Cool Tools I

Dateline: 10/06/97

With more than 3500 job and career sites online, you can bet that they are scrambling to attract you. Since job searching is usually an unwelcome necessity that is not the most exciting thing you like to do on the Net, sites are incorporating sophisticated tools to help ease the pain. Some are fairly cool, too.

One cool tool is the free job agent, which I wrote about in my 09/15/97 feature. A job agent is "smart," online software that searches for jobs matching your skills, 24 hours a day, even when you're offline. All you do is submit an online form, and the job agent emails its search results to you. Very cool. Many sites provide this service, but the names vary. See my Jobs by Email category.

Another cool tool is Resumail, résumé software that doubles as a browser plug-in. It helps you design your résumé offline using forms. Then you can submit it electronically to employers with just a click. Besides the ease, the advantage is that you can submit your résumé in a format preferred by employers. The disadvantage is, you can submit it only to organizations that are signed up with Resumail Network. But, what the heck: It's easy to use and you may prepare your résumé for emailing, snail-mailing, and FAXing, too. Best of all it's free, but only for a limited time. (On the other hand, they've been saying it's free for a limited time for quite some time now!) Here are some of the current features and benefits according to Resumail Network.

• Unlimited electronic submits to the Resumail Network and compatible, corporate Web sites
• Print your résumé in ten, preferred styles
• Convert (export) your résumé to text or rich-text
• Built-in spell checker

The freebie does not include a built-in browser, but if you're reading this, you probably don't need it: Resumail automatically configures your current browser. If you want to give it a try, download the freebie from Resumail Network or pick it up at a Resumail Career Expo.

Yet another cool tool is the modern, online résumé form. Only about three years ago, the online "form" of the day was nothing more than an email address or a box where you typed or pasted your résumé. But now, many sites are providing more sophisticated résumé forms. The new forms don't yet write our résumés for us, but they do help tremendously with organization, style and to some degree, content.

For example, the Resume Builder at Tripod automatically generates the best choice from six résumé formats. It even allows you to circulate your résumé to other, online sites.

Resume 1-2 3 at About Work lets you choose from three formats. If you're not sure which format is best for you, take the simple, Resume Style Quiz.

The Résumé Generator at Australia's Careers OnLine allows you to create, format and save your résumé in HTML for posting on your personal Web site, or at sites that accept HTML résumés.

For similar tools and résumé advice, see Writing Resumes.

Comments, suggestions or questions? Found a great career resource and want to share it? Want to network and discuss technical job searching, employment, and careers with others? Send feedback, or go to the chat room or bulletin board, all open 24 hours daily.

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