Use the Web to Find the Perfect Job
August 8th, 2007 (2:00pm) Anne Zelenka 4 Comments
You know the web changes work, keeping you connected with coworkers even when they’re far away, creating new money making opportunities, and plugging you into a global network of information resources. But have you considered how the web makes it easier than ever to find the job that’s just right for you?
Today’s web is built on people sharing with other people: sharing bookmarks and software and ideas and connections. It allows for sharing of experiences too, which means that you can watch and learn while other people explore the world of work. Now you’re not limited to informational interviews or vocational aptitude tests; you can hear real-world stories that will help you figure out your place and your purpose.
Twentysomething Sean Aiken is exploring the world of work through his one week job project, and brings you along with him. He is twenty weeks into a year-long experiment in which he tries a new job each week, donating all job earnings to the Make Poverty History campaign. He says, “like many others in my generation, I can’t tell you what it is that I want to do with my life.”
Some would claim that the myth of the dream job kills passion, that work is for money not pleasure. Yet many people still yearn for work that satisfies financially and psychologically. To that end, Aiken’s project shows a powerful use of the web, sharing his experiences in a way that would have been difficult if not impossible for previous generations of job searchers.
You can experience different jobs and different careers vicariously through people’s online reports in blogs and podcasts and videos. And you can connect with people to learn more by email or social networks or blogging. Perhaps the informational interview will become a thing of the past, supplanted by online field reports and rich discussion about what different jobs are really like and how best to succeed in each.
Have you found the web of help in searching for your perfect job? What are your favorite resources online for doing so?
4 Comments Post your own comment
Greg says: August 8th, 2007 4:27pm
Maybe this could lead to some kind of direct job exchange between people where you can post your current job and make an offer on someone else’s job that that person wants to get out of but you would like to do? It would take some pretty risk-taking companies that would agree to that but I think it would make the job market much more efficient…
junger says: August 9th, 2007 6:51am
I subscribe to a bunch of RSS feeds, mostly from craigslist, about jobs and gigs. Since I’ve got them as Live Bookmarks in Firefox, it saves me a bunch of time from actually going to the sites.
Marilyn J. Tellez, M.A; says: August 9th, 2007 1:04pm
I might sound a little old-fashioned here, but……it’s still people face to face that hire other people. While the Net is a good starting place, it’s the “people thing” that needs to be emphasized.
Check on Howard Figler’s chapter on: “The No Search Job Search”. in his book on job searching. It’s not magic but it involves YOU and lots of others.
Thank you notes also work wonders, but then you will have to write a personal note to a real person.
Marilyn J. Tellez, M.A; says: August 10th, 2007 1:18pm
To be or not to be, that is the question! Especially in thinking that an online search for a good job will be at your fingertips.
It is still people who hire other people. Where is the human connection by finding a job online? Even if you find a job that way, the job seeker has already relinquished his or her own choices by being a dot in someone’s com.
I do coach and counsel clients to use all possible means to find a job, but it is still the human connection that counts the most. Thanks. mjt