you with a position you want is pretty low. The truth is that most recruiters just avoid this process altogether, rendering the Web site useless. Do you want to be a part of that? I didn't think so.

Find companies that invite you to quickly profile your interests - what you want to do. Many of these sites will NOT even ask for a resume or personal data, but rather they simply need an email address (many use “freemail”) so they can send you positions that match your interest as well as information on the company. These savvy companies understand that while they may not hire you today, they would still like to take the opportunity of your Web site visit to establish a relationship on your terms. Why? Because giving you a positive impression and creating an ongoing dialogue based on your interests goes a long way toward identifying the right candidate fit. Not to mention, it makes good business sense - leveraging the Internet to get to know you better saves the company time and effort further down the line when hiring takes place. So, imagine you visit a web site today, profile yourself anonymously and begin receiving positions and information about the company once a month or every quarter. Three years later, you receive a position of real interest, in a place you want to live and, guess what, you already know the company history. Chances are, you'll respond. You've just been part of an online recruitment relationship we all can expect to become routine over the next 36 months. Positions from corporate Web sites are coming our way!

Do they have an automated process in place for you to qualify for opportunities of interest?

With increased productivity and more streamlined processes, companies simply do not have time to qualify candidates by making phone calls to hundreds of candidates. And in a world where companies are in heated competition for talent, they will need to reach that many or more in order to find the one candidate of interest also interested in them. Not easy. Many companies have found that when a candidate submits to a particular position they can ask a few specific qualifying questions to understand if the candidate meets their basic needs. If they do, the company can then began a deeper qualifying process, usually through a phone screen process. This gives the company manageable numbers to deal with while giving the candidate immediate communication as to whether he or she is qualified for the opportunity. The company hires faster because it has a targeted list to deal with and the candidates are in a better place because they know where they stand. If not qualified, a candidate can take actions on the next company they need to pursue.

Sounds good, right? Well, guess what, it's not automated and it's slow. And in your world, slow will not work. And slow is anything that's not fast and fast to you is immediate.

So now you can see that - thanks to the Web - you can judge a book by its cover. And today you have immediate access to all the books you could want. Every day as the Internet matures, companies are getting savvier about how to market themselves and show you what they stand for. Just remember that if you stay one step ahead of these companies and use the simple concepts above to evaluate what's out there and what's right for you, then you win!

Happy Hunting!

Hint: If you're having trouble evaluating job opportunities on-line, call all those companies with the ‘not-so-great' Web sites and tell them you know how to help them attract better talent faster and at a lower cost. Who knows -- you may just get hired.

Hank Stringer founded Hire.com in 1996, after more than two decades of experience as a successful recruiter, entrepreneur and innovator in the use of information technology in the recruitment and employment process. He was awarded the Texas eComm Top 10 Award in 2001, recognized as one of the top 10 Internet entrepreneurs in the State of Texas . Stringer is a frequent featured speaker at industry conferences and seminars, and is a frequently quoted source for industry facts by the national press and industry publications. Stringer was formerly president and cofounder of Pedley-Stringer, Inc., a high-tech executive recruitment firm. Previously, he served as an internal recruiting consultant for Tandem Computers and Dell Computer. Stringer began his career working for a national recruitment-consulting firm where he spent 10 years as a senior consultant and held various management positions.

The above is an excerpt from The Last Job Search Guide You'll Ever Need: How to Find and Get the Job or Internship of Your Dreams, which is available for sale for $19.85 in our bookstore or $27.00 at Amazon.com but for free to those who subscriber to our free career newsletter. This hot new book contains job search secrets of the most experienced, most knowledgeable and most respected career experts. Learn career planning, job hunting tools and tactics, interviewing, cover letter and resume writing (lots of samples!), networking, and how to find an internship. Written by 149 career experts. To receive a free copy, subscribe to our free career newsletter.

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