Governmental & Civic
One enormous example is America's Job Bank (www.americasjobbank.org). Originally launched by the federal and state governments, it publishes over a million job postings from throughout the 50 states. You can also create and post your resume online (several million people have done this). Functionally this site used to be primitive, but now it's impressive!
This site lists a substantial number of executive-level jobs. Posting is free, and most of the postings are from contingency recruiters. However, the HR departments of giant companies often post here to demonstrate how open and nondiscriminatory they are, even though-in the end-they may have to engage a search firm to find the needed executive. Small local companies and shoestring startups hoping to grow and IPO also post on this site in an attempt to avoid recruiter fees.
One particularly fine feature of the site is its geographic sorting menu. You can search by state, city, and even by various distances from a particular ZIP code. Incidentally, you should also investigate the geographic sites that are sponsored by regional and local booster groups and Chambers of Commerce.
Industry & Professional Groups
Many industry and professional associations operate employment sites for the benefit of their members. Obviously, in industry associations where corporations pay the fees, there's no desire to help employees depart for a better deal elsewhere. That would disrupt staffing and raise compensation industry wide. Companies don't pay to help bring that about!
On the other hand, a professional association supported by the dues of individuals has the opposite perspective. If it can promote a free market in talent and raise the levels of personal fulfillment and compensation among its members, it's doing exactly what they want it to do.
For an excellent example, take a look at shrm.org, the site maintained by SHRM, the Society for Human Resources Management, a professional association supported by the fees of over 100,000 individual members.
The point is that many industry and professional associations already have employment sites. More are being created every day. Some merely post job opportunities. Some post both jobs and resumes. Either way, these sites can be thought of as being altruistically motivated. Look at their job postings. Consider posting your resume. Some employers are far more likely to look for you on a professional site than on the huge commercial sites. You may be "between jobs" and-not needing secrecy-decide to post openly. Or you may be happy to find that the site will allow you to post anonymously.
Colleges & Universities
Most institutions of higher education have some sort of job and resume posting service for their alumni. Check to see what your alma mater offers. Also, check to see if jobs are openly listed on the sites of prestigious schools in your field that you did not attend. If the employer's identity is revealed, there's no reason why you can't follow up with your impressive direct mail package or even use an e-mail link if one is provided.
Often, both the jobs and the resumes on educational institution sites are weighted toward recent graduates... and thus not much help to an executive earning $100,000 to $1 Million+. That's especially true of liberal arts college sites. But if you have an MBA or an advanced degree in any technical field you may be very pleasantly surprised at what you'll find on your grad school's site.
Fraternity & Sorority
Does your college fraternity or sorority have an alumni job-and-resume bulletin board? Many do. As with the sites put up by colleges and universities, emphasis will be on helping new and recent grads. Even so, a visit to your organization's site might reveal some warm-spirited individuals you can contact as part of your networking activity.
Posting in cyberspace is fundamentally risky as well as rewarding. Let's talk about strategies to minimize that risk.
Whether you post your identity-revealed resume on a commercial site or an altruistic one, you've put your identity and your achievements where the whole world can see them.
These days you need two resumes: Electronic and On-Paper Let's get busy on the electronic side.
With today's computers and printers, we all can easily create documents that look as handsome as any magazine or newspaper. Your on-paper resume must rise to the standard everyone now can easily produce.
However, the standard is different-and lower-when you're submitting an unsolicited resume electronically. First of all, you want it to arrive and be readable. And secondly, you want it to slide effortlessly into the recipient's database, so you'll be found when there's a search for someone exactly like you. Your aesthetics are no help if your functionality fails.
The Surest Method: Unless told to do otherwise, submit your resume in the body of an e-mail.
Why bore you with technical jargon? Here's the bottom line. To be absolutely certain a recipient who has not specifically told you how to send your resume can readily read it and insert it into a database, send it in the body of an e- mail. Not as an attached file; as readable words in the message. Do that, and everyone can read your submission the minute they get it and also-if so inclined-can effortlessly insert it into a database.
