Click here for a new career
What I like best about the megasites is their discussion groups, which provide useful tips from the job-search trenches. I also like some of their articles, which you can get by signing up for Monster's and Hotjobs' free career advice newsletters.
Indeed.com and Simplyhired.com: These entities aggregate job listings from hundreds of employment websites, including the big ones. As a result, you can instantly screen over 4 million job listings from one site. Watch out for stale listings. It is worth scanning job listings on these sites because it's a fast way to be exposed to hundreds of career options and to see what job titles and skills are in-demand. But . . .
USAJobs: usajobs.opm.gov. As of this writing, USAJobs contains 20,723 federal government job openings scattered all across the country and even overseas. Alas, this site contains only two thirds of the federal openings. To find the rest, you need to search the 150-plus federal agency sites individually. A gateway to those sites is: www.firstgov.gov.
State Jobs: statejobs.com. Thirteen million people are employed by state governments. This portal links to all 50 states' state government jobs websites. For some states, the site also links to county and city job sites.
CAREER ADVICE
Career Journal: careerjournal.com. This includes material from the Wall Street Journal as well as articles written just for careerjournal.com, most of it of unusually high quality. There's ample material for those just starting out, but its focus is on middle and senior management.
U.S. News's Career Center: usnews.com/career. Obviously, I'm biased because I'm the site's contributing editor, but I do believe it merits four stars because I had the advantage of developing it recently and therefore was able to learn from other sites' mistakes. Instead of overwhelming you with mountains of articles, I've developed the site's material based on one criterion: Does it provide maximum benefit per second of reading? So, for example, the site includes such articles as "The World's Shortest Management Course," which can be read in three minutes, distilling the best advice from dozens of well-reviewed books and articles on management and leadership.
JOB-SEARCH SUPPORT GROUPS
Five O'Clock Club: fiveoclockclub.com. Just as many alcoholics are more likely to remain sober because of Alcoholics Anonymous's group support, many job seekers are more successful if they join a job-search support group. My favorite is the Five O'Clock Club. Offering both online and in-person sessions, their weekly small groups are led by a career coach well schooled in the proven Five O'Clock Club job-search methodology. It costs $20-$70 a session depending on your income and the number of sessions you purchase.
Job-Hunt's links to local support groups: www.job-hunt.org. This links to hundreds of support groups, arranged by state.
SALARY ADVICE
www.salary.com and salaryexpert.com: These sites estimate salary for hundreds of occupations, adjusted by ZIP code. It's wise to use both sites because they use different sources for their data and so their estimates can vary widely. Basic reports are free, and reports customized based on your experience, size of the employer, and the characteristics of the particular job are $29.
Advice I'd Give My Child
It's tempting to spend most of your job-search time on the Internet. But most successful job seekers spend most of their job search time networking and cold-contacting employers. I recommend you do the same.
Marty Nemko is contributing editor of usnews.com's Career Center.
In addition to the cited sources, Richard Bolles, author of What Color Is Your Parachute, and Peter Weddle, author of the Weddle Guide to Employment Web Sites, were interviewed for this article.
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