Power tools for your career

Beyond Job Boards is my one-hour presentation on Internet tips and tactics for career growth and the job search. I will teach your group about free online resources for every phase of career development, from expanding job skills and industry knowledge to finding job leads and preparing for interviews. I'll also warn of some employment scams to avoid.

The talk is geared toward a non-technical audience. I'll talk about RSS and how it reduces time spent surfing while increasing the information gathered, but the session is not highly technical. I assume that everyone knows how to use electronic mail and the web, which is all you need to take advantage of the rest of the tips.

Beyond the introduction of new services and tools, I talk about the value of curiosity and persistence in exploring online resources. I also introduce the idea of personal branding and online marketing for career development.

Topics

  • Information subscriptions with RSS
  • Free sources of industry and regional business news
  • Sources for staying current with trends in your industry and function
  • 8 things to do before the job interview
  • Protecting yourself from fraudulent job postings

Beyond Job Boards is available to job search and networking groups. Shorter talks and interactive, half-day workshops tailored to your group's needs are also available. For more information, contact me at nathan@net-savvy.com.


Virtual handout

Beyond Job Boards presents a lot of information in a little time. This list of web sites and resources serves as the presentation handout and saves the audience from trying to take notes as they keep up.

RSS

Web-based feed readers

Bloglines
Google personal
NewsGator Online
My Yahoo

PC-based feed readers

Feed Demon (Windows)
NetNewsWire (Mac)
A longer list of options

Job boards

The majors

CareerBuilder
HotJobs
Monster

Targeted job boards

Craigslist (Raleigh)
Dice—IT/technical
Broadband Careers
The Ladders—subscription job board targeting $100K+ jobs
NetShare—subscription job board targeting $100K+ jobs
Telecom Careers

Aggregators

Indeed
Jobster
Simply Hired

Recruiters

DBM JobScout
Thingamajob
Triangle recruiters

Employers

JobCentral—aggregates jobs from employers' web sites

News sources

Trade/business press

TradePub—free trade magazine subscriptions & technical document downloads
Triangle Business Journal

E-mail based news clipping services

FierceMarkets—biotech/pharma, banking, healthcare, and a variety of technology specialties
SmartBrief—daily news clipping service for a wide variety of industries.
Carolina Newswire
Southeast Tech Wire

Event listings

Free Chicken Wings—information about upcoming events in the Triangle
Triangle Area Career Development Newsletter—mailing list with meetings and links to additional resources.

Blogs

Examples

Randy Baseler (Boeing)—executive blog
Electronic Recruiting Exchange—read what recruiters are thinking about.
Heather's "Marketing at Microsoft" Blog—excellent source on marketing, finance, and recruiting
The Net-Savvy Jobseeker
Southeast VC
Wired & Hired—advice from recruiters for candidates

Blog search/tagging

del.icio.us—social bookmarking
Google Blog Search
Technorati—social bookmarking & blog search

Social networking

Jobster—job board aggregator meets social networking
LinkedIn—business-oriented social networking
Zoom Info—professional profiles

Research

Search engines

AOL
Ask
Google
MSN
Yahoo

Company research

Excite Money
Google Finance
Hoovers
Yahoo Finance

Maps

Google
MapQuest
Yahoo

Fun

Dilbert
Savage Chickens
Swamp