May 8, 2002 - Job hunting resources at the library

Naioma Walberg, Parker Library Reference Librarian, contributed this week's column...

Attention all job hunters – we can help!

We know, because we have been there too, that job hunting can be totally maddening, amazingly time consuming and excruciatingly frustrating.

But help is not far away and comes in a multitude of formats to help the search. Your library has databases, the Internet, newspapers, magazines, books, directories, surveys, word processors, copy machines, fax machines and someone is always at the reference desk ready to help.

Thanks to modern technology, job hunting resources have expanded a hundred-fold. Now classified ads from newspapers all over the world can be found on the web. And with over 341 million people using English, you will have a lot to look through before having to learn a new language.

Besides classifieds there are great commercial megasites like monster.com and employment911 as well as networks like headhunter. Even our government and local communities have joined the game with great sites such as the Colorado Job Bank and Arapahoe/Douglas Works! Workforce Center.

All these great sites and more have been gathered for your convenience to use at the library or from home. Just go to www.dpld.org, click on e-reference on the left side of your screen then scroll down to and click on careers under librarian selected web sites.

At www.dpld.org we are not just talking classifieds! From our home page, click on e-reference on the left side of you screen and then databases A-Z which is just above center in the middle of the page. Now welcome to the wonderful world of databases, all listed alphabetically (because librarians can’t help themselves).

What will you find?

Trade and professional associations can be a great help in gathering leads and learning more about the industry in which you are interested. Click on Associations Unlimited International, U.S., National, Regional, State and Local and find over 158,000 detailed, up-to-date listings.

Trying to find companies that need your kind of skills and interests? Click on Reference U.S.A. and search for companies by name, industry, size and location. Each entry gives number of employees, gross sales, branch or headquarters, person in charge, types of occupation and addresses.
Have an interview and want to shine? By now, you probably have www.dpld.org bookmarked, so go into Databases and click on Business Source Elite. This very useful database sources over 1,050 journals to provide you with massive amounts of information on industry trends, companies in the news, what’s hot and who is way ahead of the game – all nice things that can help make you stand out during an interview.

RDS BizSuite, another cool database, profiles companies and industry information for job searches and information tips for interviews.

All these databases can be used at the library or from a remote access. Just remember to have your Douglas Public Library District card nearby as each of the databases asks for some part of your patron number before letting you in.

And, as always, a librarian is never far away. Cyberspace is really awesome, but it isn’t the only game at the library for the job hunter. We librarians just love to search out and purchase all the great books that can help the job search in any phase of the process.

And boy oh boy we have found some good ones on every aspect of the job search you can think of -- resumes (regular resumes, cyber resumes, first time job hunter's resumes, resumes for specific professions), cover letters, how to prepare for an interview, guides for helping you find a job, books on deciding a career or help in making career changes.

A stop at the reference desk will provide you with even more exciting resources. Tucked away in the reference collection are directories, encyclopedias, industry and company surveys that provide multiple types of information for searching for a job or preparing for the interview. The Colorado Business Directory, Rocky Mountain High Technology Directory, International Directory of Company Histories, Hoovers Handbook of American Business and U.S. Industry and Trade Outlook are just a sampling of the sources at your fingertips.

But your favorite library doesn’t stop there. We have word processors, copy machines and fax capabilities to ease the process. Here at the library we want to help make the job process as painless -- and productive -- as possible.

Naioma Walberg is a Reference Librarian at the Parker Library.