In early 2008, Project Hired gave me a two-page printed list of job-search Websites, consisting of 60 hostnames on the first page and 50 hostnames on the second page, with no idea of what is offered at each site. I asked several people where to find the machine-readable data that went into that file, but nobody would tell me. Apparently each client of Project Hired is supposed to manually re-key the entire list, or find OCR services somehow. I haven't done either yet. For the time being I'm manually re-keying one at a time as I try each (below).

This file will eventually be a critique of all these job-search Web sites, including one additional site somebody wrote on my copy of the listing, and any additional sites anyone may suggest at a future time. I'll describe my experience trying to search for job listings and post my resume on each site that I try.

ca[l]jobs(X) / craigslist(x) / peninsulaworks(x) / dice(?) / experience(X) / jobs(X) / jobfind(X) / job-hunt(X) / computerjobs(XX) / statejobs(x) / jobsonline(XX) / jobsjobsjobs(XX) / jobssmart(XX) / novapic(w) / monster(XX) / bajobs(XX) / indeed(x) / flipdog(XX) / nelsonjobs(XX) / thingamajob(XX) / quintcareer(XX) / ... / jobstar(x) / careerbuilnet(XX) / ... / bayareacareers(XX) / ... / hotjobs(x) / ... // bayareahelpwanted(x)
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None of those job-search sites (above) provide any way to automatically omit jobs that require skills/experience (such as JavaScript and AJAX) which I don't have, thus they all waste my time by showing me hundreds of jobs for which I obviously don't qualify and not one job for which I even might qualify. Here is a first draft of my proposal for a better job-ad filtering service which will eliminate most of the jobs for which I obviously don't qualify.

www.cajobs.ca.gov redirects me to here, which is apparently a scam of some kind.

I tried guessing that the host name in the handout was mistaken, that perhaps there was supposed to be an 'l' between "ca" and "jobs". So I re-started at www.caljobs.ca.gov (Encoding not supported.) where I see several options. I clicked on Job Seekers. Next I clicked on Content. There I see various options. If I click on: it takes me back to where I started.
www.craigslist.com redirects me here (HTML 4.01 Transitional! Passed) where I need to skip ten screens before getting to the "jobs" category. The following items might be of interest to me: I clicked on software / qa / dba (4 Errors, 1 warning) where the first job listed (on 2008.Oct.16) is PHP/MySQL developer programmer Skipping some other jobs where the title by itself shows that I obviously don't qualify at all, next comes Server-Side Java Developer The next plausable job title is Software Engineer (mountain view)
Must Have: The next plausable job title is Software Engineer (mountain view)
Requirements
Technical Skills The next plausable job title is Java Programmer
Heres what you need to be successful: The next plausable job title is PHP/MySQL developer programmer (san jose north)
Requirements
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Update 2011.Jan.14: I revisited this site, chose category software / qa / dba again. Note that while the frame around each help-wanted ad is in a consistent format, the ads themselves are not in any standard format, making it impossible to automatically locate the required-skills/experience section, and some ads don't even have such info at all.
The first several jobs are listed here, including one skill that I don't have, hence why I don't qualify for the job: Then I skipped job titles that didn't look appropriate for me. Here are the next good-looking job tities:
www.peninsulaworks.org (15 Errors) is for San Mateo County only. My disabled day pass for VTA isn't good there, so I would have no way to get to work, or even to an interview, so this Web site is worthless to me.
Out of sequence: I tried dice.com (45 Errors, 12 warnings) just now (2008.Oct.20): I clicked on Search Jobs which takes me to Dice - Advanced JobSearch (50 Errors, 29 warnings)
Then I put "Lisp" into the search form and click the Search button, which takes me to lisp Jobs at Dice.com (135 Errors, 75 warnings)
Then I narrowed it to California, which took me to lisp Jobs in California at Dice.com (135 Errors, 75 warnings) Only 7 jobs show as of 2009.Jul.01, and none of them are in the local area.)
Back to my original search 2008.Oct: my search results The number of mentions of Lisp is 26. The first three jobs in the local area are: Each requires extensive non-Lisp experience ahead of anything Lisp.
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Update 2011.Jan.14: I went to the Lisp jobs in California page again, and this time there were only 6 jobs listed, none of which primarily had anything to do with Lisp, but at least they are in a standard format so that automatically scanning for the "Skills:" section ought to be feasible. Here are the titles and skills required which I don't have: Next I went back to the search form, to try to search for "PHP", but the search form has no SUBMIT button, so it's completely non-functional. Next I copied the search-submit URL from years-ago Lisp search, which still worked as above, and edited it to specify PHP instead, then clicked on California where I had to skip 15 screens to get to 1 - 30 of 730 results. Showing the first two indiscriminately, then skipping any where the title already shows that I don't qualify, or the location is too far away:
www.experience.com: Java Developer takes me to a page that looks like this, where I see a large listing of jobs, not one of which seems to have anything to do with Java. This seems to be bait-and-switch.
Technology takes me to a page that lists a bunch of jobs, none of which are in the local area. It has a search form which can't be used from here because the submit button requires JavaScript.
www.jobs.com takes me here (14 Errors, 9 warnings), where it has a list of locations divided by state, but in California there's no link for SouthBay, so I clicked on San Francisco where there's a search form, so I tried searching for Lisp, but all I got was: Junior Python Developer and BIM Manager / CAD Manager.
Trying instead to search for Java, but most of the jobs are actually in the city of San Francisco, a few in San Bruno, Sacramento, and Los Angeles. Not one job in the local SouthBay area. If I search for Java Sunnyvale, only one job turns up, which is in the city of San Francisco, not in Sunnyvale or anywhere near here.
www.jobfind.com redirects to Jobfind - BostonHerald.com (258 Errors, 88 warnings) where I fill out the search form:
Search For Jobs
     * Keywords (e.g. Nurse or Insurance) ____________________
     * Location (City & State, or ZIP) Sunnyvale, CA_______
       [X] Include Surrounding Cities
     * Job Category [Internet_____________________]
     * Search Advanced Search
Next I click on the submit button, which takes me to Internet jobs in Sunnyvale, CA - Yahoo! Hotjobs. After skipping 7 screens, I come to a listing at jobs. If I click on Software Applications Development Engineer, Interm it takes me to Software Applications Development Engineer, Interm job in Sunnyvale, CA: Technology and Internet careers - Yahoo HotJobs. The job ad is pretty vague about required qualifications, so I decide to give it a shot. At the bottom it says:
                          To apply, please visit:
       http://careers.yahoo.com/jdescription.php?frm=jsres&oid=18683
If I go to that URL, I see a WebPage that starts with Yahoo navigation, then has another copy of that job ad, then a send-to-friend form, which I skip. Finally I arrive at the Apply link, but if I click on it, it takes me right back to where I just was.
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Update 2011.Jan.14: This time I searched for PHP, same location and industry as above, skipped 6 screens to reach 1-30 out of 66 Jobs where I show the first two jobs indiscriminately, then only the ones whose title doesn't already disqualify me:
www.job-hunt.org takes me to Jobs, Employers, and Job Search Resources - Job-Hunt.org (110 Errors, 37 warnings) where I have to skip 9 pages of navigation to reach the tenth screen where I finally find their search form and fill it out:
   Looking for a job?
   what?
   computer softwa (the TextField displays too short to show what I entered)
   job title, keywords
   where?
   sunnyvale, ca__
   city, state, zip
   Find Jobs
Clicking that submit button takes me to Find computer software programming jobs in Sunnyvale, Ca - Job-Hunt.Org where I have to skip 4 pages of navigation to find the list of jobs found. Looking at some of these jobs: Update 2011.Jan.16: Re-visiting Find computer software showing first 2 jobs then only later jobs that have plausable titles, each job redirects to a different primary job-posting site, hence inconsistent formats, making automatic scan for requirements section difficult/impossible: That's enough to manually explore at this site.
www.computerjobs.com (18 Errors, 9 warnings) gives me these options:
Linkname: Need help? Click here! = javascript:openWindow("/site_help.asp", "HelpWin")
Linkname: Search Tech Jobs = javascript:doKWSearch();
each of which requires JavaScript, so they are unusuable from home. Clicking on the advanced search button takes me to: powersearch.aspx where I filled out the form and pressed the submit button:
Link that you currently have selected
Linkname: Find Jobs!
Method: POST
Enctype: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Action: http://www.search.computerjobs.com/guest/powersearch.aspx
but it doesn't show me any jobs, Instead it just takes me back to the same form I was already at, with no indication what's wrong with how I filled out the form. This Web site is totally worthless.
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Update 2011.Jan.16: I tried this site again, found section at the end titled "Job Skill Search", clicked on PHP which gave me a list of jobs. First two shown indiscriminately, then skipped all the rest of the jobs on that page because they're too far away or I don't qualify: Pages 2,3,4,5 have nothing in the local area. Page 6 has: I'm tired at this point.
On 2011.Jan.17 www.statejobs.com gives me Nebraska Job Source (3 Errors, 4 warnings) which shows a refresh link to http://www.50statejobs.com/ which I clicked on, which took me to Free Job Postings at 50StateJobs.com - Your Internet Job Source (155 Errors, 7 warnings) where I see some links to categories per employer (goverment, hospitals, etc.), then a job-search form where I used keyword "PHP" and 10 miles from my Sunnyvale zip code, got results, first 2 shown indiscriminately, then only where job title looks reasonable: That's enough here.
On 2011.Jan.17 www.jobsonline.com took me to Jobs Online - Jobs Search and Listings at JobsOnline (7 Errors, 22 warnings) which has a search form, where I specified "PHP" as keyword and my zip code, submitted it, giving me Find PHP Jobs with JobsOnline (354 Errors, 414 warnings)
We've found 297 PHP jobs near Sunnyvale!
- Listing of 20 job summaries, but not one of them has a link to see details. Search-result page is totally worthless!!
On 2011.Jan.17 www.jobsjobsjobs.com took me to jobsjobsjobs.com: The Leading Jobs Site on the Net (26 Errors, 8 warnings) where I see:
FRAME: top (14 Errors, 6 warnings) (spew of garbage)
FRAME: search.php?uid=w054d34cd08c1a609.46670401&src= (271 Errors, 449 warnings) (links to other job-search sites, but no job-search form here)
FRAME: chatr (3 Errors, 3 warnings) -> Click here for chatrpad (Passed, 1 warning) -> (random chatter, including comment about Justin Bieber)
On 2011.Jan.17 www.jobssmart.org gave this error: Alert!: Unable to connect to remote host.
On 2011.Jan.17 www.novapic.org took me to NOVA (21 Errors, 2 warnings) I clicked on Job Seekers which took me to NOVA - Job Seekers (23 Errors, 4 warnings) but there's no search engine here, only this link: CONNECT! Job Seeker Center Online Resources which took me to CONNECT! - Online Job Search Tools (7 Errors) but there's no search engine here either, only links to:
Out of sequence, www.monster.com (129 Errors, 9 warnings) is a totally confusing Web site. Whatever option I click, I get more than thirty screens-full that have most of the same stuff repeated from where I just was. For example, here is what the toplevel page looks like, and after I click on this link Find Jobs, here is what I see. It's not clear which of the many search forms on the same page I should use. A person at Project Hired says there are boolean searches here, but I can't find them. I tried one of the search forms, searched for Java, ended up here. After 8 screens full of repeated boilerplate copied from other screens, I finally got to the first actual job listing: Next job: General complaint: In order to apply for a job, I need to establish my own account on Monster, but there's no way to establish an account without having a brand-new computer I can't afford that has direct InterNet access with JavaScript, which I won't be able to afford until *after* I get a job and pay off debts and finally have some money left over.
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On 2011.Jan.17 I went to Job Search: Find a Job from Millions of Job Listings Online | Monster.com again, and found a long complicated serach form, but the submit button requires JavaScript, so I can't use it here.
On 2011.Jan.17 I went to www.bajobs.com i.e. BAJobs.com: Bay Area jobs, San Francisco jobs, San Jose and more! (67 Errors, 69 warnings) where I filled in "PHP" as keyword and selected Job Category [Computer/IT] and clicked the submit button, which takes me to BAJobs.com: Bay Area jobs, San Francisco jobs, San Jose and more! (46 Errors, 47 warnings) which says "We are currently conducting a survey." with a spiel about how they want my answers and I should select "Now" or "Later", but there's no way to select either.
Finally it says "No results matched your search.", i.e. they claim there is not a single PHP job anywhere in the bay area, which is so stupid I consider this WebSIte to be worthless.
Out of sequence, www.indeed.com (2 Errors, 6 warnings): I filled out form and submitted, taking me here where I see a list of several job titles with numbers after them:
* Software Engineer (94)
* Senior Software Engineer (81)
* Software Developer (37)
* Sr. Software Engineer (29)
* Software Development Engineer (27)
* Software Engineer - Full time (25)
* Sr Software Engineer (20)
* QA Engineer (16)
* Software Architect (15)
* Senior Software Engineer - Full time (14)
* Information Developer (13)
* Software Developer Co-Op (12)
* Software Designer II (12)
* Embedded Software Engineer (10)
* Engineer, Software (10)
I clicked on the first option, which took me here where I see a list of companies and a list of cities. I clicked on Sunnyvale, CA where I see a list of companies followed by a list of specific job openings. Trying some of the job openings: On 2011.Jan.17 I tried www.indeed.com (30 Errors, 16 warnings) again, filled in form what = [PHP], where = [Sunnyvale, CA], clicked submit button, got list of jobs, showing first 2 indiscriminately, then only those which look reasonable from the title: On 2013.May.31 I tried indeed.com again (What: PHP / Where: Sunnyvale, CA) with these results (skipping those I can already filter based on title or inline summary):
On 2011.Jan.18 I tried www.flipdog.com for the first time, but "HTTP request sent; waiting for response." just hung for several minutes. Then I aborted and tried again, with same hangage.
On 2011.Jan.18 I tried www.nelsonjobs.com for the first time, which redirects me here, where the company is identified as "Nelson and Assoiciates". In section titled "Find Jobs by Location", I clicked on South Bay There's a large form for specifying keywords etc., and stuff for saving a search, but then a submit button called "Search" has a note under it saying "Sign In to use this feature." which seems to say I'm not allowed to search without first creating an account and logging in. I ignored that and entered keyword "PHP" and selected Job Category [IT/Technical/Analyst] and clicked the Search (submit) button. It gave me the same form back again, and a bunch of help info duplicated from after the Search button of the form, which filled 9 screens, then finally started showing search results: The rest of the search results have nothing whatsoever to do with PHP or Web scripting or anything even close, so this is a total waste. I don't know why they even pretend to have a search engine that takes a keyword such as "PHP".
On 2011.Jan.18 I tried www.thingamajob.com for the first time, but "HTTP request sent; waiting for response." just hung for several minutes. Then I aborted and tried again, with same hangage.
On 2011.Jan.18 I tried www.quintcareer.com for the first time, got a page that looks like this: FRAME: quintcareer.com Click here to go to quintcareer.com . clicked on first link, and on that page I tried each of these links: each of which took me to a page similar to the one I was already on, none of which have any job-search form.
On 2011.Jan.18 I tried www.jobstar.org for the first time, which took me to JobStar: Job Search Guide which has a simple search form. Entered "PHP" and clicked the submit button, but it took me to JobStar Local Job Search which doesn't show even one result. Clicked Job Search which took me to a new, more complicted, search form, and a list of search results that have nothing to do with PHP. Filled in "PHP" again, and "Sunnyvale, CA" as location, clicked the submit button, and finally I have ten search results:
On 2011.Jan.19 I tried www.careerbuilnet.org for the first time, result: Alert!: Unable to connect to remote host.
On 2011.Jan.19 I tried www.bayareacareers.com for the first time in years, which redirected me to Bay Area Careers | Jobs and Employment with San Francisco Bay Employers which offers me smaller regions, of which I selected SiliconValleyCareers.com but that gave me HTTP request sent; waiting for response. which hung for several minutes. But finally it took me to SiliconValleyCareers.com | Jobs in Silicon Valley | Find Employment | Search Employers in the South Bay Area - Silicon Valley Careers, where I clicked on Job Seekers which took me to SiliconValleyCareers.com | Jobs in Silicon Valley | Find Employment | Search Employers in the South Bay Area - Silicon Valley Careers which looks just like the page I was already on. There seems to be no way to search for job openings here.
On 2011.Jan.20 I tried www.hotjobs.com for the first time in many months, which redirected me to Monster+HotJobs -- Search Open Jobs, Post Resumes, Find Opportunity. Filled out search form: City & State or ZIP (USA) [Sunnyvale, CA] Select a Job Category [Internet] Enter Keyword(s) [PHP] clicked submit button (at top of form)
1-30 out of 75 Jobs
showing first 2 and selected later:
On 2011.Jan.19 I tried www.bayareahelpwanted.com (handwritten on my listing by somebody at Project Hired) for the first time, which took me to Bay Area job search and jobs posting. Find a high quality employee. Find the perfect job. Next, I clicked on Find a Job. From there I clicked on Search Jobs. In the search form, I entered "PHP" as keyword, and clicked submit button:
Your search resulted in 17 "PHP" jobs in Bay Area.
There's a link to each single-job, but immediately after it inline there's a complete copy of the job description, so clicking on links is redundant. Below are first two jobs and selected jobs later:

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