Alvah Parker is publisher of Road to Success and Parker's Points, e-newsletters providing strategies to advance your business and career goals. Click here to subscribe. Alvah is a Work/life coach, who can be reached at asparker@asparker.com, or visited on the web at www.asparker.com.

Mike, a construction-industry executive, was frustrated. After more than nine months in an active job search, he had few interviews and zero job offers. He decided to have his resume professionally redone - because what else could be the problem? After all, he was actively pursuing every lead he could find. He just wasn't getting any responses.

When Mike contacted me, I reviewed his resume and could see some room for improvement. But, bottom line, the resume wasn't bad. When I talked with Mike about how he had been conducting his job search, I recommended that he overhaul not his resume, but his strategy. Within a few weeks, Mike saw noticeable uptick in activity and felt a new confidence in himself and enthusiasm for his search.

So what was the difference? Previously, Mike had been applying aggressively to every Internet posting that was even a loose fit for his skills and experience. He spent hours online every day, combing various job boards and zapping out his resume in response. Yet he seldom received even a confirmation that his resume had been received, never mind an interview. Mike had bought into the Internet Myth and couldn't understand why it wasn't working.

The Internet Myth
The Internet is often the first stop for a new job seeker. After all, there are thousands of job-posting sites and literally millions of jobs online. Companies prefer online applications into their resume databanks. The whole process of matching up applicants with jobs is simple, fast, and automated. That's the Internet Myth.

What's the reality? Despite the ease and pervasiveness of online job activity, the hard fact that is that most people still find jobs by talking to people they know-old-fashioned networking-rather than through Internet job postings.

Yet the Internet is incredibly seductive. Not only can you find hundreds of jobs, with apparently eager-to-hire employers, but by sending your resume you feel like you've actually accomplished something - a feeling that is all too rare in the less-than-straightforward process of pursuing employment.

The Real Deal
From looking at the numbers, it's clear that the real star of your job-search strategy should be networking. What that means, quite simply, is talking to people-bringing your message to people who can give you advice, ideas, referrals, leads, and other support that will eventually result in job interviews and job offers.

Internet Reality
But that doesn't mean you should shut off your computer and never venture online. Instead, make use of the valuable and easily available information you can find on the Internet to advance various aspects of your job search.

• Find and refine targets. Use company-information websites and corporate sites to locate and investigate target companies. Read business articles and analyses to keep up on industry trends and identify emerging opportunities.
• Familiarize yourself with hot-button topics. Reviewing job postings can give you valuable insight into emerging trends and recurring needs that can help you position yourself strongly for your target jobs and companies.
• Research compensation. Before you begin discussions about any job, you should arm yourself with knowledge about comparable salaries.
• Prepare for interviews. You can find interview-advice articles, lists of common interview questions, discussions of interview types, and expert advice on response strategies.
• "Google" yourself and others. You might be surprised at what pops up when you type a name into a search engine. You can check on yourself, of course, to see what an employer will see; and you can also garner information about target contacts or hiring managers that can help you better prepare for interviews.

And you shouldn't necessarily ignore Internet career sites and job postings. After all, it takes very little time and effort to respond, so you should build Internet time into your daily or weekly schedule. As well as high-quality general-purpose sites, find sites that specialize in your function, industry, or level. With minimal effort, you can post your resume, respond to position listings, and contact appropriate recruiters. Rather than spending a great deal of time creating a response for each posting, design a general-purpose cover letter that you can quickly customize and send with your resume. Don't worry about following up, and don't get discouraged if you receive few responses. Remember, the Internet is only one component of your total job-search strategy.

Clearly, the Internet is an endless source of information and a valuable tool for your job search. Just don't make it the sole vehicle for finding your next position or you could end up like Mike, frustrated after a lengthy but unproductive search. Instead, hone your networking skills and tap into the power of the Internet to enhance your people-to-people contact.

While the Internet should not be your primary vehicle for finding a new job, the resources and tools that are available online can help you search smarter. Corporate information sites, such as Hoovers.com and Yahoo! Finance, are excellent sources for researching prospective employers. Kennedy Information's ExecutiveAgent and ExecutiveRegistry can augment your overall job search strategy by connecting you with recruiters in your chosen fields or who are actively filling open positions. And when you're ready to accept a job offer, CareerJournal.com and Salary.com offer robust data on compensation levels to help with salary negotiations.

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