Maybe you're just out of college, looking for your first full-time job. Maybe you're looking to change careers after years in the same job. Maybe you're just curious about what's out there. No matter. There's only one place to start your search - on the Web.

The Internet Business Network, a research firm based in Mill Valley, California, estimates that the Web is home to 100,000 job-related sites and 2.5 million ré sumé s. But who needs statistics? Consider instead the stories of Jeff Laster and Megan Weeks.

Last summer, Laster, now 36, was finishing his graduate work at Virginia Tech. It was time to look for a job - and Laster looked to the Web. He wrote a ré sumé and posted it on his personal home page. Then he posted it on four of the most popular job boards. He also made a list of companies that he was interested in and visited their sites.

One of those companies was Texas Instruments. TI's Web site lists openings at all of its major locations. It also includes a short diagnostic test, called "Fit Check," to help job seekers figure out whether their "wants and needs" mesh with those of TI.

Within a few days, Laster had received replies from a dozen companies. Within three months, he had interviewed with seven of those companies and had landed six job offers. Ultimately he signed on with TI.

"The information on the TI Web site was important," Laster says. "It was a good reality check on my personal contacts."

Weeks, 28, was working as vice president of consumer marketing for an Internet startup that crashed. She started looking for her next career adventure and turned to PlanetAll, a free Web service that creates links between you and your friends, as well as to all the people in their circle.

A friend on PlanetAll told Weeks about an interactive-ad agency. She asked if he knew anyone there. He gave her a name, and she went to his PlanetAll address book, clicked on the name, and emailed his friend. That friend emailed her back, saying, "It's great that you come recommended." Says Weeks: "We did some emails, which turned into phone calls, which turned into spending several days with the company. A few weeks later, I got an offer."

This edition of @Work is a guide to using the Web to find a job. It offers tips for creating a great electronic ré sumé . It evaluates the most popular job sites. And it explains how to figure out which job is right for you. Forget "pounding the pavement." It's time to move your job search into cyberspace.

12 tips for rewriting your ré sumé

Writing a ré sumé is a task that every job seeker loves to hate. Writing a Web ré sumé is even tougher. Here's how to create a document that will put everyone on the same Web page.

What's in Your Ré sumé ?

1. Think nouns, not verbs. Career counselors used to advise job seekers to pepper their ré sumé s with action verbs that would impress HR staffers who scan ré sumé s with their eyeballs. Web ré sumé s also get scanned - by digital eyeballs. Companies then use software that combs through ré sumé s for words that signal job titles, technical skills, and levels of education or experience. And most of those words are nouns.

"Verbs used to be the important thing," says Kate Wendleton, a career counselor associated with CareerMosaic, a leading job site. "Now employers search for nouns - what products you developed, which software programs you can use."

2. The more buzzwords, the better. Career counselors also used to advise clients to avoid buzzwords in their ré sumé s. Today buzzwords are all the buzz. "Applicant-tracking systems" rank ré sumé s by the number of keywords in them. If a company is looking for an auditor with experience in Lotus 1-2-3, Microsoft Excel, and Peachtree First Accounting, it can rank ré sumé s according to which ones include all three programs, which have two of them, and so on. "Turn your experience into keywords," urges Margaret Riley Dikel, coauthor of The Guide to Internet Job Searching VGM Career Horizons, 1996, "and maximize the number of them in your ré sumé ."

3. Don't forget to describe your personality and attitude. Just because most ré sumé searches are computerized doesn't mean that companies don't search for human qualities. A tracking system can identify behavioral traits - dependability, responsibility, a high energy level - as easily as it can technical skills. "Be enthusiastic," says Yana Parker, author of Damn Good Resume Guide, Ten Speed Press, 1996 . "Let your passion show. Don't use tired language."

4. Personal home pages should be all business. Like many job seekers, you may want to include a link in your Web ré sumé to a personal Web page, where you can post detailed information about your career. But don't muck up your page with photos of you, your family, or your pets. An HR manager at a big chemical company puts it this way: "I'm not looking for a pretty face. I'm looking for a skill. What you look like is not a skill."