FIND A JOB ONLINE

For instance, since clicking from site to site is easy, many candidates assume -- erroneously -- that finding employment is simple as well. No more scouring newspaper ads. No more trips to the post office. Just insert resume and press "send."

But electronic job hunting requires the same skills as a traditional job search. You need to do research, have targeted goals and be patient and determined. Don't be fooled by the following common misconceptions:

• I can post my resume online and wait.

And wait you shall. This is an inefficient way to find employment, says Pam Dixon, author of "Job Searching Online for Dummies" (Hungry Minds Inc., 2000). "There's a misconception that if you pop your resume online and wait, it's an effective way of looking for a job. But employers aren't going to come to your doorstep," she says. Yet, people tend to think that modern technology has made the task of finding employment a cinch. "When job sites went online, job searching looked easier, but it's not. You still have to work at it," she says.

• Only the most recent postings are worth applying to.

Many job seekers avoid postings that are more than a few weeks or a month old. Dave Smith, a information-technology professional in Boston, says he stopped applying to jobs with "dated" postings after learning that some positions were no longer available. "I've found that online postings are often left active long after the job has been filled or cut," he writes in an e-mail.

But if you rule out all older postings, you could miss attractive employment opportunities. Bill Warren, executive director of DirectEmployers.com, an employment search engine, says even dated postings are still worth scanning. "It just may mean that the position is hard to fill," he says. "Typically, once jobs are posted on a commercial board for three or four days, they fall so far down that people don't bother to consider them. But these could be some of the better opportunities," he says.

• Nobody's monitoring my job search when I'm at work.

Although it may seem intrusive, your employer may legally monitor every click you make on the Internet at work, says Ms. Dixon. But many job seekers are hunting at work on the sly anyway. "When you look at job-search statistics, you see that Internet use peaks at noon. So people are looking for jobs while at work," she says. Ms. Dixon also knows this firsthand, because she regularly receives e-mails about employment listings posted on her Web site from job seekers using company addresses. "This is such a big no-no. Corporations log URLs and how much time you've spent there. They know which e-mails you've sent," she says. "So don't do it because you can be fired for that. It's legal for [companies] to do so, because even though it may be your lunch time, it's your employer's computer."

• I should focus my search on the big job-boards.

Large job-search sites offer a wide variety of employment opportunities, but they're not necessarily the best resources, says Ms. Dixon. Industry-specific sites, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. for engineers, the Society for News Design for print designers and ChemistryJobs.com for chemists, are valuable resources for professionals in these fields. CareerJournal.com is a career site for executives. "These niche sites are where it's at," she says, because they tend to attract employers who list ads for some of the more hard-to-find candidates.

Large job-search sites can be most useful when you're not sure which field you want to work in because you can search among a variety of industries and listings, Ms. Dixon says. The exercise will help you familiarize yourself with various markets. The three largest sites in terms of the number of visitors are Monster.com, HotJobs.com and CareerBuilder.com, Ms. Dixon says. All boast regularly updated listings from major employers.

Ms. Dixon also recommends visiting local community-focused job-search sites because "they're not out to make a buck," she says. She suggests craigslist.org, a classifieds site, which features job listings by region and is advertised by word-of-mouth.

Jennifer Alexander landed a design position at HotWire.com in San Francisco after being contacted by a recruiter for the company who saw her resume on craigslist. "At first I looked at all the different job-search engines like Dice, Hot Jobs and Monster, but I really wasn't hearing a whole lot back. I got the robot reply [from employers], but nothing personal," she says. Then she found craigslist, applied to jobs in her native San Francisco Bay area, and the phone started ringing.

Brian Fortin, a Web master, also says craigslist is helpful in securing free-lance assignments. After getting laid off from Playatec Inc. in Burlingame, Calif., in December, he began looking for work online. Only two employers from large sites responded to his applications during the three months he's been searching. He says that job postings on large sites draw so many resumes that it's difficult for employers to sift through them all. "You get lost in the shuffle," he says. During the same period, Mr. Fortin received about two calls per week from employers whom he sent resumes to after seeing their postings on craigslist and from employers who saw his resume posted on the site. Craigslist "is a faster and more effective way of finding a job. It keeps things focused in a geographical sense," Mr. Fortin says.

• It's acceptable to send my resume as an attachment.

Unless a job posting specifically says to send a resume as an attachment, it's best to paste the information into the body of the e-mail, says Ms. Dixon. "I won't open an attachment because they sometimes contain viruses," she says. In addition, she warns against copying and pasting a resume formatted in Microsoft Word or another program into an e-mail message because fonts and styles don't always translate well. Instead, create a resume in plain text using a text-editor software program, such as Note Pad. "The point is that you want it to be read. Recruiters are really used to this now. The visual aspects of a resume may not be like they used to be, but content is king," she says. "It's a tough transition for people who are used to aesthetics."

• My privacy is guaranteed when I leave my resume on job-search sites.

This one's tricky. You'll need to read a site's privacy policy carefully to find out who will have access to it and under what circumstances, says Gerry Crispin, co-author of "CareerXroads" (MMC Group, 2002), a directory of online job and resume resources. Links to privacy policies generally are located at the bottom of a site's home page.

"[A privacy policy] may tell you the company takes no responsibility for its partners," Mr. Crispin says. These partners may then legally sell your information without your knowledge or consent.

Why is that a problem? Your resume could wind up in the hands of employers or advertisers without your knowledge or float in cyberspace indefinitely. Says Mr. Warren, "Some commercial online job boards have left resumes online that are five or six years old, and that information can find its way to people you never intended to see it." In addition, your information may be sold to retailers who send out mass e-mail advertisements or junk mail, he says.

Mr. Crispin says a site is "a class act" when it provides users with an e-mail address or phone number where you can register complaints or concern about privacy issues. "I would suggest that they're more likely to be trustworthy," he says.

To ensure privacy, go directly to the source, recommends Ms. Dixon. "E-mail your resume and cover letter to the person who accepts them" for the employer, she says. If a contact isn't listed in the job's advertisement, look for an e-mail address on the company's Web site.

• I can apply to several positions posted by one employer.

Even if you're qualified for two different positions, you shouldn't submit more than one resume to the same employer, says Ms. Dixon. "Most resumes go to one person. He or she wants to be the one who decides which position you're most qualified for. It's really offensive to send in 12 resumes for 12 jobs, and it's even worse when they're slightly altered for each job," she says.

Another common mistake is to apply to the same job more than once, says Mr. Warren. "People seem to think that the more resumes you get into a company the better, but this can actually hurt your job search," he says.

• My resume should be one page in length and my subject line should be generic.

Not anymore. Thanks to e-mail, resumes can be lengthier. "The one-page thing is done," says Ms. Dixon. Employers are "no longer doing page counts." But keep a one-page paper resume on file. You'll want to bring it to an interview with a list of references, she adds.

When e-mailing a resume, it's imperative to write a specific subject line, says Mr. Warren, because recruiters receive enormous amounts of e-mail that has to be read every day. "Try to make it factual yet reflective of what the company is looking for. If they're looking for an electrical engineer, simply write 'electrical engineer,' " he says.