May 2004
Googlizing Non-Stop!
By
President of Workforce Associates
and author of
NetWork: Maximizing Your Career Resources on the Internet
Available online and in print from Author House
May 2004
Googlizing Non-Stop!
By
President of Workforce Associates
and author of
NetWork: Maximizing Your Career Resources on the Internet
Available online and in print from Author House
When I was growing up in suburban New Jersey with five sisters and parents who loved to camp, we would take our old blue Ford van, affectionately known as Barney, out to many an exotic spot and set up camp. This van would be laden down with sleeping bags, cots, a huge and heavy tent, and all the paraphernalia that went with it. Mind you, this was in the days when camping was NOT fashionable nor had Goretex and all the synthetic light materials been invented yet. So you can imagine how terribly burdened poor Barney was. Why Barney as the name for our trusty wheeled pack mule? Because, as my mother sympathetically noted, his downcast headlights reminded all of us of that song "Barney Google with his Goo-Goo Googly Eyes!"
I often visualize Barney and our many camping adventures when I look at the bottom of the Google screen and see the endless 000000’s for searching. What did we do before Google provided us with endless answers for the simplest searches in a twinkling of an eye?! It’s hard to imagine how ignorant we all were. Or, we spent fruitless hours on the never-ending quest for information at the library with its archaic Dewey Decimal System or made many treks to the multi-volume encyclopedia. No more. We now type in our query and presto-chango! Out come hundreds of answers for us to skim and use.
As a job searcher, you owe it to yourself to become proficient with Google. It’s the premier search engine at present, and like any powerful tool, needs to be harnessed to make use of its full power. For example, did you know that you can have your own Google toolbar on your screen at all times so you can immediately access this database? Just go to http://www.google.com and click under "more". Up pop more uses for Google than you ever imagined. Click on "toolbar" and up comes the possibility of having the Google toolbar on your screen all the time.
You may also want to check out the other "more" possibilities on Google. For example, when you go to Google Local and ask for jobs in the city you’re interested in, lots of job openings and links to relevant local job boards pop up. This is a great way to learn a new city and the opportunities for jobs.
When you go to Google News, you can find summaries of the major news in business, sports, health, science and technology from around the world and within the U.S. You can also sign on with Google news to have any mention of "jobs" or "Chicago" or "your field of interest" brought to your attention daily, in case you want to catch the latest developments. Very handy feature!
Google’s University Search takes you right to your alma mater to link to the alumni association where a wealth of information about former classmates awaits you. Many colleges and universities offer online career resource information to help your job search. They also list job openings on campus, which may appeal to you. http://www.google.com/options/universities.html
Google’s Answer Section takes you to a screen where you can ask a direct question and pay a small fee for the result. If you’re curious and cheap, scroll down to the "previously asked questions" section and click on Business. There you’ll find a subsection called Employment. It doesn’t take long to scroll down several screens to find out the kinds of questions job seekers are asking plus you can find out their answers. The answers are very complete and look well worth their weight in gelt. You have to realize, of course, that people ask all kinds of crazy questions so you can spend (waste?) lots of time finding out about butler’s positions at Buckingham Palace and the career coach situation in San Antonio!
Google Directory also leans heavily toward helping the job seekers. Look under Jobs in the Business section and you’ll find nearly one hundred job boards, many of which you’ve probably haven’t heard of but which are great additions to the more well known ones, such as Monster, HotJobs, and CareerBuilder.
Be sure to check out all of these other sections under Jobs such as
By_Industry (40)
Entry_Level_and_Internships (66)
Executive_Search (282)
Interview_Advice (31)Job Fairs (12)
Recruiters (421)
Resume Advice (2)Seasonal (42)
Staffing Services (39)
World Wide (28)to locate even more relevant information for your job search.
Another plethora of information comes if you click on Careers under business. There you’ll find helpful information to keep your job search on track:
Changing Careers (36)
Counseling and Management (62)
Directories (27)Interview Advice (31)
Job References (14)
Skill and Personality Assessment (32)Surveys and Statistics (7) This is like peeling each layer of an onion! The more you click, the more wealth of up-to-date and relevant information you’ll find.
Google is launching a new web-based email service called Gmail that it hopes it will allow people to search their email as easily as they search the web -- as well as provide Google with a more permanent connection to its users. One immediate difference between Google's e-mail, dubbed by the company "Gmail," and that offered by Yahoo, Microsoft and others is storage capacity. Google says it will offer -- free -- a storage capacity of up to eight billion bits of information, the equivalent of 500,000 pages of e-mail per user. That's roughly 250 to 500 times more storage than its rivals offer for free.
As you know from reading previous articles, I’m a big believer in having several free email addresses. This will help you remember which kind of resume you’ve sent to employers. For example, if you’re stressing your management expertise, use a yahoo.com email address. If you’re emphasizing technical expertise, use another. Now you have another choice, Gmail. Check out http://gmail.google.com/ for details about signing up for the beta version.
Other Resources to check out:
Google Hacks: 100 Industrial Strength Tips & Tools by Tara Calishain and Rael Dornfest, 2003.
Google Pocket Guide, also by Tara Calishain, Rael Dornfest, and DJ Adams, 2003.
Google Guide This is an online tutorial to get the best of Google. Easy to follow.
In summary, ain’t Googlizing grand?! This is your one-stop for all the facts, figures, insights, heavy duty research, and trivia you ever imagined plus much, much more. Now it can even help you find a new job! Please let me know what creative ways you’re using to find a job with Google. All the best during the merry month of May in your job search -- Jane
Jane M. Lommel, Ph.D.
jlommel@WorkforceAssociates.com
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