Get Your Career in Site

Let's stipulate one "virtual" reality at the outset: If you are hell-bent on finding a new job, the Web is the only place to start. Forget the Sunday paper. Forget calling 10 friends. Vast numbers of job seekers are posting their résumés online, and vast numbers of companies are listing their job openings online. Type "jobs" into a Yahoo! search field, and expect to receive an index of more than 200 career sites, ranging from 6FigureJobs.com to social-service.com. Put simply, the Web is the employment office of the new economy.

But there's more to finding a job than, well, finding a job. People who realize that they are responsible for managing their career (and who doesn't?) spend lots of time asking themselves simple, revealing questions: "What kind of work do I want to do?" "What kind of company do I want to work for?" "What new skills must I learn to get the right job?" In short, "How do I invent the career that's right for me?" The real power of the Web as a career tool is that it helps you answer those questions.

Consider the experience of Monique Cuvelier, 28, a freelance writer from Belmont, Massachusetts. She began using the Web to manage her career in the mid-1990s. She kept track of writing opportunities and collected and organized links to sites that listed jobs for writers. Then she posted all of that material on her Web site. Over time, she started receiving email from grateful writers who used her site to find work. So she began writing and posting articles about how to search for work on the Internet and how to write an online résumé. Now Monique's NewsJobs (www.newsjobs.net) gets thousands of visitors a month, as well as countless requests from both writers and editors to post job openings and assignments. "My site has become my portfolio, my résumé, and my Rolodex -- all in one," she says.

Of course, for every action on the Web, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Harry Cederbaum, 40, of Booz-Allen & Hamilton Inc., is amazed by how the Web increases the quantity, but not necessarily the quality, of applicants. According to Cederbaum, who is director of U.S. recruiting in the New York City office of the international consulting firm, "We see a number of people who apply, get an interview, but then have no idea what the firm does." That's why he's so enthusiastic about WetFeet.com, a Web-based career-research firm that educates job seekers about life inside hundreds of companies -- including Booz·Allen. "From our perspective," Cederbaum explains, "it helps us get candidates who are truly interested in working here. And applicants get reasonably good, accurate, and credible information about what it's like to work at this firm."

This edition of @work evaluates some of the Web sites that can help you figure out the work that you want to do, the best places to do it, and the skills that you need to learn to get that job. It compares some of the best-known personality assessments and skills tests available on the Web. And it solicits Web-savvy advice from career coaches and HR pros. So don't just look harder for a job. Think harder about the kind of job that you want.

Do You "Get" Your Career?

It's hard to like your job if you don't like the field that you're in. Most career counselors agree that finding work you're passionate about is one of the critical factors behind career success. That's why so many career counselors love all those diagnostic tools that measure your personality traits, skill levels, professional interests, and job potential. The Web is virtually exploding with tests and assessments that you can take without having to trudge to a career counselor's office.

Many of these tests are useful, and many are free. But all of them should be handled with care. According to Richard Bolles, 72, author of the best-selling book "What Color Is Your Parachute?" (Ten Speed Press, updated annually), the best diagnostics are those that assess rather than test. "You can't flunk an assessment," he says. But you can misuse one. "Never let an assessment tell you what to do," warns Bolles. "Its purpose is only to give you some clues about your skills and interests; you've got to decide whether the clues are useful." And, Bolles cautions, no test is totally accurate. He suggests completing at least two or three tests before comparing their results and taking any of their conclusions to heart.

So which Web tests measure up? One of the best is John Holland's Self-Directed-Search (www.self-directed-search.com). This test is based on the theory that people and work environments can be classified into six basic types: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional. The test determines which three types describe you, and it suggests occupations that could be a good match. The Keirsey Character Sorter (www.keirsey.com) is a first cousin of Myers-Briggs. It sorts people into four temperaments: idealists, rationals, artisans, and guardians. Like Myers-Briggs, it not only places you in an overall category, but it also offers a more detailed evaluation of your personality traits. To find a bunch of tests in one place, visit Yahoo! and type "online personality tests" in the search field. You can learn a lot about yourself, and you won't even need a number-two pencil!