Swimming Your Way Through the Murky Job Listings Waters

It can be very confusing and overwhelming to job search during a time when you're told "things are tough".

You find yourself unemployed, sadly. You have been told that the first thing you must do is to notify all your contacts: Network. So you called or emailed all your friends, family and colleagues.

That should be your first step.

Networking these days also includes online participation on web sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and LinkedIn. My favorite is LinkedIn, as it provides more for the professional. It is less geared to the personal aspects and offers opportunities to reunite with former colleagues and friends who may give you professional advice and leads. LinkedIn also offers many discussion group opportunities as well as the chance to form your own discussion group. Job offers are listed on LinkedIn, as well as recommendations. This is a place where you can post your biography, which can be drawn from your resume.

While you network on a daily or regular basis, other job search opportunities are through your local newspaper, and you can access most newspapers online today as well. Another excellent job listings web site is your state's Department of Labor web site. Here, you can also post your resume for potential employers and receive job postings updates.

Many towns have what is called a "one stop" center, where one can receive assistance with resume preparation, job searching, and even interviewing. These one stops offer workshops as well. If you don't own your own computer, the one stop is an excellent place to visit to prepare your resume or do online job searching. The one stop also will have binders full of job postings. Even if you have your own computer, you can receive expert advice on other job searching aspects at a one stop center.

If there is no one stop center in your community, your local library is another excellent source for many of the things you can expect at a one stop.

Monster.com is one of the most well known national job searching web sites, but there are others. Just do a search on the web. You can post your resume for potential employers to contact you on these sites as well, and to receive updates of postings in your field by email.

Sign up with temporary and other placement firms in your area. Many are national and have web sites whereby you can peruse job listings.

Finally, check out the web sites of your local companies. Mostly everyone posts job opportunities. Many major companies offer you the chance to sign up so you can save your applications and resumes and also receive job postings update by email.

Good luck, and stay focused!