According to an article on USNews.com, 67.9% of Internet hires last year came from website submissions.  However, simply sending your resume to a company's website is not enough.  Experts say you need to include a referral from an employee of the target company in your application if you want your resume to go to the top of the pile.

The person referring you can just be someone in the company that is willing to let you use his or her name.  Gerry Crispin, who authored a study by CareerXroads said. "I believe that the advantage is 100 to 1.  I'd even stand outside and offer an employee $5 to refer me because it means that much to me."

Ironically the tried-and-true technique of networking is one of the latest fads in Internet job hunting.  Linkedin.com lets a members leverage his or her E-mail address book into a huge web of professional contacts and is taking referral-based job hunting to the next level.  It has just announced a partnership with the Direct Employers Association, a job board whose 200,000 listings link directly to corporate websites.  When LinkedIn members go to a listing, they will not only get the job description but also find out whom they know who could introduce them to a person already working at the company.  Even the largest job site of them all, Monster.com, is introducing a networking feature that allows users to enter their professional profiles, search for someone else's profile, or try to find people with similar professional experience.  Employers use the grapevine 80% of the time.

One important job-hunting rule to remember:  be careful about giving out your personal information.  Many searchers don't realize that if they post a resume or hire a firm to "blast" it to hundreds of companies, their personal information could be circling cyberspace for years to come -- and possible fall into the hands of an identity thief.  "At this point in time, I don't recommend posting a resume online anymore," says Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum.  "The risks outweigh the benefit."  Even when you answer an Internet ad, Dixon suggests caution.  Use only your first initial, not your name, on your resume, use a post office box, not a permanent address, and create a disposable E-mail address exclusively for job hunting.  Never include your Social Security number or the names and phone number of your references on your resume, either.  "If you never look online, you'll miss opportunities," says Dixon, "but there are some serious downsides to it if you do not know what you are doing."

It is no longer wise to splatter your resume across the Internet.  Better bets are corporate, industry-specific, and so-called networking sites.  You may want to check out:

• Medzilla.com - the place to go for jobs in the pharmaceutical industry
• LinkedIn.com - network here with like-minded professionals and follow links to corporate web sites
• Malakye.com - "Action" sports fanatics might find a dream job here
• Monster.com - still the largest job site but now with a networking feature that allows job seekers to meet up with others of similar career interests

Note:

Not only do you take the risk of identity theft when you post or blast your resume, the results are not very encouraging and can often be a waste of time that could be better spent networking in person and on the telephone.