The official online job search resource hosted By Dick Bolles, author of "What Color is Your Parachute"
Dick's Calendar
The Internet
Research
Contacts
Counseling
Job Hunting
Jobs & Resumes
Job Hunting Online
Introduction: The Internet
1. Primer
2. Gateways
3. Supersites
4. Job Search Engines
Introduction: Research On The Internet
1. Directories
2. Search Engines
3. Best Search Engines
4. Meta-Search Tools
5. Clustering
6. Specialized Search Engines
7. General Research
8. Beyond Search Engines
9. The UnderWeb & Deep Searching
10. Beyond The Web: Usenet & Newsgroups
11. Evaluating The Data
12. Grants
Introduction: Contacts And Networking
1. Internet Networking
2. Finding People You Know
3. Finding People You Don't Know
4. Chat Rooms
5. Forums & Message Boards
6. Newsgroups
7. Mailing Lists
8. Networking Web Sites
9. A Category All Its Own
10. Miscellany
11. People At Their Business
12. E-mail
Introduction: Counseling, Testing & Advice
1. Online Job-Hunting Articles
2. Online Job-Hunting Guides
3. The Gateway Sites & More
4. Online Personality & Traits Tests
5. Online Careers Tests
6. Transferable Skills
7. Education
8. More Help: Career Counseling Offices
9. One-on-One Career Counseling
10. Offline Career Counseling
Introduction: Web Sites For Job Hunting Research
1. Geography/Moving/Where To Live
2. Identifying Careers
3. Salaries
4. Industry Research
5. Company Research
6. Company Research & Contact Info
7. Beyond Contact Information
8. More Specific Company Research
9. Self-Employed And Home Business
10. Part-Time, Contract, & Temporary Work
11. Non-Profits And Social Conscience
12. Work For Minorities
13. Work For Women
14. Work For The Disabled
Introduction: Job & Resume Sites
1. Resumes & Cover Letters
2. Portfolios
3. Job Boards: The Supersites
4. Job Boards: Job Search Engines
5. Job Boards: Regionals
6. Job Boards: The Networked Sites
7. Job Boards: College & Graduate Sites
8. Job Boards: Niche/Trade/Specialty
9. Job Boards: Diversity/Women/Disabled
10. Job Boards: Government
11. Job Boards: Contract & Temporary
12. Job Boards: Executive
13. Job Boards: International
14. Job Boards: Links To Job Boards
15. Job Boards: Articles About
16. Volunteering
Introduction: Job Hunting Online
1. Chapter One: Learn The Net
2. Chapter Two: Resumes
3. Chapter Three: The Job Boards
4. Chapter Four: Contacts And Networking
5. Chapter Five: Counseling And Testing
6. Chapter Six: Online Research
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Research on the Internet | Directories
Research on the Internet
Introduction to Research on the Internet
1 - Directories
2 - Search Engines
3 - Best Search Engines
4 - Meta-Search Tools
5 - Clustering
6 - Specialized Search Engines
2 - Search Engines
3 - Best Search Engines
4 - Meta-Search Tools
5 - Clustering
6 - Specialized Search Engines
7 - General Research
8 - Beyond Search Engines
9 - The UnderWeb & Deep Searching
10 - Beyond the Web: Usenet & Newsgroups
11 - Evaluating the Data
12 - Grants
8 - Beyond Search Engines
9 - The UnderWeb & Deep Searching
10 - Beyond the Web: Usenet & Newsgroups
11 - Evaluating the Data
12 - Grants
Directories
There are places where you will find hundreds to thousands of links to Web sites, organized by subject; these are called "Directories". Unlike Search engines, where results are determined by software, directories are organized by human hand. Also unlike search engines, directories are for browsing. They are hierarchically organized by subject; you start with a general heading and move towards more specific groupings. Conversely, a search engine looks for data that will fit with certain keywords, regardless of subject (except for search engines that use clustering technology; see the search engine section for an explanation). Directories are for when you kind of vaguely know what you are looking for, but need some ideas to help you narrow things down; or when you are looking at general subjects, such as careers, sports, movies, space flight - like that. (Though there are specialized directories as well.)
When you are looking for data on the Internet, directories are often the best place to start. Even if you don't find exactly what you are looking for, the subject categories themselves can help you with ideas on what keywords to use with search engines. Also, like search engines, there can be a lot of variation between different directories, so visit more than one.
Also, you will find two types of Internet directories: open and closed. On open directory sites, you can suggest sites to be included; at some directories, Web sites can even pay to be listed. At closed directories, the entries are vetted by professionals, usually librarians, so the quality of the data you find will tend to be much better.
InfoMine
Infomine is halfway between a directory and a search engine. When you tender a query, rather than kick back pertinent Web pages, it will return resources — databases, libraries, directory sites, and so forth — where you are likely to find the kind of information you are looking for. You can specify the types of resources you want to search; in many cases, you can also browse through the resource types.
Open Directory Project
The largest directory on the Web. As the name implies, this is an all-volunteer project with thousands of people involved. On the one hand, this allows the directory to gain its large size, but it also means that some entries may not be as current as you might hope. Also, there may be some slight bias now and then on the part of the editors, who, for the most part, are not professionals. Still, this is the obvious place to start when you are looking for subject information. As an example of the site’s depth, check out the Careers page at www.dmoz.org/Business/Employment/Careers/
Resource Discovery Network
The largest directory on the Web. As the name implies, this is an all-volunteer project with thousands of people involved. On the one hand, this allows the directory to gain its large size, but it also means that some entries may not be as current as you might hope. Also, there may be some slight bias now and then on the part of the editors, who, for the most part, are not professionals. Still, this is the obvious place to start when you are looking for subject information. As an example of the site’s depth, check out the Careers page at www.dmoz.org/Business/Employment/Careers/
Librarian's Index to the Internet
Another closed directory, and probably the best on the Net. Entries have the date that they were last looked at by one of the directory staff, so you will know how recent their site descriptions are. Next to Yahoo!, probably the most-used directory on the Net.
Internet Public Library
Another excellent directory. Not always a lot of depth here, but the entries tend to be current and authoritative, and worth checking out for your research.
Though not related directly to job hunting, one of the areas of the IPL that I like best is the Reading Room, with links to books published on the Net. Want to read the Iliad? Maybe an actual first edition of Huckleberry Finn, with the original E.W. Kemble illustrations? How is this going to help your job hunt? I don’t know; forget I mentioned it.
Though not related directly to job hunting, one of the areas of the IPL that I like best is the Reading Room, with links to books published on the Net. Want to read the Iliad? Maybe an actual first edition of Huckleberry Finn, with the original E.W. Kemble illustrations? How is this going to help your job hunt? I don’t know; forget I mentioned it.
Yahoo!
One of the best known sites on the Internet for many reasons, Yahoo! still has the best directory for a commercial site. Some entries are “sponsored ”, obviously, but they are clearly marked (and occasionally useful themselves). As you know, Yahoo! also has a search engine, and you can limit your search with Yahoo!’s search engine to the Yahoo! directory.
As an example of the difference between commercial and non-commercial sites, compare the Career page at Open Directory, and Yahoo!’s Career Counseling page.