"What Color is your Parachute?"

Richard Nelson Bolles is the author of the job hunters' bible "What Color is Your Parachute," which has been continuously in print since long before terms like "downsizing" and "re-purposing" were coined. He has a website which is not a digest version of the book, but instead is a listing of the job-related websites he recommends for their usefulness as resources.

He presents the biggest and broadest picture of internet offerings or the job hunter that I have encountered. And best of all, he gives his opinionated perspective on all the sites, and on the general effectiveness of using the internet for various job-hunting purposes.

Here, then, are some of his favorites, along with his overviews. ...Sharon Rufener

"WORDS TO REMEMBER: (With apologies to Alexander Pope) 'Know then thyself; presume not the Web to scan, until you know what you love to do, and have evolved a plan.' " ...Richard Nelson Bolles

How useful are job lists?

"I feel that online job lists should be viewed with the same healthy skepticism that we offer to want ads. [They offer] comparatively few jobs outside high tech, the government, and academe, and the qualifications sought are either high or highly specialized... Only a fraction of the 16 million employers in the U.S. job market are on the Web... I estimate that about 75 percent of online job listings are only for job titles in the computer, engineering, electronic, technological, healthcare, financial, and academic fields.

"How effective [is it to look for a job on the web]? My personal estimate is: 2 percent, if the job you're looking for is not computer-related; 45 percent if it is."

With that in mind, here are some of his recommendations.

The Riley Guide. This is the best place to start, a "gateway" job site (just like Bolles' own). "What you get here is a manageable index of the job-hunting resources on the Internet, well-organized, with extras like a wonderful summary of resume databases, and job-search guides.

Resume Postings - Reality Check

According to Bolles, many job hunters (computer people, usually) think that the internet would be the one central place to post your resume, and an employer could quickly find you. Voila! You'd be hired. The two-hour job hunt.

In reality, usually nothing happens. One famous resume site had 59,283 resumes posted on it - but only 1,366 employers looked at any of those 59,283 during the 90 days previous to the survey! (This doesn't say how many were chosen.)

Bolles' personal estimate of the effectiveness of putting your resume on the Internet: less than one half of one percent if the job is not computer-related; 20 percent effectiveness if it is.

Writing Resumes and Letters

susanireland.com Site for resume and cover letter development; includes advice, sample resumes & cover letters.

JobSmart.org The best place to find information on putting an electronic resume on the Internet.

200 Letters for Job Hunters Here's the best collection of letters on the Internet. The entire book 200 Letters for Job Hunters, is online here for free.

Other Resources

Idealist This site lists over 8,000 organizations, publications, nonprofits, and community organizational interests.

JobSmart Salary Info Said to be the best list of salary surveys on the Internet.

The Real Rate Survey.This is a bulletin board where "computer consultants" (broadly defined) post what they really made on their last job or contract, and where that was.