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April 17, 2001: 6:49 a.m. ET

Internet can help achieve your employment objective with four steps
By Peter Weddle

NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Today, there are more than 40,000 employment-related sites on the Internet, and new sites launch every week. They include well-known national brands, such as Monster.com, HeadHunter.net and CareerBuilder.com, as well as smaller, specialty sites that focus on a specific occupational field, industry or geographic location.

Among the latter, you'll find everything from ConstructionOnly.com, JobsinFashion.com, and CallCenterCareers.com to MarketingJobs.com, MedicalJobOptions.com, and San Diego Careers.

Whatever your background or level of experience, there is almost certainly a bunch of sites that can help you achieve your employment objective.

In fact, there are so many options offering so many different features and services that it's easy to overlook some of the sites that might be most helpful to you.

To avoid this situation, use the simple four-step process below. It'll help you to make smart choices among the various sites and to get the most out of those that you elect to use.

Step 1. Decide what services and features at a job search Web site would be most helpful to you. There is a wide range of possibilities, including:

Listings of full time, part time, contract and consulting job openings from employers, staffing firms and/or executive search firms;

Databases where you can store your resume for recruiters to see;

Assistance in planning a job search campaign, writing a resume, negotiating a compensation package, relocation and a host of other job search and career management activities;

Salary surveys for your field and location;

Information about various employers, collected from third party research firms, the organizations themselves, and/or their current or former employees;

and

Job agents, which are software programs that automatically compare the jobs posted on a site to your employment objective and notify you privately whenever a match is found.

Not every site has all of these resources, but many offer several of them.

Step 2. Determine 6-to-8 sites that might be useful to you. Look for sites that specialize in your career field, industry and/or location as well as those that provide some or all of the services and features you selected in Step 1. The easiest and fastest way to acquire such information is to use one or more of the following print publications:

CareerXroads by Gerry Crispin & Mark Mehler (MMC, 2001)

CliffsNotes Finding a Job on the Web by Peter Weddle (IDG, 2000)

The Guide to Internet Job Searching by Margaret Riley Dikel et. al. (NTC, 2000)

Job Hunting on the Internet by Richard Bolles (10 Speed Press, 1999)

WEDDLE's 2000 Job Seeker's Guide to Employment Web Sites (Amacom, 2001)

All of these publications can be found in major book stores, plus the two that I've written are also available at www.weddles.com.

Step 3. Visit each site and see how well it measures up to your expectations and needs. Consider the following:

Is the site visually appealing to you?

Is the site well-maintained (e.g., do all of its pages open, are any of its links broken)?

Is the site easy to use (e.g., can you get around quickly and find your way back to your starting point easily)?

Are the instructions on the site clear and helpful?

Are all of the advertised services and features actually available?

Do the services and features provide the caliber of assistance you expected?

Keep track of what you find in each of these areas for each of the sites.

Step 4. Compare the sites using your findings from Step 3. Look for those that provide the best combination of experience and assistance for you. Then, select the 2-to-3 that come out on top.

Visit them regularly and take full advantage of their resources. When you do, you'll be well on your way to riding the Net to your next job.

Peter Weddle is one of the nation's leading experts in online job searching. He has written numerous books, including "Career Fitness" and "CliffsNotes: Finding a Job on the Web." For more information, please visit his site at www.weddles.com.