Bridges Online.com Focuses
On Female Job Seekers

Of the many on-line job sites, one of the best I've seen is Bridges Online. According to their own publicity, "Bridges was built as a place for women in the Bay Area to connect and exchange information and job leads..." This web site is built by WWWomen, a San Francisco web based business that has developed a large search directory of topics for women. Although women make up more than 90% of this site's users, men can and do sign up.

If you've ever clicked onto the Monster board, the AOL employment site, or most other job-search sites, you know they tend to be complicated, glitzy and just all around confusing. It is easy to stray off course. Not so at Bridges. This is a very straightforward, easy to use site that guides the viewer to well-organized links. The Home Page with its black background and bright green and yellow text is very readable. Think of the Home Page as an interesting index. Links have a utilitarian white background that fit the no nonsense appeal here. The majority of links work; error messages are few. Since it is virtually graphic-free, it loads quickly.

Bridges Online is divided into six main categories:

• Look for a Job;
• Look for Candidates;
• 3rd Party Agencies;
• Job Resources;
• Temp/Freelance Work;
• About Us.

A hot job of the day is featured.

Beginning at the Home Page, the job seeker is asked first to fill out a simple survey, with the promise that the information will not be released. Results of this survey are found on the site, at the About Us link. From there, it is possible to subscribe to nine different lists divided into job and information categories. Lists include business, consulting, education, multi-media, non-profit, sales/marketing, technical and announcements. By entering just your name and e-mail address to one or more lists, job listings are e-mailed to you as they come in.

During the hour that I was investigating this site, I signed up for a few lists and within minutes received a confirmation that I was subscribed. Two hours later my first job announcement arrived in my e-mailbox. Unsubscribing is as easy as subscribing. Just click the unsubscribe button. That's it.

The heart of this site is the job forums. Starting at the Resume Room, resumes and a brief cover letter can be posted. If you've never posted a resume on a board like this, be prepared to do some reformatting. What looks good on paper, may not work on the cramped space of a screen. Check out the other resumes for successful (i.e. readable) formats.

Although Bridges Online is free to jobseekers, there is a posting fee for employers, employment agencies and headhunters.

One of my favorite sections is Job Resources. If you want to know what others are making in your field, check out the Salary

Surveys - very interesting. The Company Job Pages Database is an excellent resource. It is divided into regions. If you're looking for a job in San Francisco, North Bay, East Bay, Silicon Valley or Sacramento, click on the area you want. Click on a letter of the alphabet and there will be a number of links to all types of companies. Many of the links go right to the "jobs available" page of that firm. Even if no jobs are listed, you end up with an e-mail contact and good background information about that company. This can save hours of library research. It also introduces you to companies that you've probably never heard of that might be good job or informational interview possibilities.

On my scale of one to five mouse clicks - I'd give this a 4. It is simple to use; great info, technically well done and maintained. Not much in the way of graphic bells and whistles. As far as results (landing that perfect job), I can't comment.....yet.