Free Pint No.78 - Careers, Radio and Knowledge Management
Free Pint
"Helping 34,000 people use the Web for their work"
http://www.freepint.co.uk/
ISSN 1460-7239 4th January 2001 No.78
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IN THIS ISSUE
EDITORIAL
MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
from Cvetko Ostroznik
FREE PINT BAR
In Association with Factiva
a Dow Jones & Reuters Company
Reviewed by Simon Collery
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
"Radio Industry Web Sites"
By James Hatts
BOOKSHELF
"Common Knowledge -
How Companies Thrive by Sharing What They Know"
Reviewed by Martin White
FEATURE ARTICLE
"Careers Information Resources"
By Brian Nisbet
EVENTS, GOLD AND FORTHCOMING ARTICLES
CONTACT INFORMATION
ONLINE VERSION WITH ACTIVATED HYPERLINKS
http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/040101.htm
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ADVANCED SEARCHING ON THE WEB - 30 January 2001 at the British Library
In just one morning, this course will show you the most
appropriate place to start - a directory, a search engine, or both
combined? Discover how to quickly narrow or broaden your searches. For
instance, do you keep getting an unwanted site dominating your
results? Are you looking for terms within a URL only? Contact Tony
Catarinicchia 020 7412 7915 or visit our website at
http://www.bl.uk/services/stb/courses.html for further details.
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>>> ABOUT FREE PINT <<<
Free Pint is a community of business professionals who use the Web for
their work. Members receive this free newsletter every two weeks
packed with tips on finding quality and reliable business information
on the Internet. Signing up at provides
free access to the substantial archive of articles, book reviews,
industry news and events, with answers to your research questions and
networking at the "Free Pint Bar" and "Student Bar". This newsletter
is best read when printed out and viewed in a Courier font.
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EDITORIAL
If you read my Editorial in the last issue then you'll know that I was
just about to fly off to somewhere in the world for a 'survival' week
for the BBC's forthcoming new series of "Bare Necessities". Well, they
flew us to the Arizona Desert just outside Phoenix where we built
our hut in Gold Canyon at the foot of Superstition Mountain!
I can't tell you too much about it, however we had lots of fun doing
cowboy-like things among the cacti and did in fact survive (as you may
have gathered). We were forced to eat little wriggly things and yes it
was absolutely freezing at night. I won't tell you if we three
'librarians' (am I a librarian?) beat the 'car salesmen' in the race
for achievement points, so you'll have to watch BBC2 in February to
find out. For the benefit of the two thirds of Free Pinters outside
the UK who can't see BBC2, just watch your local variation such as
"Survivor" and you'll get the idea. Did the experience change me as a
person? Well, I do now have a greater appreciation of the little
luxuries in life, such as food. Would I do it all again? Yes please.
We have some very interesting articles in today's Free Pint. We take a
look at how the Internet is transforming the radio industry in
surprising ways, and where to find UK career information on the Web -
not job sites but where to get actual career guidance. There's a
review of an interesting Knowledge Management book, as well as lots of
tips and the regular review of the latest at the Free Pint Bar.
On the topic of survival, I would once again ask for your help in
encouraging your colleagues and friends to sign up for the Free Pint
newsletter. We do rely on your support to help us grow our community
and by using our paid services like the new UK company research
gateway at you can invest directly in
the continued growth of Free Pint this year.
On that note, from me and the team here at Free Pint, we hope you have
a very Happy New Year!
Cheers
William
William Hann BSc MIInfSc
Founder and Managing Editor, Free Pint
e: william@freepint.co.uk
t: +44 (0)1784 455435
f: +44 (0)1784 455436
Free Pint is a trademark of Free Pint Limited
http://www.freepint.co.uk/
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Use Cruiser - for hosting with a difference!
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>>> WHAT BETTER WAY TO REACH THE INFORMATION RESEARCH COMMUNITY? <<<
If you have something to say to business researchers
around the globe, then you should be advertising here.
Find out more about the benefits:
http://www.freepint.co.uk/advert.htm
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MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
from Cvetko Ostroznik
* Linkscan's Quickcheck - Integrity checks for links that have died,
don't work or have been redirected.
* TheCounter.com - Free counter service with up to the minute stats
including referring pages.
* Internet.com - Valuable resource for all Web building needs.
* Tifosi-Club for all the latest Ferrari F1 news. With inside stories,
a great online store, chat facilities and worldwide buddy link up
for international race travelers. Site monitored 24hrs a day.
* F1 Rumours - For the best daily news during the Formula 1 season and
a great live simulcast across the entire weekend.
Cvetko Ostroznik is an Australian Solicitor and recent E-Com Graduate
living in Detroit USA. His site is NetNewsCafe
with 40+ Internet topics, 4,000+ links and
twice daily updates.
Tell us about your top five favourite Web sites. See the guidelines at
or email
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** Isabella joined the Internet start-up to end up rich **
If she's not careful, she'll end up dead!
Starting on 8th January, read the first instalment of the
serialised mystery, 'Trouble at Risk-eGames.com' exclusively
presented on the Factiva InfoPro Alliance portal.
http://www.factiva.com/infopro
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>>> IT'S FREE TO SEARCH ALL STATUTORY UK COMPANY INFORMATION <<<
Search across all UK companies today for free
and purchase detailed information only as you need it.
There are no setup fees or monthly charges.
http://www.freepint.co.uk/icc/
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FREE PINT BAR
In Association with Factiva
a Dow Jones & Reuters Company
Reviewed by Simon Collery
http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/040101.htm#bar
Free Pint Bar - http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar
[Note: To read a posting enter the message number in place of XXXX in
the address or enter
the number in the "Jump To" box on the Bar homepage]
Sometimes I feel like an evangelist for all things online and in a
way I am. Sure, high tech companies took a knock in the financial
world last year, but for information people and researchers there are
many blessings to be counted and I'm looking forward to another year
of surfing. There are problems to be tackled but a lot of us would
be out of a job if there weren't.
Communications have been greatly improved by the development of the
Internet and those using it now have easy access to tools that didn't
exist a few years ago. I recently reviewed a site that lists quite a
number of these tools, which are freely available to everyone with an
Internet connection (6404). Some older forms of communication have
been enhanced too. Voluminous phone books can be replaced by
sleek online directories (6489) and even reverse look-up directories
in some cases (6405).
One of our subscribers wants to know if you can get your stationery
designed online without needing to visit the designer (6540).
Possibly, depending on where you live. But not everything online is
going smoothly. Recently we have heard from a Free Pinter whose ISP
has collapsed leaving a lot of people without a connection
(6521, 6560) and from another who is unable to contact the company
hosting his Web site (6468).
Finding business information has been revolutionised by the Internet
and we have had queries on landfill contractors (6382), economic data
on Cambodia (6426), company data (6461, 6535), business proposal
templates (6474) and annual reports (6528). There were also a couple
of questions about jobs (6518, 6554). We are still looking for a
listing of top UK PR companies (6573) and convertibility of currency
in current and capital accounts (6550) if anyone has any suggestions.
Other free information resources are plentiful too and one of the
aims of my daily Tipples is to highlight the best I can find. You
can listen to numerous styles of music all day long (6423) while
viewing great art, literature and historical documents (6512, 6494)
if you like. But if you are at work you can search for events
(6513), ASPs (6523, 6477), patent data (6479), education information
(6451, 6471) and protection against discrimination at work (6534),
among other things.
Statistical and quantitative data is tricky, but there are plenty of
sites to check up (6438, 6439, 6501, 6509). Some specific questions
have been asked about UK sites without UK domain codes (6496) and
online advertising in the car market (6510) and they haven't been
answered yet. It's hard to say why quantitative questions can be so
hard to answer but some data is probably just not available. And I
suspect search tools are not so good at certain types of query.
Now, said search tools are given a hard time, but what they do is
often impressive. However, we are always looking out for superior
search tools (6415, 6596, 6444). Apparently there are people known
as Web ferrets who spend their time surfing for information, sales
leads, etc (6416). Haven't come across the term myself but it does
sound a little like my job. Perhaps some Web ferret would be
interested in answering questions about search engine registration
and rankings (6410, 6435) and indeed, questions about search engines
in general (6374).
Developing all these useful search tools, communications tools and
resources are the Web masters and technical bods. They have been
asking and answering questions about surfing with frames (6390),
problems with Dreamweaver (6412), IE favourites (6450), Lotus CC Mail
(6481), MS Publisher (6485), chatroom legal issues (6500), HTML title
tags (6508), Netscape bookmarks (6519), Web content management
systems (6545), creating Web sites (6547) and online survey design
(6580).
More miscellaneous questions have been asked about online auctions
(6392), Mailbase's change of name to Jiscmail (6398), rules to the
game "Tower of Hanoi" (6420), classified email directories (6440),
anti spamming laws (6456), autonomous learning (6559), customer
surveys on Intranets (6568), counterfeit banknote detection
techniques (6464), word and number puzzles (6589), occupational
awareness research (6592) and competitions for schools (6409).
And I think that just about wraps it up.
Free Pint Student Bar - http://www.freepint.co.uk/student
[Note: To read a posting enter the message number in place of XXXX in
the address ]
The Student Bar is waking up after its Christmas lull with a question
about the opacity and/or transparency of medical literature. Does
anyone know about any research in this area? (1105).
Simon Collery, Content Developer
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TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/040101.htm#tips
"Radio Industry Web Sites"
By James Hatts
Radio and the Internet go together very well. Despite early
predictions that the Internet would have an adverse effect on
traditional media such as radio, the past few years have shown that
there are many synergies between the two media.
In a local context, the World Wide Web has enabled radio stations to
communicate directly with their audiences and provide support
materials for their programmes. In a broader context, national and
regional boundaries have been blurred as even the smallest radio
station can stream its output over the Internet and reach out to new
audiences. And not only is audio streaming less bandwidth-intensive
than video, but it's possible to listen to radio whilst working on
other things.
This is a brief survey of industry websites. I have not attempted to
cover every aspect of this huge industry, but the sites I have
included should provide a good basis for further investigation of the
world of radio.
Industry sites
--------------
Starting points for information on the industry wordwide include
About.com's Radio Guide . Generally
speaking, radio portals seem to be country- or region-specific.
The best UK source for radio industry information is the formidable
Media UK Web site . It has a comprehensive
directory of radio stations, a directory of radio presenters and links
to industry news sources. The Media UK forums offer a lively community
for discussion and gossip.
Industry news
-------------
One of the best sources for industry news is ukRadio.com
- it's constantly updated and you can also
receive a weekly email digest of the site's news coverage.
A radio news site covering the USA and Canada is RadioDigest.com
. Media Central has a Radio news channel
, but it does not appear
to be regularly updated.
John Cull's long-established Waveguide service
now carries less radio news than it has
in the past, but it's still worth checking out if the Java menus don't
crash your browser.
It's a pity that the industry's leading printed magazine in the UK has
transferred so poorly to the Web - The Radio Magazine website
carries a few news stories, but
you get the sense that they are missing an opportunity here.
For industry gossip, Radiogoss is the
place to go. It has recently been sold by the founder and the site's
format has changed, but there are still some good nuggets of gossip.
The site survived an attempt to shut it down last year when EMAP Radio
objected to coverage of its stations.
The Radio Academy has a useful side panel on its Web site
which rounds up radio news from across
the Web.
The Guardian's new Media Guardian site
has an impressive
Broadcast section.
Radio stations
--------------
BBC Radio's homepage provides a gateway
to the Corporation's many radio services.
In the US, the National Public Radio site is
another useful resource.
FMjock.com has a directory of UK radio stations
which contains links to Web
sites.
The quality of station websites can vary enormously. Some stations
have a sophisticated Web presence, such as Virgin Radio
, whilst others have not progressed
beyond first-generation websites, such as London's Spectrum 558am
The RAJAR site is the place to go for
audience information on British stations.
Digital radio
-------------
Digital audio broadcasting (DAB) is currently changing the face of the
radio industry . The World DAB Forum Web site
is a good place to start for information on
this new technology. For specific UK information, check out the UK
Digital Radio Forum at .
Digital radio licence holders in Britain include Digital One
and Switch Digital
. The UK multiplexes include a mixture
of digital transmissions of existing analogue stations and new
digital-only services.
The BBC has a digital radio Web site at
which outlines its digital
broadcasting plans.
Internet broadcasting
---------------------
Yahoo! Radio is a good place to track
down live Web streams from the US.
Leading Internet-only broadcasters include US talk radio site
eYada.com and the UK's StormLive
.
Several UK stations are now launching additional channels exclusively
available online, such as Jazz FM's
subscription-based ejazz.fm .
Regulation
----------
Radio matters in the United States are dealt with by the Federal
Communications Commission . In the UK, the Radio
Authority issues licenses and
regulates output. Complaints about standards and fairness are assessed
by the Broadcasting Standards Council .
Student and hospital radio
--------------------------
The smaller-scale, voluntary-sector side of the industry plays an
important part in the development of new talent. The Student Radio
Association is the body that
represents student broadcasters in the UK, whilst the Student Radio
Awards recognise the on- and off-
air achievements of stations in this sector.
Beyond the Web
--------------
There are plenty of email discussion groups covering aspects of the
industry, from technical issues to discussion of specific stations and
presenters. Many of these are hosted by eGroups
and can be tracked down using the search
facility.
As ever, Usenet newsgroups can be worthwhile sources of specialist
information. and
are just two of the many specialist groups available.
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James Hatts is Website Manager at Politico's
, the high-profile Westminster political
bookstore and publishing company. He is also the producer of London-
SE1.co.uk , the local information site
for London's South Bank area. In addition, James has acted as an
Internet consultant to several voluntary sector organisations. He can
be contacted at .
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Related Free Pint links:
* "Broadcasting" links, articles and news in the Free Pint Portal
* Read this article online, with activated hyperlinks
* Post a message to the author now at the Free Pint Bar
* Access the entire archive of Free Pint content
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>>> FREE PINT FACT <<<
Want to hear an amazing 'coincidence' story? Well, on my return from
trying to survive in the desert in Arizona just before Christmas, I
had some 1500+ emails in my inbox. I had many wishes of "Good Luck"
from Free Pinters around the world, but of course nobody knew where
I'd been, and I didn't even know where we were going until I arrived
at the airport. One email however stood out from the rest ...
"Your upcoming adventure sounds like it may be an experience to
remember! I'll keep my fingers crossed that you have a wonderful time
as well as a memorable one! Unfortunately, I won't be able to see the
outcome because I can't get shows from the BBC here in the wild west
of North America. :)
I have thoroughly enjoyed your newsletter and have shared it with
many. If you ever do get to the Phoenix, AZ, USA part of the world,
let me know. My husband and I would love to take you to dinner and act
as tour guides."
The only email out of 1500 to mention a specific place in the world,
and it happens to be the exact place we went to! Amazing!
William Hann, Managing Editor
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FREE PINT BOOKSHELF
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf
"Common Knowledge -
How Companies Thrive by Sharing What They Know"
Reviewed by Martin White
Nancy Dixon is an Associate Professor of Administrative Sciences at
The George Washington University, Washington, DC. The book is based on
a two-year study of organisations that are leading the field in
successful knowledge transfer, including Ernst & Young, Bechtel, Ford,
Chevron and British Petroleum.
From this study Dixon identifies five methods of knowledge transfer:
* Serial transfer - applies to a team that performs a task and then
the same team repeats the task in a new context
* Near transfer - transferring knowledge from a source team to a
receiving team that is doing a similar task in a different location
* Far transfer - transferring knowledge about a non-routine task
* Strategic transfer - complex knowledge transferred to a team
separated by time and distance
* Expert transfer - transferring explicit knowledge about tasks that
are routine, but carried out infrequently
Each chapter comprises a number of quite detailed case studies that
are very readable. For example the chapter on Near Transfer is based
on KM practices at Ford, Texas Instruments and Ernst & Young. The
characteristics of Near Transfer are then presented and then a set of
best practice guidelines is offered, neatly summarised in a concluding
table. Two final chapters provide first an overview of the five
transfer models, and then recommendations for building an integrated
(in the sense of accommodating all the models) KM strategy.
There are of course several hundred books on knowledge management and
I have read only a dozen or so of them. I cannot therefore position
Common Knowledge in a ranking list of KM books. What does appeal to
me is that this is a very practical book that provides a rather
different perspective on the management of information. There is a
certain amount of inevitable blurring between the five approaches, but
this does not detract from the value of the book. The detailed case
studies to my mind also confirm the benefits of the story-telling
approach to KM strategy development that has been developed by
Victoria Ward at Spark Knowledge and David Snowden at IBM.
There is a good index, but the references are confined to particular
articles or books that support the text of each chapter. This somewhat
restricts the value of the book as a starting point for someone new
to knowledge management. However I would recommend this book both to
managers starting out on the KM path, and also to experienced KM
practitioners that are looking for new models for KM strategy
development.
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Martin White is Managing Director of Intranet Focus Ltd.
. He has 30 years' experience in the
information business, in information management, publishing and
consulting roles. His areas of interest include the design and
management of intranets, the deployment of enterprise information
portals, and business development strategies electronic information
vendors. A regular contributor to Information World Review and Free
Pint, he is also a columnist for the US periodical EContent on
intranet issues and is currently completing work on a book on intranet
management. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the International
Journal of Information Management.
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Related Free Pint links:
* Related articles on "Knowledge Management" in the Free Pint Portal
* Find out more about this book online at the Free Pint Bookshelf
* Read about other Internet strategy books on the Free Pint Bookshelf
* Read customer comments and buy this book at Amazon.co.uk
or Amazon.com
* Details: ISBN 0875849040 published by Harvard Business School Press
written by Nancy M. Dixon
* Search for and purchase any book from Amazon via the Bookshelf
To propose an information-related book for review, send details
to .
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FEATURE ARTICLE
http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/040101.htm#feature
"Careers Information Resources"
By Brian Nisbet
So you want to be a photographer for MI5? Yes, there is information
about that on the web, along with a thousand other careers, whether
mainstream or a bit off the beaten track. Online information is being
provided not only by those involved in careers guidance, but also by
professional bodies and trade associations, specialist magazines and
journals, companies and a host of various organisations.
This article is about online careers information, not recruitment. It
is easy to find recruitment sites - some of them must be spending a
small fortune on marketing - and some of them are excellent. But
very often their 'careers guidance' section consists of advice about
interviews and writing your CV, not about the routes into different
occupations. So this is a brief survey of online
careers/occupational information, both for those looking for
information for themselves, and those responsible for providing
careers advice to others. The resources are all UK based, and are all
free.
But before launching into the sites, a small note on the issue of
classification. Apart from an obvious alphabetic system, there are two
different forms of classification used in some careers sites,
reflecting the systems in specialist careers libraries. CLCI (Careers
Library Classification Index) is mainly used in schools and colleges.
The AGCAS system (Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services)
is mainly used in Universities and other Higher Education
Institutions. Of course, if the sites are any good, you should be able
to find your way without knowing the system, but at least it explains
the hierarchies used by different sites, and why you might come across
this kind of entry: Prison Officer (MAD).
Comprehensive information sites
-------------------------------
One thing these sites have in common is that they are text heavy -
definitely substance over style. Since most of the key sites come from
an education or government background, they are refreshingly free of
banner advertising.
Learning Card Career Bank
has excellent comprehensive
coverage. Each career section starts with background information and
qualifications required, then provides further details, including
selected links to relevant professional bodies or trade associations.
Mainly aimed at schools and colleges, but there is a section on 'late
entry'. Good navigation - careers are organized both in career sectors
(CLCI) and A-Z listings (but the A-Z can be idiosyncratic - S has 12
entries before you actually get something beginning with S), and there
is a keyword search. For those familiar with the 'Occupations' book,
this is a bit like the online equivalent.
LearnDirect:Job Profiles
. This is
part of the University for Industry initiative, with ..."its vision of
'a learning society in which everyone, from whatever background,
routinely expects to learn and upgrade their skills throughout
life.'" So mainly aimed at mid-career users. There are concise
articles about dozens of careers, but there are no further links and
no search facility. It still harbours a few niggles e.g. the career
titles that are supposed to "appear on the right side of your screen"
actually appear as a drop down menu.
Prospects Web is produced by the
Higher Education Careers Services Unit. Of the dozen or so sites
claiming to be the number one graduate site, this is the real one. And
so it should be, since it is the official site of AGCAS (Association
of Graduate Careers Advisory Services) and contains literary output
from most of the Careers Advisers and Careers Information staff in
Universities and HE Colleges in the UK and Ireland. There is an
immense amount of useful information on hundreds of graduate careers
in the 'career planning' section, as well as surveys, careers
following particular degrees, ongoing links for further information
etc. However, sometimes the navigation is a bit tricky, and even when
you know what is in there, it is not always easy to find it. But if
it's graduate information you are looking for, it's worth persisting.
Plan It . Part of the Continuing
Education Gateway produced by Glasgow City Council. The top category
is split into about 26 different major career areas, with subsequent
sub-categories. There is no alphabetic or keyword search, which is
odd, because there is a keyword search on the courses part of the
database. But what it lacks in searching, it makes up for in cross
referencing to related jobs and relevant courses. Although the careers
information is relevant for all of the UK, the Scottish emphasis of
the site is seen in its links to courses in Scotland, and Scottish
professional bodies. Mainly aimed at schools and young people. Simple
design makes it easy to find your way around.
Input Youth Information and Resource Centre
. Another regional site,
mainly for schools, but this time for Northern Ireland, produced by
the North Eastern Education and Library Board. Similar to the Plan It
site above, but not as comprehensive. It includes links to relevant
Northern Ireland based organisations.
Not Quite So Comprehensive Information Sites
--------------------------------------------
For graduates, there are a number of useful sites from publishers who
have specialised in careers literature for Universities.
Characteristically, and understandably, most of the material is self
contained, and doesn't link to external sources. The better sites
include Doctor Job produced by GTI, with
several dozen brief job profiles written in a jaunty style. Inside
Careers only covers a handful of
professions e.g. Actuaries, but each one is covered in considerable
depth. Hobsons has a range of job
descriptions in the 'Graduate Careers' section.
Some Careers Service companies
and University
Careers Services
produce online information, often with a local emphasis e.g.Bradfacts
produced by Careers Bradford.
Increasingly, magazine and newspaper publishers are providing online
careers information, often allied to their recruitment section.
Usually they only cover a small number of mainstream careers e.g.
marketing, finance, health, but the information is very up to date.
For example, Workthing from the Guardian
Media Group includes current industry views for various sectors.
TotalJobs from Reed Business Information
has an 'insider's guide' in their career zone. Careerworld
produced by the Independent has short
articles for several dozen career areas.
Channel 4 has recently launched Brilliant Careers
to support a series of
programmes for schools to be broadcast later this year. The site
currently contains brief information for a large range of careers.
Reach for the Sky from BSkyB is
also aimed at young people, and contains case studies of various
careers, but it is a very flashy site, and doesn't work well in
Netscape.
Portals
-------
Careers A-Z (UK) . This portal is one of
the easiest to navigate and most comprehensive. As the title suggests,
it works on an alphabetic index, but there is also a keyword search
and cross reference links to related job titles. For each career
sector (and there are hundreds of them), there is a further breakdown
by type of link e.g. careers information, courses, jobs, professional
bodies etc. It is very broad ranging in the sources of links and the
coverage is impressively thorough - a well researched site and an
excellent starting point.
University of London Virtual Careers Library
. Another site with good coverage
of UK links. The design is uncluttered and clearly laid out in
sections e.g. Professional Bodies and Trade Associations, Career
Choice, Magazines and Journals etc. Most of the sections are then
organised by AGCAS classification. Unfortunately there is no cross
referencing within sections e.g. there is no link from the Health Care
Professional Bodies section to the Health Care Journals section. But
one useful feature is that the URL of the linked site is typed next to
the link - good if you want to print the page.
Careersoft produces multimedia CDs and
DVDs that are widely used in schools. This site is a portal to
professional bodies and trade associations including postal addresses
(for the increasingly few organisations without a web presence). A
very impressive list of careers, but sometimes the links are a bit
general and unspecific to that career. Another company, Trotman, who
publish numerous careers books, have also produced The Careers Portal
with useful links to Professional
Bodies, as well as being a shop window for their publications.
BBC Webguide has a Career Advice
element to their Education section. Each of the linked sites is given
a helpful short review, but the various subsections are a bit broad,
which makes it harder to find things quickly.
Northumbria University
. This site is
attached to the Careers Guidance course at Northumbria University, and
appears to be primarily designed as a resource for Careers Advisers
and teachers. It consists of a small number of long pages organised in
CLCI order.
Specific to particular careers and professions
----------------------------------------------
Many professional bodies and trade associations produce careers
information, much of it now appearing on the web. The better sites
include information on that profession or trade (of course), but also
information on how to get into it, a list of courses, links to job
vacancies and a few short articles from people doing that job. By way
of example, have a look at the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
and the Institute of Logistics and Transport
. As with all good design, it
should be obvious how to access that information from the home page,
but that is not always the case.
Some National Training Councils for various
sectors, produce some excellent online careers information. For
example, Skillset for Broadcasting, Film, Video and Multimedia
, or CITB for Construction
.
Finally, some specialist magazines and journals produce relevant
guides e.g. New Scientist graduate careers
.
For a list of other sites and portals, it is worth checking out the
'General Careers Advice' page of the University of London Virtual
Careers Library .
MI5
By the way, in case you do want to be photographer for MI5, you will
find the information at .
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Brian Nisbet is a Careers Adviser at the University of Sussex Career
Development Unit and edits the unit website .
In addition, he does some freelance writing and provides Internet
advice to several education sector organisations and graduate
recruitment sites. He can be contacted at .
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