The internet changed the way we job search.
A few years ago my brother, who is 13 years younger than I am, was looking at my yearbook and was laughing. He asked me if we dressed up like that just for the photos. I told him that’s what we wore “back then”. He was only a toddler when I was in high school and didn’t notice what I was wearing. My fashion sense came from Marcia Brady. Ok, I didn’t make the best choice, but that’s what I had.
Styles have changed since the 70’s. Whether you like it not, polyester leisure suits are gone. And so is typing your résumé on a typewriter on onion skin typewriter paper. Now you type your computer on an electronic device and send it over fiber optic cables to anywhere you want in the world in a matter of seconds.
The internet is the single most significant change in the job search process. The local newspaper used to be the source for available jobs. The U.S. Postal service delivered most of the resumes sent. Other resumes were hand delivered to the company by the applicant. Your network was stored in an address book that featured entries made in pencils, ink in different colors and plenty of erasures and cross outs.
Now the websites on the internet allow you to upload your résumé to job board sites or directly to the company with the open job. And not only can you upload your résumé, you can search for jobs on these sites, as well. We couldn’t do that with our number one source for jobs—the newspaper.
One job search strategy that hasn’t changed is networking. Only back in the day we called it “it isn’t what you know, it’s whom you know.” But how you keep track of your network has changed. It used to be your address book or your Rolodex. Now we have LinkedIn. A multipurpose tool where you can find people to add to your network; it’s a way to organize and save your network contact information; LinkedIn has a listing of available jobs, and a source of information to research companies and people for interviews.
While our California friends, Greg and Marcia Brady influenced hairstyles and fashion sense, researchers at Universities in California were developing technology that would become the Internet. Greg and Marcia aren’t in our lives anymore, but the Internet remains. Whether we like it or not, we use the Internet to search for jobs and apply for jobs. It may save some shoe leather, but it is just as frustrating.
How can I help you in your job search?
Image: freedigitalphotos.net cooldesign
