November 2011 - Navy
By CAPT Ted Daywalt

Sooner or later you will have to make the decision to leave the military, or you have already transitioned out and you are not happy with your current situation. So how do you find a new job? The two leading ways people find jobs today are networking and using the Internet. Today we will discuss how to use the Internet to find a job.

When using the Internet, the good news is that there are many resources for you to tap into for assistance. A survey of 3,900 human resource managers by WEDDLE’s found that 82% found their best candidates from niche internet job boards! This does not mean to give up networking on a one-on-one basis with friends and colleagues. But the use of the Internet has now become the major method of finding employees.

The Internet will only be a successful tool for you if you use it regularly. It is a lot like having a car. If you do not get in and start the engine, it will not take you anywhere. And if you do not maintain the car, it will break down. The same applies to using Internet tools. And keep mind that finding a new job is a full-time job in itself!

There are four specific activities a job seeker should be doing to maximize their use of the Internet. These include:

1. Search for jobs using search engines.

Recruiters for years have used search engines to find candidates. You can do the same thing finding a job. The beauty of using a search engine is you will find jobs that are listed on company websites that may not be posted to job boards, as well as position listed on job boards. To do this, you need to build a “search string.” So, if I was looking for an intelligence analyst job in the DC area, I would go to my preferred search engine and try these strings:

• Intelligence analyst job DC
• Intelligence analyst job Virginia
• Intelligence analyst employment DC

The use of search strings on a search engine is still an art, not a science. It can be time consuming as you will get back a lot of junk sites, but in those long lists you will also find good job postings.

2. Post your resumé to the resumé database at one or more targeted internet job sites.

These are frequently referred to as niche sites. There are thousands of such sites that focus on helping candidates in a specific career field, industry and/or geography. The sites are operated by organizations ranging from professional societies and trade groups to the academic alumni associations and commercial recruitment site companies. VetJobs has put together a comprehensive listing of vetted job sites on vetjobs.com:

• Niche listings are on http://vetjobs.com/media/niche-job-board-sites/.
• Geographic specific job boards are on http://vetjobs.com/media/state-job-board-sites/.
• Comprehensive sites can be found on http://vetjobs.com/media/comprehensive-jobboard- sites/.
• Aggregator sites are available on http://vetjobs.com/media/aggregator-job-boardsites/.

3. e-network with friends and colleagues.

Traditional networking is a time consuming process of one-on-one interactions. But on the Internet you can meet and communicate with thousands of people with a single e-mail right from your own desktop. To take advantage of this capability you have to join one or more of the discussion groups hosted on the sites of professional associations, trade organizations and alumni groups.

There are now over 200 networking sites and they continue to proliferate on the web. The major sites are LinkedIn.com, Facebook.com and Plaxo.com.

These are good steps for getting started on using the Internet as a tool in your job search. But like the car, you have to drive and maintain it!

So once you have posted a resumé to a site, keep track of where the resumé was posted, and go back weekly to refresh the resumé so the employers know you are still in the market. Once you find a job, take your resumé down or archive your resumé on the posted sites.

You need to be regularly searching the Internet forums, discussion groups and job boards, applying to those jobs for which you are a fit. Finding a new job requires effort by you. These three steps are just the beginning. You must commit to an on-going investment of time and effort. Every day you should research a new employer, e-network with friends and colleagues in one or more discussion forums and review the matches found by your job agent. If you do them regularly, you will race ahead of the pack in the job market.

About the author, CAPT Ted Daywalt is CEO and President of VetJobs, the leading military related job board on the Internet. Daywalt is an internationally recognized expert on the use of the Internet for recruiting and finding a job. He has been active in the recruiting industry since 1995. Previously, he held senior executive positions in private industry. Additionally, he has 28 years in the military, 7 years on active duty and 21 in the Naval Reserve Intelligence Program. Mr. Daywalt earned a BS from Florida State University, an MA from the University of Southern California and an MBA from Emory University. Mr. Daywalt can be contacted at tdaywalt@vetjobs.com.