Creative Job Search: Employment Service Providers and Advertised Jobs

Most job opportunities are not advertised. Job search expert estimate that as many as 8 out of 10 jobs are never advertised. Therefore, if 20% of the jobs are advertised, then 20% of your job search effort should focus on advertised jobs. Furthermore, many of the jobs that are advertised are not real or the employer already knows who they want to hire. Also, many jobs are advertised because they are undesirable or the employer has already exhausted other recruitment efforts. Furthermore, the competition for legitimate advertised jobs is fierce. Novice job seekers focus the majority of their efforts on advertised jobs.

On the other hand, there are many excellent advertised jobs and quality services available to job seekers. One of the fastest growing areas of the Internet are in employment services. Thousands of jobs are listed in private databases, on newsgroups and in classified advertisements. While traditionally these opportunities have been in computer technologies, there is a rapid increase in other professional and entry level jobs. A full range of job opportunities can be found on the Internet, including: health care, social services, hospitality, manufacturing, education, government, skilled labor, entry level positions, etc. Search technologies provide the ability to quickly locate these job opportunities. Imagine searching a database of thousands of jobs in a matter of seconds.

Internet employment agencies offer a variety of services other than advertised jobs, including: job seeking and career planning information, employer profiles, resume writing assistance and resume posting. Resumes can be posted as a web page on a professional site or in a database where employers can search for potential candidates. Some service providers actually search their database for you based on a user profile. You are sent an e-mail notice when a job matches your profile. When looking at potential service providers work with those that appear to offer you the most potential. Spend time researching the provider. Some providers focus on a wide range of employment while others specialize on specific occupations or industries. Also, some charge the job seeker a fee. If you are going to pay for service be sure that you know exactly what you will receive for your money. There are numerous employment service providers listed in the Internet Employment Resources section of the Minnesota Workforce Center Internet Directory. (http://www.mnworkforcecenter.org/links/service.htm).

Newsgroups are another source of advertised jobs on the Internet. There are newsgroups where employers post job openings, and there are newsgroups where job seekers post resumes. Some newsgroups focus on general employment opportunities, while others emphasize specific occupations. Many of the newsgroups focus on a specific geographic area. Exploring employment related Newsgroups can be a productive way to learn what employers are looking for and what other job seekers are doing. Then their is the excellent possibility that you will find job openings that match your employment goals. Links to employment related news groups can be found in the Internet Employment Resources section of the Minnesota Workforce Center Internet Directory. (http://www.mnworkforcecenter.org/links/service.htm).