www.job-hunt.org. Sponsored by CareerJournal (from the Wall Street Journal), this is not only a great site for finding out about executive positions that are available, it’s also a fantastic teaching tool for anyone who needs help with the how-tos of looking for and landing the job you really want.

www.ajb.dni.us. This one from America’s Job Bank is another one that has a lot going for it. With a database boasting more than a million listings and nearly 50,000 new additions each day, the potential is great here. If I have a quibble with it at all, it’s that in some cases the category lines seem a bit blurry but search results are easily (and quickly) scanned.

http://hotjobs.yahoo.com. A quick and painless sign-up grants you entrance to one of the fastest-growing job sites on the Web. The growth is not without some glitches though. For instance, if you’re interested in “Travel and Hospitality” jobs, you’ll be truly disappointed to discover than most of the 71 new listings in the Cincinnati area actually belong in the “Medical” section. The search tool obviously hasn’t learned how to differentiate between “hospital” and “hospitality.”

www.monster.com. And I wouldn’t forget Monster.com, one of the earliest and still one of the best sites for all things related to resumes, searches, interviews and closing the deal. If this is your first attempt at using a Web site to help with your hunt, click on the “Questions?” section. You’ll jump to a page that asks if you’re a potential employee or an employer with an available job to list. Click the “go” button marked “Job Seekers” and then read through the lists of frequently asked questions (FAQs). If you still aren’t sure what to do next, use the adjacent e-mail form to get personalized advice from a knowledgeable Monster representative. They’ll walk you through it.

Jan Perry thinks she already has a dream job but that doesn’t keep her from looking at other offers. If you use an online job search site that isn’t included today, send the address to Jan at SiteSeer2K@aol.com along with your thoughts about it for inclusion in a future column.

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