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It's hard to believe, but only twenty years ago there was not a single Internet job site to help you in your employment search. Today there is an incredible resource at your fingertips; the question is how to use it to your best advantage.

Let's look first at what's out there, and then how to select and utilize the best ones for your individual situation. Just about everyone has heard about the "big boys" - Monster, Careerbuilder and Yahoo Hot Jobs. They boast the highest volume of traffic, and are a great place to start, but you would be missing some great opportunities by stopping there. It's important to know that those sites make money by charging employers to post positions and search their resume databases. Smaller organizations, and those that don't do a large volume of hiring can find the cost of occasional use prohibitive, so instead they turn to some lower-cost or free alternatives, like:

Local area job sites: These aren't available for all areas, but sites like "WorkSouthFlorida" or "HireYourCity" are plentiful. A simple search using "your city" and "jobs" as keywords will quickly point you to local websites. Craigslist.com is rapidly expanding to new city locations, and is becoming popular with companies because listings are free in most cases.

Professional and "niche" sites: These are commercial sites dedicated to a wide variety of specific occupations and industries (like ihiredental.com) as well as professional association sites often post job openings. Again, a quick search will lead you to any relevant sites.

Alumni/College Career Sites: These are free or low cost to employers. They're accessible to both current students and alumni, and often the general public.

In almost all cases, you can search for current job openings, and also post your resume for employers to contact you. Take a few minutes to explore each site to see if they offer a selection of jobs you're interested in, and how long those jobs have been posted before you register for that site.

As a general rule, only use those that are no cost to you. If you are offered "add-on" or premium services like automated job searching or resume enhancement, take advantage of them if they're free of charge. Many sites offer you the option of posting your resume confidentially, but if you don't want your current employer to find out you're testing the waters, you'll still have to be very careful what specifics are in your resume and where you post it. Otherwise, it's definitely to your advantage

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