Internet Job Searching for Recent College Graduates

JobWeb.com reports that as the economy continues to falter, it is clear that employers are limiting, in a significant way, their hiring of new college graduates. At a rate of 22 percent, the college Class of 2009 are facing less expected employment opportunity than the Class of 2008. This decrease in hiring is meant to affect every industrial sector of the current economy, except for reporting federal government agencies and certain companies inside the logistics, transportation, and utilities sector. Campus recruiting activity has been significantly reduced, and employers have limited their involvement with career and job fairs.

However, with the opportunities Internet technology has made possible, these graduates can apply to a wider range of employers more quickly than through traditional methods. Listed below are three tips I've provided that might be helpful to people just out of college, now looking for work.

Electronic Classifieds

Online versions of newspapers or magazines use electronic classified advertising systems to feature job announcements. According to The Riley Guide, directories of publications using these systems can be found at News and Newspapers Online, Newsdirectory.com, NewsLink, News Voyager, and US Newspapers List. Also, most of these sites and sources feature keyword searching, allowing you to scan each database in a few minutes instead of a few hours. While job hunting, I recommend that you start out with several possible job announcements, and explore each option until you find something that best matches your needs and qualifications. Target your search as it relates to location, industry, and profession.

Targeted Services

Targeted services can be accessed from any website with job resources directed toward a specific occupation, industry, geographic location, or social or ethnic group. These sites come in the form of professional and trade association web sites or journals. For example, InfoMine has targeted services for people within the mining industry. In the process of using targeted services, it is necessary to conduct a more focused search.

Employer Websites

Job openings are often listed on websites belonging to specific employers. Susan P. Joyce, author of "Finding Jobs: Finding Employer Websites" informs her readers that hospitals, medical centers, and 99% of the Fortune 500 post jobs on their Websites and 95% of the Fortune 500 offer obvious links to their job opportunities on their home pages. In Joyce's article, "Finding Jobs: Finding the Opportunities on Employer Websites" it is written that the link may be named "careers," "employment," "human resources," "job opportunities," or just "jobs." If what you are looking for cannot be found at either the top, sides, or bottom of the Employer Website home page you are accessing, I recommend that you click on "About Us", "Site Map", or "Contact Us" to find possible employment. If you know the name of the Employer Website you want to access, using Google, MSN, or Yahoo as a search engine should enable you to locate it.

While applying online, do not make the common mistake of not reading privacy and disclosure statements carefully. In an article published by TechRepublic, Jennifer Recktenwald writes that any personal information such as an e-mail address can be collected and used by third parties, and most online services won't take responsibilities.

Sources

1.)JobWeb.com, "College Hiring Falls 22 Percent" JobWeb.com

2.)Margaret Diley Rikel, "The Riley Guide: Research & Target Employers: Newspapers, Magazines &
Headline News" The Riley Guide

3.)Margaret Diley Rikel, "The Riley Guide: How to Job Search: Use the Internet to Find Job Leads" The Riley Guide

4.)Susan P. Joyce, "Finding Jobs: Finding Employer Websites" job-hunt.org

5.)Susan P. Joyce, "Finding Jobs: Finding the Opportunities on Employer Websites" job-hunt.org

6.)Jennifer Recktenwald, "Job hunting? Try online recruitment services" TechRepublic