LEARN THE LINGO
Get with the program. If you can't cruise cyberspace on the Internet-an electronic behemoth spawning businesses and controversy at the same time-you're out of touch, a Neanderthal in the space age.
The Internet took shape about a decade ago as a data link for elite academic communities. The sprawling network links more than 2.2 million computers on 32,400 networks and is accessible in 135 countries. It's estimated that over 25 million people have the capability of sending electronic mail messages on the Internet.
Now the Internet has been commandeered by the business world. It's safe to say the number of commercial computers linked directly to the Internet has surpassed the number of Net host computers in the academic world.
The growth is awesome. Each month, dozens of companies are starting to offer related services to businesses and individuals. According to one source, the Internet represents a $ 10-billion-a- year business. Overstated or not, one thing is certain; Internet is a powerful communications tool. It is open 24 hours a day and is global in reach. The Net has joined the ranks of the telephone, telex, and fax machine as an essential communications vehicle.
If people tell you they're net surfers, it doesn't mean they've been catching some waves; it means they can sprint around the Internet with the agility of trained runners. In short, the Net translates to another job-hunting avenue.
ON-LINE SERVICES FOR JOB SEARCHERS
Over the past 18 months, several national on-line employment advertising services have been created. For little or no fee, many of them permit job hunters to search through listings of about 5000 professional openings and include their resumes in databanks. A number of commercial on-line services are also offering specialized bulletin boards; permitting job hunters to use electronic mail to post their resumes into a database and respond to job announcements.
Before investigating commercial on-line job-hunting services, check out the free ones first. Most states provide job banks through the 2000-plus state employment services scattered across the 50 states. State governments may be overwhelming bureaucracies, but they're also a wealth of career information. All states are federally funded to operate a labor exchange or employment service, free to employers and job applicants. Along with traditional career services for over-50 job searchers, most states offer easy-to-use on-line job listings. All you have to do is sit in front of a personal computer and hone in on jobs that interest you by moving through a series of occupational categories. Check your telephone book to find the nearest state employment service.
Listed below are a few popular commercial on-line services.
CompuServe Information Service
CompuServe boasts of an on-line "headhunting" service, a fast, inexpensive way to find bodies without contending with employment agencies or executive recruiters. Your qualifications are available on-line to hundreds of Fortune 500 companies and start-up companies. If a human resources person thinks you fit a job description, you'll be summoned for an interview. CompuServe reports 100 new companies log on each week.
America On-Lincy Inc.
Offering databases for job searchers and entrepreneurs, its popular "Career Center" database is updated weekly. The database contains 4000 jobs throughout the United States, accessible 24 hours a day. Creator Jim Gonyea swears it's the first electronic career guidance and employment center in the United States. His "Occupational Profiles" database details more than 700 occupations, along with information about specific companies, working conditions, job outlook, and salary ranges.
Petersons Guides
The folks who publish college guides and career books also offer the on-line service "Connexion," a variation of the above services. Applicants' qualifications are made available to over 200 companies and executive recruiters across the United States.
DONT PUT ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET
Traveling the information superhighway for job leads adds a whole new dimension to job hunting. It's fun and novel, but don't be sucked into the obvious trap and think all this information is exclusive. Many of the job listings are out of date. Some job searchers complain that a significant percentage of jobs have already been filled. America On-Line's creator, Jim Gonyea, admitted that many of his job listings originally appeared as paid ads elsewhere. His service just changed the wording and posted them. It doesn't sound kosher, but copyright attorneys say the practice is perfectly legal as long as on-line services don't use the same language as that of the original ad.
Finally, posting applicant applications on-line doesn't mean prospective employers will read them. See on-line services for what they are: another potential job source, no better or worse than any other. Like anything new, they're surrounded by hype. In a few years, there's a good chance career experts will compare them to newspaper want ads and advise avoiding them because the odds of capturing an employer's attention are so high.
Advice: No matter how formidable the odds pursue all job leads. You just may score.
WAIT AND SEE
At the moment, cyberspace is a vast, uncharted, and unregulated frontier that everyone is trying to explore. It's reminiscent of the migration to the American West in search of gold at the turn of the twentieth century. But stay tuned. The best is yet to come. Right now, there is a glut of services on the Internet. Expect a shakeout over the next half-decade. Many services will fall by the wayside, with stronger, more resilient ones replacing them.
More than another job avenue, see cyberspace as a vast information resource. It's also a fertile source of news, trends, company information, and statistics. More and more companies will be using the Internet as an advertising vehicle. Keep on cruising the Net. You never know when you'll stumble on an information gem.
