COVER STORY - EMPLOYING THE WEB – Way Back!

Providence Journal - Providence, R.I.

Here’s what we were saying about Internet job hunting just eight years ago.
 
* Welcome to job hunting in the 21st century
* * *
Lewis Bolla of East Greenwich decided it was time to find a new job when the software company he was working for was sold earlier this year.

Bolla, who was a regional sales account manager for a Florida- based firm, checked the help wanted ads in local newspapers and contacted a few "head hunters" at professional recruiting agencies, but he found nothing.
Then a colleague told him about Monster.com, a job-hunting Web site on the Internet where he could search hundreds of thousands of job openings around the world and even post his resume on line.

He found dozens of possible jobs in the sales and marketing area, and got hundreds of responses to his resume. Within weeks, he said, he had four offers for jobs that were "precisely what I was looking for."
"I'd heard the job market was great, but I didn't think it was this great," said Bolla, who accepted his top pick as sales manager for Sane Solutions LLC, a software development company in East Greenwich.

Bolla credits the Internet with his quick success in the job market. "I would have found a job eventually through traditional methods. However, I may not have received this many offers so quickly."
Welcome to job hunting in the new millennium, where many prospective employees and employers are finding the Internet to be a fast, easy and efficient way of conducting job searches.

Forrester Research, an industry analyst based in Cambridge, Mass., says on-line advertising for jobs has skyrocketed in recent years.

Job boards are among the hottest sites on the Web, offering everything from hundreds of thousands of help-wanted ads to on-line resource centers offering career counseling, help with writing your resume, advice on applying for jobs and even tips on how to use information from the Web to negotiate a raise or promotion in your current job.

Job hunters like the "24/7 factor" meaning that they can search the Web anytime, day or night, and find thousands of openings around the world, from entry-level factory positions to top positions with six-figure salaries.

And employers like the Web because it's a cheaper and more efficient way to post job openings, allowing them to attract larger pools of qualified candidates than they get through traditional job postings and advertisements.
On-line job hunting shouldn't replace traditional techniques, including networking through friends and business contacts to find jobs out there, or checking help wanted ads, job fairs and other types of listings, experts say.
But it can give you easier access to the opportunities that are out there, around the world, and it can even give you help in customizing your resume and researching companies that you may be interested in working for.

"Don't expect miracles," cautions Barbara Reinhold, director of the career development office at Smith College and a career coach and spokeswoman for Monster.com. "It's not magic."

You still have to craft a resume, apply for the job, get an interview, and sell yourself to land the position.
The Internet may help you find jobs, says Frank Satterthwaite, director of the center for global enterprise leadership at Johnson & Wales University. "But you still have to get jobs the old-fashioned way."

"The Internet is a tool, not a magic wand," he said. "It's not a passport to happiness and joy in the work world."
* ON-LINE JOB HUNTING has long been used by "techies" computer experts and technical wizards to find jobs in their fields, especially as demand for jobs in Internet-based companies have taken off.
But on-line job hunting for the masses is still a relatively new phenomenon, which started grabbing hold about five years ago with the introduction of Monster.com the first comprehensive on-line career site.
It has exploded since then.

There are now a host of on-line job sites, including job boards such as Monster.com, Headhunter.net and Hotjobs.com three of the most popular sites. But others are not so obvious. Many employee unions and professional associations also post jobs specific to their industries, and magazines, newspapers and trade publications also offer help-wanted ads on their Web sites. These are in addition to company and corporate Web sites, which may feature in-house openings.
Many of the sites feature low-level to mid-level career opportunities, but they're slowly reaching up the corporate ladder. For example, Steve Zinno and John Seraichyk, who own the Barrett Group, a job placement and career counseling service in Warwick, recently launched a new site called ExecutivesOnly.com, which features jobs that pay at least $70,000 a year. It now features thousands of job openings, nationwide.

Monster.com is even getting ready to launch a site called "C- talent" posting jobs for chief executive officers, chief financial officers and chief information officers.

The bulk of jobs posted on the Web about 70 percent, according to Forrester Research are still primarily aimed at people with technological skills, which is required of more employees in the workplace today anyway.
But that is predicted to change. More employers are realizing the benefits of posting all types of jobs on line especially given the increasing number of people using computers.

Forrester Research predicts companies will be spending more of their advertising dollars on the Web in years to come.
"Clearly, recruitment is moving towards the Web," said Edward Baker-Greene, vice president for strategic staffing for Fidelity Investments. "In today's economy, you have to have a strong presence on the Web. It's inexpensive, and it's easy access for [job] candidates."

Fidelity was among the first major companies to jump on the Internet job-hunting band wagon, posting job openings on the Web back in 1996. They're now at the point where they prefer resumes to be sent in electronically.
"It's a lot easier to process. It's cheaper. And, quite frankly, in this market, it's faster," Baker-Greene said. "In the talent wars, you have to move quickly and efficiently" to get the job candidates you want.
Expense and efficiency are also the reasons that Swarovski Ltd. is moving toward more on-line recruitment, says Melissa Carden, a spokeswoman for Swarovski Ltd. in Cranston, the world's largest manufacturer of full-cut crystal.
It costs Swarovski about $275 to post a job on Monster.com for 90 days, versus as much as $2,500 for a single advertisement in a major metropolitan Sunday newspaper or around $1,400 in the Providence Journal, she said.

The one-shot ad in a Sunday newspaper may generate 10 to 50 responses immediately after it appears, but the Internet job postings generate a constant flow of resumes about 50 a week, in Rhode Island alone for the 90 days that particular ad appears, she said. And even if the advertised job is filled, Swarovski will keep accepting resumes because "there are always jobs coming available, every day."

That's why Swarovski is dedicating most of its advertising dollars to the Internet next year, instead of to more traditional forms of advertising, such as newspapers, Carden said.
But on the downside, some companies complain that they are flooded with resumes from candidates from around the world even if they're not necessarily qualified for the job. So it takes time to sort through the resumes whether on computer or on paper to see who is qualified.

(Some software programs are designed to scan electronic resumes, looking for key words that signal whether an applicant is qualified creating an entirely new art to writing resumes, such as including a "skills summary" at the top.)
Another problem is that there are so many job sites now that it's tough to choose where to post an ad, let alone where to go looking for a job. And there are also privacy concerns.
You may not want to post your resume, for all the world including your boss to see. But many career sites will now offer to place blind ads or blind resumes with identifying details withheld or allow you to block out certain E-mail addresses from responding. Of course, you must still beware of where you search. Some places, such as Sane Solutions of East Greenwich, keep a log of every computer user who checks out their Web site.

Despite the glitches, Baker-Greene of Fidelity said he believes on- line hiring is great. It saves time and money, and eliminates mounds of paper from postings and resumes. In fact, his company not only encourages people to submit electronic resumes, but also is coming up with a way to eliminate the need for them by having applicants fill out an electronic profile, instead. There may even come a day where job interviews are done via video on computer, instead of face to face, he said.

BUT WHILE MANY COMPANIES are moving this way, Forrester Research's recent study showed that the Internet still plays a relatively minor role in most job searches. Personal referrals and newspaper ads are still the top ways to land a new job.
"A lot of people think that the Web is the answer to all their job hunting prayers, that all they have to do is upload their resume to a Web database and all sorts of magical things will happen. But that's not necessarily true," said Julia Cardis, author of The Complete Idiot's Guide To Finding Your Dream Job Online.
The Web can save time and money, for employer and employee, she said. "But it certainly doesn't replace networking, and joining professional organizations, and letting people know that you're looking, because sometimes it's more who you know than finding the right ad or responding with the right cover letter."

Reinhold, of Monster.com, said it's tempting to send out mass applications to every conceivable job out there. But that's no more effective than sending a "cold-call" resume with no personal contact attached.

"A resume sent without any contact with any employer is still a cold call. The best return you ever get is 1 to 3 percent. So if you send out 300 [responses to Internet ads], if you were having a really great day, you'd have between 3 and 9 maybes."
"It's really important to note that on-line [job hunting] is not an easy fix," Cardis said. "It is easier than buying 70 newspapers, but the hard work of a job search, of really customizing resumes, researching various companies or organizations, knowing what they're looking for," still has to be done as well.
But on-line job hunting definitely has its fans.
"It was absolutely wonderful for me," said Bolla of Sane Solutions. "I highly recommend it for anyone who's out in the marketplace."
* * *
* LEWIS BOLLA of East Greenwich found "precisely what I was looking for" within weeks of searching the Web for job leads.
Journal photos/SANDOR BODO
* * *
ON-LINE JOB HUNTING is the latest tool to help people locate their dream job. Both employees and employers are finding the Internet to be a fast, easy and efficient way of conducting job searches. Above, Frances Olasanoye, of Pawtucket, listens to office manager Gloria Hole give advice at the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training's NetworkRI center at 175 Main St., Pawtucket.
* * *
* THE INTERNET can also provide help with customizing resumes and researching companies. At right, Jackie Desroches, employment specialist at NetworkRIs Pawtucket site, assists a new job seeker.
Journal photo/SANDOR BODO

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
Abstract (Document Summary)

There are now a host of on-line job sites, including job boards such as Monster.com, Headhunter.net and Hotjobs.com three of the most popular sites. But others are not so obvious. Many employee unions and professional associations also post jobs specific to their industries, and magazines, newspapers and trade publications also offer help-wanted ads on their Web sites. These are in addition to company and corporate Web sites, which may feature in-house openings.
The one-shot ad in a Sunday newspaper may generate 10 to 50 responses immediately after it appears, but the Internet job postings generate a constant flow of resumes about 50 a week, in Rhode Island alone for the 90 days that particular ad appears, she said. And even if the advertised job is filled, Swarovski will keep accepting resumes because "there are always jobs coming available, every day."

Then a colleague told him about Monster.com, a job-hunting Web site on the Internet where he could search hundreds of thousands of job openings around the world and even post his resume on line.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.