Half the battle in a job search is figuring out where to look.

Sometimes students suffer from a case of paralysis by analysis: so overwhelmed by all the possible directions to look that they can’t make any decisions at all. If you just put the words “Jobs, Seattle” into your favorite web search engine you’ll pull up 21,800,000 hits in 0.29 seconds. With all the information out there, students need all the filters they can get.

Whether I’m brainstorming with sophomores looking for summer internships or graduating seniors starting a full-time job search, we spend about half our time figuring out what to look for, and the other half figuring out where. Industry blogs have been coming up more and more often as a great resource for job and internship opportunities.

Here’s a short list of blogs I found in the last few weeks related to specific Puget Sound student career interests:

Sustainable Food Jobs: Not just for positions in organic farming, but also education roles and non-profit work related to sustainable food.

Theatre Education Jobs/Theatre Education Internships: Run by the American Alliance for Theatre Education.

DC Public Affairs + Communications Jobs: A resource for Washington DC area jobs and internships in public affairs, communications, public relations, media, web development, lobbying and related fields.

Green Collar Blog: A central resource for anyone interested in green careers. Not only do they list job openings but also a list of green job boards, career fairs, recruiters, and solar companies.

Whatever your personal passion is, somebody is probably writing a blog about the topic. A resource like www.alltop.com can help you find blogs by topic. Even if the blog you find doesn’t post job opportunities, the blogroll (list of other blogs they follow) can be a fantastic source of information. Bonus – a blogger is far more likely to engage in a dialogue with you about careers in the field than an anonymous job board. When you find a blog you really like, leave comments and engage with the writer. Consider the bloggers out there as part of your personal army of people digging deep for opportunities and helping you win the battle.

© 2010 Career and Employment Services, University of Puget Sound
Photo: gerlos