Job-Seekers and Companies Can Connect On-Line : Employment: Many O.C. workers in high-tech fields routinely check Internet for opportunities, and the practice is spreading to other areas.
It’s hard to keep count, but free-lance software engineer Mark Bergman figures he has received 50 computer-related contract offers that he first learned about while using on-line services over the past decade.
Like many professionals in high-tech fields, Bergman finds it second nature to look for job leads on the Internet, the computer network linking millions of users worldwide.
“It’s not too much different than using regular mail or the phone, but it’s a lot quicker,” said Bergman, who lives in Newport Beach. “You usually find the name of a person, you send e-mail to say hi, and send your resume over on e-mail too. Then you’re a few steps further along.”
Software firms, hardware makers and engineering companies routinely include e-mail addresses in their printed want ads, and some even insist on receiving resumes on-line so applicants can show their skill with computer systems.
Although ads can be placed on-line free, many companies are also beginning to pay to advertise their jobs on the World Wide Web, an easier-to-use portion of the Internet. Since January, a New York advertising firm has attracted 50 companies who spend up to $20,000 each per month to list job openings on the Web. Such companies as Microsoft Corp., Rockwell International Inc. and The Good Guys have purchased advertisements on the service.
Tim Gibbon, executive vice president for Bernard Hodes Advertising Inc., said the firm hopes to have 100 companies using the service by the end of the year.
“We see it as publishing information, but also organizing information so people can make better use of it,” Gibbon said. “You could call it advertising, since companies pay for it, but we see it as complementary” to printed ads in newspapers, which the company also buys frequently.
With the rise of electronic want ads, job-seekers have found it pays to learn their way around cyberspace.
“It’s easier to make connections on-line because you tend to have your name passed around more,” said Jim Rue, a Laguna Beach free-lance writer who has sold several pieces based on leads he found through Compuserve, a commercial on-line service.
Initially, Rue found buyers for stories on technical subjects. Now, he said, he has begun to pitch ideas for general-interest stories as well, as on-line services have become more popular.
Many firms still limit their electronic advertising to get the word out to candidates in technical fields. Melissa May, a spokeswoman for AirTouch Cellular, a telephone service provider in Irvine, said the company uses e-mail to find engineers because it can take advantage of the electronic bulletin boards that are aimed at specific engineering fields. The company uses traditional print ads to attract candidates for other slots.
Other job listings on a popular free Southern California Internet bulletin board, “la.jobs,” suggest AirTouch isn’t alone in focusing its e-mail ads on technical jobs. Candle Corp., a Santa Monica software developer, is advertising for a manager to oversee a new administration program, and a Culver City entertainment company is seeking two accountants who are familiar with the home video market.
Still, there is an audience for the high-tech ads, particularly those who have lost jobs with aerospace companies.
At the Laguna Hills office of 40+, a nonprofit support organization for mid-career job-seekers, many former aerospace industry workers use computers to check job listings and communicate by e-mail with potential employers.
“You can’t afford not to use the services,” said Doug Hulett, a former Air Force computer analyst who is seeking a similar position in the private sector.
For companies using on-line help-wanted ads, the most obvious obstacle is that they fail to reach potential candidates who don’t have a computer and modem. Also, electronic job postings are more popular in some areas than others. Firms in the San Francisco Bay Area fill five different electronic bulletin boards with job postings, for example, compared to a single bulletin board in the Los Angeles area.
“I think that L.A. companies haven’t yet decided that the Net is a good place to post jobs,” said Richard Ravich, a Woodland Hills computer programmer who is in the middle of his own job search.
There’s also a downside for job-seekers, others say. Because electronic listings cost companies almost nothing to produce, some advertise for positions that they don’t intend to fill soon.
“You see a lot of ads from people who are just sampling the talent pool to see what’s out there,” said Don Lindner, a Canoga Park computer network engineer.
As a result, many expect it will be years before on-line help-wanted ads become popular recruiting tools in all fields.
Two weeks after paying to post a help-wanted ad on the Web, for example, executives at Allergan Inc., an Irvine producer of eye-care products, said they hadn’t received a reply.
“You have to like the idea of reaching more people, but we’re not sure yet how the pool will be different,” said Tom Burnham, Allergan’s vice president for human resources.
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On-Line Resumes
Job-seekers with access to the Internet can find hundreds of news groups containing job listings. Some leads:
Local News Groups * la.jobs * oc.general
Via World Wide Web * CareerMosaic homepage at https://www.careermosaic.com * Online Career Center at https://www.occ.com/occ/
Source: Times reports
