Networking is the absolutely best way to find a job! People hire people they feel they can trust and who make them comfortable, so friends of friends are often hired.
According to a recent "sources of hires" study, employers reported filling jobs the following ways:
* 34? internal transfers and promotions
* 26? employee referrals
* 21? the company Website
* 12? job sites like Monster, etc.
So, someone outside of the employer's organization has the best chance of getting a job through an employee referral or the company Website. Sometimes working at a temp agency can get your foot in the door and you might qualify as an "internal" candidate.
That said, these are the sites that I recommend most often -
* Job-Hunt.org -
http://www.job-hunt.org/ Job-Hunt will help you identify possible employers and also job search networking and support groups to help you with your networking. On the state pages, you will find hundreds of employers for that state, with links going directly to the careers or jobs section of each employer's Website.
Be sure to check out the job search networking sites where you can make connections with employers and other job seekers, usually for free or very low cost.
The Fortune 500 companies are also organized by state, and there are many other carefully-selected resources to choose from on Job-Hunt.
See the articles about "Tapping the Hidden Job Market" -
http://www.job-hunt.org/hiddenjobmarket.shtml - and "Finding Jobs Online" -
http://www.job-hunt.org/findingjobs.shtml * Indeed.com -
http://www.indeed.com Indeed is an "aggregator" which collects jobs from job sites (like Monster, HotJobs, and CareerBuilder) as well as from employers, newspapers, etc., so you go to one central place to search for the jobs and cover more sites than you even know about.
Search on the kind of job you want (carpenter, sales associate, vice president of marketing) and the location in the U.S. - city, state, or Zip. Then you can sort by full-time, part-time, contract, etc. You can also save your search to have results e-mailed to you even when you don't visit the site.
* Craigslist.org -
http://www.craigslist.org/ Craigslist is a giant online classifieds site, broken up by location. There are "jobs" and "gigs" (project assignments). There are over 400 locations/craigslist.org sites, so pick your locations and do a search through the jobs - which are posted in reverse chronological order (newest at the top, oldest at the bottom).
For some tips on using Craigslist, see Guide to Using Craigslist to Find a job -
http://www.job-hunt.org/onlinejobsearchguide/article_guide_to_craigslist.shtml Good luck with your job search!