But in reality, very few people spend the time and energy needed to accurately research a company in a way that will positively impact their interview, the company, and their own potential employment.

If you are serious about wanting the job, you must do more than just apply with a wait and see attitude. In the current employment environment, you have to give before you get that job. Begin by actively researching the company BEFORE you submit your resume. Companies are looking for those diligent candidates who are willing to put in the work right from the beginning. Don’t just go to the company’s website and look around for a minute or two. Really check them out. Locate, read, and dissect their mission statement, vision, and goals.

Also check out the “Career” section of their site. Some corporations may not have much of anything here, while others will offer you a step-by-step guide to their hiring process. I have even seen companies with videos of actual employees by region and job talking about the company and of course how much they love their position. Use this information to your advantage! Companies such as these are basically spelling it out for you. Some even show you what they want you to wear.

Now what happens if all you have is the company’s vision and mission statement? Read. Read. Read. You want to know what that company stands for, believes in and expects from their employees. When you begin to truly study different companies, you will find that 3 main threads tend to run through any given company.

Look to those threads as an indicator of the company’s values and ideals. You will know what a company values because the words and phrases that indicate their values will be repeated throughout. Once you’ve located these words or phrases, figure out ways to incorporate them into your resume in a manner that applies to you and your particular skill set. Then, once you land the interview, reiterate these core values and ideals during the conversation with your potential employer.

In addition to helping you better understand the company for which you are aspiring to work, your research will guide you in your decision on what to wear. The clothes you select for the interview are an important part of the overall impression you are working to create. Just as you tailor each resume you submit to highlight the areas of strength that a particular company wants, so too should you change what you wear to an interview.

If a company talks about tradition, strength, and always being there, a traditional suit in neutral colors will reflect those words in your clothing. If a company mentions sharing, friendliness, and teamwork, consider clothes which are less stuffy than a traditional suit and try incorporating colors such as blue for friendliness and green for calmness.

Keep in mind, the research you do is really just as much for you as it is for them. If a company’s website and overall tone doesn’t match where you truly want to work, then you know going in that this job may not be a perfect fit.

No matter what position you are going for, no two companies are the same; so don’t make the mistake of approaching them the same way. Do your research and tailor yourself to each company’s needs. It’s one of the strongest ways to communicate that you are a great fit and that the candidate they’ve been searching for is right there in front of them.

Alison Craig is an author, speaker, and the CEO of 3 Impressions, Inc, an impression management firm. The 3 Impressions ^SM ideology of Craig’s transforms individuals and corporations from a mundane, mainstream existence to a place that reflects a zealous, passionate, and free spirit with a distinct and focused direction, leading to a life lived on a level unattained by many. For more information, visit www.3impressions.com.

Have you ever thought that if you figured out the search techniques, you would be able to find your dream job?

You click on the advanced-search function, fill in the blanks and hit return. But the matches still aren’t what you’re looking for. Despite improved functionality on many leading job sites, advanced-search functions are overwhelmingly under-used.

In fact, only about five percent of job seekers use advanced search functions, says Jonathan Duarte, founder of online job board GO Jobs.

Duarte attributes the low usage of advanced-search functions to several factors, namely that they involve too many steps and that many job seekers are not trained in Boolean searching, the use of “and” and “or.”

“If a job seeker performs an ‘advanced search’ without Boolean training, they are often frustrated with the results, and then leave the site,” Duarte says. “This is the worst case scenario for the job board.”

Job seekers can also get discouraged if the job search becomes too narrow and draws too few results. Another problem, say job board experts, is that position descriptions are not regularly updated and often do not reflect the true job expectations.

Many job boards have an intermediate search function, which asks for zip code, location and job category. This often gets job seekers close enough to what they are looking for.

Still, trolling job boards remains a very time consuming process, contends Richard H. Beatty, author of “The Ultimate Job Search.” There are over 40,000 career websites, including mega job boards, industry-specific sites and listings on company sites.

“Job seekers are faced with the daunting task of somehow screening through this bewildering array to discover those sites that will prove most productive for them,” Beatty says. “Huge amounts of precious job-search time can be completely wasted.”

Even with all of those sites, still only one-third of jobs are found through the internet.

Some, such as Beatty, are starting to advocate so-called job aggregators, a kind of Google for job searches that includes postings from big and small job boards as well as Fortune 500 companies.

Sites like Indeed, Jobster and SimplyHired are quickly winning admiration. These sites also have advanced search functions that have a more user-friendly feel than even the most well-travelled job boards.

And, Duarte points out, “chances are you don’t need to use it, because the programmers and engineers [who] built the intelligent search engine anticipate what you are searching for.”

Advanced search is an active, rather than a passive way of finding the right career opportunities. It’s worth the investment of time to figure out how to make it work for you.

My take on the job boards that match “followers” with “Christian employers” is that a Christian workplace is at least partially about excluding non-believers who may undermine their value system.

This statement on Christian Staffing’s website summarizes the mindset: “Have you dealt with staff problems including stealing, fraud, sexual harassment, lack of work ethic, tardiness, etc? We did, and so we have decided to try to hire people we knew had a good reputation … and more specifically followers of Jesus Christ.”

In a pitch to Christian recruiters and employers, Bill Clark, Director of Sales & Business Development for ChristianJobs.com, writes on About.com that there are 200,000 job seekers on their site each month. “These folks are in need and we believe that it is our responsibility as members of the body of Christ to help them in every way possible,” writes Clark. “As such, we invite you to visit our site and see if you can embrace our mission … expressing your faith by posting your positions ….”

What is unclear to me is how a Christian employee differs from, say, a Hindu, Islamic or Jewish employee. Of course, it’s no secret that religious cultures and subcultures often hire amongst themselves; what’s different here is these job boards are explicit about it.

Biases are part of the American fabric, right? The federal government, including the U.S. Justice Department, recruits from Christian law schools and colleges. (That hasn’t gone so well.)

I wasn’t able to reach several of the larger job boards directly, but a Christian recruiter took my call. “We network with people who believe that Jesus is the Christ,” explains CJ Elliott, a recruiter and co-owner of Christian Recruiters Affiliated in Hoopeston, Ill.  Speaking of the Christian employers to whom she supplies candidates, she says, “We like to work with people we feel are trustworthy and we can count on.”

Elliott, who says she worked for a big oil company for 10 years, tried to lead by example rather than evangelize in the workplace. She adds, “I know there are people who are not born-again who still have a good work ethic.”

Still, for those who wish to explore a faith-based workplace, a site called FaithInTheWorkplace.com offers some interesting content, including legal advice, about what’s permissible in terms of expressions of faith.

And here are a few job boards that appear to be leaders in this specialized field:

• ChristianJobs.com – a job board “focusing on employment within the Christian community … catering to the hiring needs of Christian-friendly companies.” The site is a subsidiary of Salem Communications Corp., a powerhouse in Christian-based media.
• ChristianStaffing.org – “Connecting Christian staff with Christian employers. For the result of a Christian work environment.”
• ChristiaNet – It bills itself as “The Worldwide Christian Marketplace.”
• AllChristianJobs.com – “A Christian career job site with the added benefit of a global freelance marketplace.”
• ChristianOpportunitiesOnline.com – Although this appears to be a work-at-home kind of site, which doesn’t qualify, I like their Google ad: “Use your God-given talents to do something extraordinary.”

Christians are not the only religious group with job boards or career sites. However, based on my Google searches, Christian boards appear to this observer to be more prevalent than many other religious-based job sites. I visited New York Jewish Jobs Board; the Musalman Career Center (Muslim, not really a board); and, by contrast, Hindu job sites – which seem to seek candidates with Hindu language or cultural skills. The Church of Latter-Day Saints provides a range of different job boards and states that it is not exclusive to Mormons.

For many cultures and subcultures a homogeneous, immersive environment is the most appealing way to live and work. But where are the winners here? People who seek faith-based work environments lose the value of collaborating with people from different cultures, who offer different ideas and perspectives; and people who are excluded from faith-based workplaces may be victims of discrimination.

True, that doesn’t cause my pulse to race either.

Yet, for job seekers, specialty boards may be an essential place to promote your resume. Think about it: you’re a bigger fish in a much smaller pond.

Personally, I also think you should participate in the Monster, HotJobs and Career Builder sites too. Because, after all, why not? These are passive approaches and the odds strongly suggest that you will need to take other steps as well to get hired.

I also advocate looking for work on social networks, too, but that’s a bit trickier and a discussion for another day (or two).

Job Profiles culled boards in these fields: Design; Healthcare; Advertising and Marketing; Technology; Management; Finance; Sales; Education; Office; Retail and Customer Service; Legal; and my personal favorite, Miscellaneous.

While I was nosing around on Job Profiles, I stumbled upon this headline: Screw Pleasing Your Parents: 11 Careers That Will Make You Happy. The list speaks truth: journalist is on it. And, yes, my dad wanted me to go into business.

There doesn’t seem to be a job board yet for bloggers, but I haven’t lost faith. Si se puede.

But the purple beast has a target on its back. Some job seekers who have entrusted Monster with personal histories and contact data have been victimized by phishing and e-mail scams.

I received an email from Monster Friday that contained the following warning:

“We have recently become aware of a fraudulent (“phishing”) email, claiming to be from Monster, which was sent to a large group of Internet users, including some of our customers.

The fraudulent email, which may be personally addressed, directs the recipient to a fraudulent website to download a Monster “Hiring Tool”, “certificated utility”, “Job Seeker Tool” or other program that the email claims is needed to continue to use Monster services.

Please be aware of the following information should you receive this email:

   – The fraudulent email is NOT from Monster. It contains “spoofed” domain information designed to mimic a Monster address.

   – This email was sent [to] millions of consumers, not just Monster customers, hoping that those people who are Monster customers will react to it.”

I appreciate the warning, especially given the increasing sophistication of phisher’s attacks. And, as you might imagine, this has happened before: http://www.sparkplug9.com/bizhack/2006/07/20/monster-phishing-scam/

In February another scam hit both Monster and CareerBuilder customers. A recent Washington Post article said job seekers were victims of a “USA Voice” fake-job scam. An organization called Internet Defence  tracked 92 CareerBuilder incidents on Dec 14^th, 2006. Yet, the facts also indicate that banking customers are far more likely to be targeted than job board users, according to PhishTank’s list of popular targets. 

Have you been the victim of a phishing attack? Do warnings such as these make you think twice about posting sensitive personal data on the Internet?