Get Your Career in Site

But there's a big difference between understanding what kind of work you want to do and knowing the best place in which to do it. Here again the Web can help, giving you information on organizations that best suit your personality and passions. One great place to start is WetFeet.com (www.wetfeet.com), where you can research hundreds of companies and more than 34 industries. Want to know what it's really like to work in the software business? Check out its "IndustryQuicks" section. You'll find out who the major players are and what they do. The site's "What's Great and What's to Hate" section tells you just that. And the "Real People Profile" section offers an interview with, you guessed it, a real person in a specific industry. Interviews provide valuable insights from those with experience: how they got their job, what a typical day is like for them, what career aspirations they have for the future, and the biggest misconceptions about their business.

You can get similar information at the "CompanyQuicks" section, where you can search by name, browse alphabetically, or get a list of companies by industry. Once you choose a "Quick" company, you'll get a brief description of its major lines of business, products, and services; factors that distinguish it from the competition; key financial statistics; personnel highlights; contact information; and opportunities for recent college grads and MBAs.

The site's "CompanyQ&A" can help you understand the interviewer's point of view. Besides getting an overview of a company's performance data, you also get information on its strategy (what the company does, who its competitors are, how it differs from the competition), careers (job opportunities, based on level of education and experience; how long most people stay; the skills needed to succeed), culture and lifestyle (what working at this particular company is like), and recruiting (what the application process is like, what to expect during an interview, some pitfalls to avoid). What's more, all this information is written in the company's own words.

All of the information found at WetFeet's site is free to anyone who is a registered member. But if you want a copy of one of its lengthy "Insider Guides" on a specific industry or job, you'll have to fork over some cash -- about $25 for each 30-to-70-page report. Unfortunately, you can't download the report; you'll have to wait for a dead-tree version to land on your doorstep.

If WetFeet seems a bit daunting, check out Vault.com (www.vault.com). This site profiles more than 3,000 companies in more than 40 industries. Although its profiles aren't as extensive as WetFeet's, you get much of the same content in more digestable chunks -- delivered in an edgy, in-your-face style. And Vault.com's company message boards add more spice to the mix. Topics range from answers to the brainteasers typically posed by many of the big consulting firms to gripes about life inside various companies. Here too, all of Vault.com's content is free, as long as you register with the site.

Of course, the inside dish you get from a Web site can never compare to getting the real dish from a real insider. For that kind of intelligence, go to Industry Insite (www.industryinsite.com), formerly BranchOut.com. This site started out as a networking tool for Ivy League alumni, but it has become a resource for all sorts of professionals. "Networking is a powerful way to get ahead," says David Ronick, 32, the site's founder. "The problem is that lots of people are intimidated by networking in the real world. That's why we created Industry Insite -- to cut through the red tape and get results faster."

The site's membership comprises more than 60,000 professionals from thousands of companies, hundreds of industries, and many cities all over the world. To join the network, you just enter your name, industry, and primary job function. Then you can reveal as much or as little about yourself as you choose. (Additional information could include schools that you've attended, cities that you've lived in, and hobbies that you enjoy.) The "Your Network View" section identifies people who've posted information that's similar to yours. The site even tells you how many other members are online at the moment. You can also search the network by company, job title, interests -- any of the fields that are listed in the profile.

Once you get a list of relevant contacts in the database, you can view each person's profile. If you'd like to contact someone, click on "send email," and a dialogue box lets you send a message without seeing the person's actual email address. If you're on the receiving end and you decide that you don't want to get any more messages from someone, you can block the transmission of new messages from that person. Now that's smart networking!