In today's competitive labour market, more and more companies are using the internet to find employees. By using the internet to search for openings, and/or post your resume, you can increase the odds that your resume will be matched to an employer.

The internet contains a wealth of information and services for the job seeker. You can explore topics such as salary surveys, resume and letter writing, relocation information, interview techniques and networking. Plus, you can search job databases to find positions that might be of interest to you, post your resume to sites that employers can access and chat with fellow job seekers.

Benefits of Internet Job Searching

• More job opportunities. There are are thousand of job sites to choose from, including specialty profession sites and specific geographical sites.
• Available day or night. You can job search when your schedule allows.
• Demonstrates your ability to use a computer to potential employers.

Job Databases and posting your resume

One of the benefits of the internet is the wide variety of job sites that are available. Each site has its own database of current employment opportunities that can be accessed by job seekers, In many cases you can respond directly to the job opening by emailing or "posting" an electronic version of your resume or filling out an online application form.

Posting your resume on the internet is like placing an advertisement that says you are looking for a job. Companies and recruiters search resume databases to find the ideal candidates based on keywords that identify the person's experience in particular industry, education job function or skill set. When you post your resume, the number of companies that have access to it increase as well as your odds of being matched with an employer.

If you are unfamiliar with the origin of a site, you may want to check the confidentiality of its database. Keep track of your resume postings so when you find employment you can remove them. A good database will automatically delete your resume after three to six months if it is not updated.

Get an email account

When job hunting online, you will have to provide an email address. This is easy to do and won't cost you anything. You can establish a free email account at sites like yahoo.com or hotmail.com. Even if you do not have a computer at home, you can access an email account (as long as you know your username and password) from any public computer with access to the internet.

Searching a career site

Each job site has a slightly different from to search for jobs. Usually you will be provided with the option to search for jobs by category, location or job title. You are also able to search by keyword. This allows you to select the words you want to look for in a job posting. It also helps you narrow down your job list to positions that better match you specific skills and/or requirements.

Using Job Search Agents

Job search agents are computer programs that match a person's requirement with job listings. Agents continually look for jobs based upon specified criteria and notify the job seeker when matching jobs are found.

One of the biggest benefits of using job agents is the time they will save you/ Instead of having to regularly visit career sites to look for new jobs, you simply can visit once and set up an agent. Enter your job search criteria in their job search agent and you will begin to receive emails from these sites notifying you of new jobs matching your criteria.

Most sites let you decide how often you with to be notified by email of matching jobs. Typical options are daily, or every 3, 7, 14, or 30 days. The advantage of a daily notification is that you learn of new jobs as soon as they appear on a career site-giving you the ability to be one of the first applicants. The disadvantage of a daily notification is that you may constantly receive emails from these sites.