Help Wanted - 11 Places to Start Your Search

We’ve spent time on 11 of the most popular career-related sites. This table evaluates how they work and how well they deliver in certain key areas: Do they offer a “personal search agent” – that is, software that can search for you? Do they help keep news of your search away from your current employer? And what’s the “killer app” that distinguishes them from other services?

Site	Description	Resume removed after	Personal search agent?	Can it keep a secret?	Killer app
The Monster Board	ResumeCity, the site’s job bank, posts more than 25,000 openings and more than 300,000 resumes. It is a monster.	One year. Then the Monster Board asks for an update.	Yes.	Yes. A privacy feature lets you hide your name and contact information from employers. But unless you disguise the name of your current employer, that information will be visible.	Creative resources and events, such as weekly career fairs that feature companies from specific geographic areas or industries. Even the ads feature information about companies and their employment opportunities.
America’s Job Bank	A government site. State agencies post an average of 5,000 new openings per day. Companies contribute another 3,000.	Sixty days, unless you update it.	No. But you can save your searches – which saves you time later.	There’s no way to block your resume from employers.	Its powerful and easy-to-use search capabilities. Use any of three options: a keyword search, a menu search (which lets you choose from 22 job categories), or a military-code search.
Careerpath	Classifieds from more than 65 newspapers, including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Boston Globe.	Six months. But the site stores “inactive” resumes.	No.	Companies don’t have direct access to the database. Staff specialists from CareerPath.com ask job seekers by email for permission to release resume information.	In some cases, you get a jump on the Sunday papers. Ads from the New York Times appear on Saturday afternoon. Plus, no more ink-stained fingers!
HotJobs	A member-based site that charges companies a hefty fee to post openings or to search through resumes.	%0 9Never. But the site archives dormant resumes.	Yes.	You bet. HotJobs.com denies headhunters (notorious big mouths) access to resumes. The “HotBlock” feature lets users restrict certain companies from viewing their resume.	Job seekers can create a personal home page to manage their search. The page tracks all the jobs they’ve applied for and collects statistics on how many companies have retrieved their resume.
Online Career Center	A pioneer in online recruiting. OCC started in 1992 and moved to the Web in 1993.	One year – if you don’t update your information in the meantime.	Yes.	OCC gives you the option of letting employers see only the body of your resume. OCC then sends you an email requesting permission to forward the full document.	The site’s “search within a search” feature lets you narrow your search criteria, so you can find jobs that are right for you – and keep your sanity in the process.
NationJob network	More than 15,000 jobs nationwide, with an emphasis on those in the Midwest.	NA. Doesn’t accept resumes for posting.	Yes. See below.	NA.	“P.J. Scout,” the site’s personal search agent, is the best out there. If it finds five matching jobs or fewer, it emails you the complete listings. If it finds more than five, it sends links to the postings.
America’s Employers	Maintained by career consultants. It offers several thousand updated listings, along with real-time seminars.	Your resume remains active until you say otherwise.	Yes.	It’s in the vault! Users can block specific companies from viewing their resume.	The site’s networking forums help you develop new contacts and job leads. There’s even a chat room for online interviews.
The CareerBuilder network	This site focuses on the needs of companies rather than job seekers. But it does include a database of 20,000 openings.	NA. Doesn’t post resumes.	Yes.	Sure. When you apply for a job through CareerBuilder, you send your resume directly to a company’s hiring manager, and no one else sees it.	Don’t want to use an email address from your current company? CareerBuilder, in cooperation with WhoWhere? (www.whowhere.com), will give you a special email account that you can access from the CareerBuilder site.