THE GOODS : Found: A Guide to the Killer Resume

Don’t let your boss catch you reading this column.

It’s about finding a job the digital way, with the help of a CD-ROM and the Internet. Using your computer, you could be preparing for the time you can tell your employer, “Take this job and reboot it.”

The CD-ROM is adapted from the book “The Perfect Resume” by Tom Jackson, a career development consultant who also wrote “Guerrilla Tactics in the Job Market.”

Given that title, it’s no surprise Jackson is a take-no-prisoners kind of guy. As the on-screen host of the CD-ROM, the thrust of his message is that to get yourself noticed among the throng of applicants applying for a job, you’ve got to have a resume that is attractive both in layout and content.

“The Perfect Resume” CD-ROM doesn’t offer any advice that can’t be gotten from a book, but it does give you nice layout grids into which you just plug your personal information to produce a crisply organized, one page (Jackson says less is better) resume.

The disc also includes a series of exercises to identify the specific capabilities and experiences you want to flaunt.

Jackson advises that a resume should not be done once and photocopied to send out to various prospective employers. He says each resume should be customized for the specific target position. Luckily, using a computerized resume makes customization much easier.

The disc also includes a section on writing “power letters” and a database that can be used to help organize a job search.

Now if the disc could only pick out the right clothes for the interview. (Unless you are applying on a cruise ship, you probably don’t want to wear the turtleneck ensemble Jackson sports on the back of the box.)

“The Perfect Resume” is available only on the Windows platform and it sells for about $40.

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Net a Job: Before you send out the resume, you have to identify job prospects. Classified ads, trade journals and word-of-mouth are still the major sources, but now you can also search for listings on the Internet.

A New York-based advertising agency, Bernard Hodes, recently started “Career Mosaic,” a site available to Internet users who can receive World Wide Web graphics.

The agency has signed up several large companies (the companies, not you, pay a fee to use the service) that want to use the net to put out the word on positions available. Many of the companies are technologically oriented, such as Intel and Tandem Computers, but not all. One of the latest firms to sign up is the Los Angeles-based Union Bank.

Clicking on the bank’s icon in “Career Mosaic” gets you basic information about the institution, the benefits it provides to employees and then career opportunities.

The “Career Mosaic” site can be found at https://www.careermosaic.com.

On the more commonly used Usenet service on the Internet, hundreds of job listings are spread out over a wide variety of categories. Most of the jobs listed are, however, in the computer or electronic engineering fields. If you have the qualifications, you can be a digital test engineer in Texas or a programmer for the Asia On Line service in Hong Kong.

But there are also opportunities for the less scientifically inclined. I spotted needs for a tree transplanter in Vancouver, an executive assistant in New York City and a horse trainer in Hayword, Wis.

To look for the groups listing ads--or one that will allow you to post your own “position wanted” notice--check for the Usenet groups that have jobs in their titles, such as misc.jobs.offered, misc.jobs.offered.entry and aus.ads.jobs (in case you’ve always wanted to live in Australia).

* Cyburbia’s Internet address is Colker@news.latimes.com.