If you’re in the job market, remember one thing: you never know when your next opportunity will come. Do not be absolutely certain that you will find a job at a career fair, and conversely, do not be so certain that a night out will afford no opportunities. Even if you don’t meet an employer, you may meet someone whose employer is looking to hire.
With that said, there are many places you can conduct your job search online. Here are some helpful resources. Note that many of these resources also offer other tips including resume and cover letter guides, salary data, and more.
Your University/College Career Center – This should be the first place you go to learn more about campus recruiting and other job postings. Career advisers can help with resume and cover letter editing, mock interviews, and overall search tips. Ask if your school subscribes to the helpful online tools and guides included on this page that are subscription-only access.
Wetfeet (http://www.wetfeet.com/Employers.aspx) – offers a ranking of most desirable employers for undergrads. Wetfeet offers short employer profiles free of charge, and your college’s career center or library may have additional access.
ZoomInfo (http://www.zoominfo.com/) – extracts information from the web on over 3 million companies. You can screen by state, keyword (industry) and company size.
Experience.com (http://www.experience.com/) – Career resources and tools for young adults to find internships and entry-level jobs
Fortune Best 100 Companies to Work For (http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2008/full_list/index.html) – ranking also includes company profiles and the ability to sort by state, best benefits, most diverse workforce, etc.
Vault Online Career Directory (http://www.vault.com/) – includes company overviews, in-depth articles and message boards. This resource is particularly helpful in identifying corporate culture. There is some free information on their site, but your college’s career center or library may have fuller access to this resource.
Hoovers Online (http://www.hoovers.com/free/) – offers company information with detailed business reports and industry profiles.
Ethisphere (http://ethisphere.com/WME2010/) – provides a list of the world’s most ethical companies.
Stanford Job Listings Guide (http://cardinalcareers.stanford.edu/Links/FMPro?-db=links.fp5&-lay=www&-format=links_detail.htm&-SortField=display_name&-SortOrder=Ascending&category=Business&-find) – includes a list of companies who have training programs specifically for undergraduates.
Business Week Best Places to Launch a Career (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/toc/08_37/B4099places_to_launch_a_career.htm) – an interactive table/ranking, provides data from the Business Week survey of best employers for entry level workers. (2006 Rankings)
Collegegrad.com Top Entry Level Employers (http://www.collegegrad.com/topemployers/) – ranks entry level employers by the projected number of new college graduates hired.
Occupational Outlook Handbook (http://www.bls.gov/oco/home.htm) – This helpful resource is published by the US Department of Labor each year.
CareerLeader College (http://www.2plus2.hbs.edu/careers/self/CareerLeaderCollege/Pages/default.aspx) – The same CareerLeader College site where you took the self assessment test has a lot of helpful job search research tools and tips.
Lexis-Nexis – includes articles on private and public companies from thousands of news, business and trade publications. You should have access to Lexis-Nexis via your college’s library.
CareerSearch (http://www.careersearch.net/cs_index.tt2) (subscription only) – provides information on over 3.5 million companies. You can target by industry, location and size. Your college’s career center may have access to this resource.
OneSource (http://www.onesource.com/) (subscription only) – provides news, corporate family, executives, market research and analysis. Your college’s career center or library may have access to this resource.
Trade Associations by Industry – search the internet for publications by various trade associations to find useful, up to date industry information and events.
Other news sources – include Factiva, ABI Proquest and Business Source Complete. Check with your town, city or college’s library to see if they subscribe.
List provided by: President & Fellows of Harvard College
