Where does one find telecommuting jobs, techie jobs or jobs in general on the Web?

Tele-commuting

At Telecommuting Jobs ( http://www.tjobs.com) you can post a resume and/or look for specific job types. Employers can search for talent and post jobs. TJOBS offers web-based skills testing and certification with BrainBench ( http://www.brainbench.com/) as a means to prove skills to employers.

Telecommuter's Digest ( http://tdigest.com/)is a subscription-based service with telecommuting job links.

You can also find telecommuting (and other!) jobs via the "general" job websites. Employers and human resources recruiters search the sites for possible employees and post job opportunities. Will these jobs be telecommuting jobs or will you need to move to Walla Walla? Depends.

General Job Search Sites

One of the biggies is Monster.com ( http://www.monster.com). At Monster.com you can search jobs, post your resume and get career advice. Monster has, they claim, about five hundred thousand jobs listed.

FlipDog ( http://www.flipdog.com/home.html) offers job searching and resume posting. Unlike other sites where employers post ads, FlipDog gathers job listings from corporate websites. Additional resources on the site include access to company information (to research potential employers), compensation information and interview tips.

HotJobs.com ( http://www.hotjobs.com) clearly labels jobs posted by recruiters (as opposed to companies) -- a cool feature. Another cool feature allows you to block your resume from being seen by certain companies. If you have a job and haven't told your boss your resume is circulating, you need this feature.

CareerBuilder ( http://www.careerbuilder.com) is more than a job search site. CareerBuilder also offers hiring advice and career building advice. CareerBuilder provides "MegaJobSearch," which searches 75+ resources simultaneously. Check/un-check which job search resources to use. Personalize "MyCareerBuilder," post your resume, setup a job search agent and an online job leads folder.

Headhunter.net ( http://www.headhunter.net), offers the usual job searching and resume posting capability and partners with Yahoo! Careers. Headhunter.net offers privacy level options for resume posting: Standard, Anonymous, Private. Standard posting posts your resume with your contact information. Anonymous puts your resume in the resume database but with only selected pieces of your contact information available. Private lets you keep your resume online, but not in the resume database that is searchable by employers. You have, as I understand it, your own little neck of the woods, where you can stash multiple variants of your resume. Because the resumes are marked "Private," they don't go into the database and employers looking for workers won't find you. But if you find a job you are interested in, your resume is online and you can just ship it off with a cover letter (which you can also have multiple variants of stashed online). Pretty cool feature.

Headhunter.net also has useful information and tools available in their resource center.

Jobs.com ( http://www.jobs.com/) is another general job search website. Jobs.com allows resume posting and has selected additional resources available. Recruiters Online ( http://www.recruitersonline.com/) offers resume posting and job searches with thousands of jobs posted by 6000+ recruiters.

A site that provides far more than just temp/contract jobs is Net-temps ( http://www.net-temps.com/). At Net-temps, you can search for contract work, "direct" employment or both. Net-temps has a career development section as well. The job search breaks down job listings by job type.

Net-temps' features include the Job Seeker's desktop with links to resources, "recruiters to coach you through the interview & selection process," career forums, classifieds, relocation tools, resume posting and career advice. The Customizable Job Search Agent notifies you of new jobs matching your search requirements.

BrassRing ( http://www.BrassRing.com/) sponsors regional job fairs ("career events," they call them), nationwide. BrassRing describes its site as the "Ultimate Technology Information and Career Portal." With BrassRing, you can create a "My BrassRing" account to post a resume (in either public or confidential mode) and tap into job agents who deliver job listings to a given e-mail address.

BrassRing provides about 50-60,000 job listings from over 1200 employers who participate in the BrassRing career events. In addition, BrassRing has a library of almost 250,000 articles, some from outside sources and others written for BrassRing. Topics covered include "headline news, white papers and analyst reports, financial information, career forums, product documentation" and more.

Usenet

Don't forget to check out the Usenet newsgroups devoted to job seekers and head hunters: ba.jobs, ba.jobs.misc, ba.jobs.offered and others. Pop jobs into the search feature provided to help you subscribe to newsgroups.

Alternatively, you can use the Google/Deja news search ( http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search).

I popped jobs JAVA "Silicon Valley" into the Google/Deja news search and asked for fifty hits at a time, sorted by date, with a date range from June 29th through today. Google came back with 195 hits.

Be aware that many of the posts in ba.jobs hierarchy are from agencies and headhunters.

Links to More Job Resources

Job-Hunt.org ( http://www.job-hunt.org/) originated on the same Stanford system as Yahoo! but has since been acquired. Job-Hunt.org wants to be The most comprehensive listing of job search resources and services on the Web. Job-Hunt.org links to resume databases, job openings, job search websites and more but does not itself collect resumes, post job openings or offer job hunting, resume or career enhancing advice.

The Silicon Valley Web Directory section on Employment Opportunities in Silicon Valley and USA ( http://www.gocee.com/valley/s2_emp_o.htm) provides a lengthy non-annotated list of job websites.

You can also find job links, employment law, HR advice and more at HR Advice ( http://www.hradvice.com/links.html). Or check out 100 Top Career Sites ( http://www.100topcareersites.com/. This site lists what the 100 Top Sites mavens consider the best 100 career sites. Each listing has a brief (very brief) description. Monster.com, for example, is described thusly: "Provides resume and job listings, advice, and more."

Fishintime.com ( http://www.fishintime.com/career.htm) has a collection of links to job search sites, too.

Special Job / Special Place

Turn to specialized market boards, if you are looking for a special job, in that special location. Check out, for instance, all the sites devoted specifically to techie job seekers.

Bay Area Techies.com ( http://bayarea.techies.com/) focuses on techie jobs in the San Francisco Bay Area. The site has a pulldown menu to navigate to almost forty different job markets. With techies.com ( http://www.techies.com/) you can search for a job and research employers as well. Once you've registered, you can also post a resume, set up a job search agent and monitor companies.

A techie friend told me about Dice.com ( http://www.dice.com/). Dice.com specializes in techie jobs too. You can search jobs and post a resume. Search by keywords, state, tax terms (e.g full-time, contract-W2, contract-independent, contract-to-hire, etc). Choose how current the job posting should be ("display jobs from last 30 days") and whether you want to restrict by area code. Metro-specific searches are also available for metro sites with a techie base, such as Silicon Valley ( http://www.dice.com/jobsearch/metro/siliconvalley.html).

Silicon Valley careers.com ( http://www.siliconvalleycareers.com) has similar sites in other metro areas with a techie bent: SeattleCareers.com, LAcareers.com, SanDiegocareers.com and more. Tech-Engine.com ( http://www.tech-engine.com/) also specializes in techie jobs and allows you to post a resume.

Need an H-1B job? JobsDB.com ( http://www.jobsdb.com) specializes in jobs worldwide and has specific searches for H-1B jobs in the US.

Not interested in tech? Other specialties also have specialized job search sites: The Communications Roundtable ( http://www.roundtable.org/jobs.html), for instance, maintains a jobs section with about one hundred new jobs a month for people interested in communications jobs (e.g. public relations, marketing, graphics, advertising, training, information technology).

Check out Craig's List http://www.craigslist.org/ as well.

Find Me A Match

Which brings us around, as you knew it would, to using search engines for job searches. Many search engines stash away all sorts of information for a site. Try searching using phrases that someone might use if they were posting a job opening you'd be interested in.

One of my favorite search engines is Web Ferret, free for download from the FerretSoft site ( http://www.zdnet.com/ferret/download.htm). I often use Web Ferret when I'm researching websites. Web Ferret's hit list is extra cool because a mouse-over action gives a preview of the first few sentences of description for the Website without you having to click on every hit on the list. Pop Oracle engineer salary benefits "San Jose" into Web Ferret, and see what shows up.

Web Ferret also found another specialized job site: Computer Jobs.com ( http://www.computerjobs.com/homepage.asp). Computer Jobs.com is divvied up either by specialty or by location. Silicon Valley ( http://www.siliconvalley.computerjobs.com/site_drilldown.asp) has 800 jobs in a variety of specialies listed as of Wednesday, July 25, 2001.

Two other search engines that are good tools for job searching are FAST-All The Web ( http://www.alltheweb.com) and Google ( http://www.google.com).

If you find job opportunities, check the page information (right mouse click - view Info for Netscape) to see when the page was last updated. There are many sites on the Web for defunct companies and you don't want to waste time pursuing those jobs.

Buff and Polish

While you're surfing, researching and interviewing, don't forget to buff up that resume, research the company, and network with those who have jobs and may know of jobs for you.

A very useful site is Margaret Riley Dikel's Riley Guide ( http://www.dbm.com/jobguide/). The Riley Guide reviews and guides you through a variety of online sites and services useful to job seekers. Like Job-Hunt.org, Riley Guide does not post jobs or resumes and doesn't act as a matchmaker.

JobHuntersBible.com ( http://www.jobhuntersbible.com/) is the brainchild of Dick Bolles, who wrote What Color Is Your Parachute?. The JobHuntersBible.com site has great information about using the Web for job searching and also links to skills testing, aptitude tests, how to research, how to write and post resumes and more.

Network. Network. Network.

Don't forget to announce you're looking. Let folks know you're looking for work and what sort of work you are looking for. Jobs turn up at parties and from friends of friends.

We sometimes work too hard at a company and when it goes under or we're pinkslipped as a cost-cutting measure, we find that all of our connections have disconnected. We've been working too hard to spend time lunching with our old working buddies. Get back into the habit of socializing with former work mates and also check out the websites with general "career help" guides and information on writing resumes and conducting interviews.

If you've read this far, you're probably looking for work or intending to start. Good luck! As always, when checking out stuff on the Web, caveat emptor.