Unit 2 Jobs and Careers
Passage A Your Dream Job: A Click Away
Less than a month from graduation day, Theresa Smith of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, had yet to find the right job. The career placement center referred the liberal-arts major to JOB-TRAK, an Internet site listing 45,000 entry-level positions. Smith selected four keywords: Chicago, business, marketing and full-time. Immediately she found 45 jobs meeting her criteria, including one as an assistant to an administrator at the University of Chicago's business school. Four weeks later she was hired at a starting salary of $32,000.
"I had no training," says Smith, "but the Internet was extremely easy to use. I'd never have known about this job without it."
Smith is one American who clicked her way into a job. Steven Tools is another. In 1996, the Rockville, Md., resident came across an employment site named CareerBuilder. He had just been promoted to director of marketing for a company that produces tradeshow exhibits and wasn't looking for a job. But curious, he decided to "give it a try."
Tools filled out a profile with the keywords marketing manager and entered his electronic-mail address. Within a week his computer's mailbox was filling up with available positions. Two interviews later he jumped to a new job. "The Internet is like hiring a personal assistant," says Tools. "Effortlessly you can become aware of opportunities that may elevate your career."
Even a couple of years ago, most job listings on the Internet were in high-tech fields. Today, non-technical jobs - salesclerks, bank tellers, secretaries, for example - are the fastest growing segment of Internet employment opportunities. Most major newspapers and trade publications have online versions of their classified listings, enabling job-seekers to scan for work available across town, in another state, or around the world.
Madeline Gragg and Nedzad Dozlic are still another two who clicked their luck online.
In 1996, Madeline Gragg, a 28-year-old high school teacher from St. Louis, wanted a change. When a friend mentioned teaching English in Japan, Gragg was intrigued.
She visited the popular Yahoo! website and typed teaching English in Japan for a list of employment opportunities. She then followed the procedure for the online application.
A week later she received a call and set up an interview with a recruiter in Chicago and got the job.
Nedzad Dozlic, 27 years old, was scanning the Houston Chronicle's Web site for the
