For many college students, job hunting has become much more like job fishing. Just to be sure that they reel in the ideal job, they keep the Net nearby.

Angling analogies aside, students, in increasing numbers, are using the Internet to find information that may give them an edge in the job market, according to Laura Windsor, a reference librarian at Ohio University's Alden Library.

Windsor co-ordinates quarterly instructional sessions that show students how to access a text browser, Lynx, through their e-mail accounts, and how to submit personal information to job sites. Many of the job bulletin boards linked to Ohio University's Career Services home page have doubled in recent months, Windsor said.

Those who see the value of the Internet as a job-hunting tool, Windsor said, "are not just students and not just people looking for jobs...I think employers are realizing it (as well)."

Many who search online have specific career goals--even specific employers--in mind. Allison Fisco, a Management Information Systems student, said she doesn't use the Internet so much for getting job leads, but for finding information on companies with which she'll be interviewing.

"You can tell a lot about a company from its home page," she said. "If it's really neat and up-to-date, it gives you a sense that it's a company that's on the move."

Even in the relatively short time the job-hunting session have been offered, librarian Windsor said she's noted a difference in how students relate to the Internet. "Last spring," she said, "I had to be a little more basic than this past fall. I think people are--because it's in the media a lot, the Web and the Internet--a lot more conversant in Internet lingo, so they're further along, which is good."

In addition to mastering the jargon, some students have gone a step furtherby creating and posting HTML versions of their resumes via their e-mail accounts. Melanie Shrimplin, a Management Information Systems student, said she believes posting her resume distinguishes her from other job hunters. "Especially in my field," she said, "if you show that you can do anything extra, it's a real bonus."

Often, posting a resume can serve as a matter of convenience as well as a display of competence. Said business student Stacy Whyte, "If I'm on the phone with someone (regarding a job), I can always tell them to look at my resume, online."

Even so, chances are slim that a corporate conglomerate comes across one adequate resume--among millions of web pages. To find qualified candidates, many companies subscribe to databases such as Resume Expert, which is affiliated with the Career Services office at Ohio University and about 250 other colleges.

From an employer's perspective, said Donna Walker, senior Midwest marketing executive for Resume Expert, "it's much more time-effective and cost-effective to search at a central site instead of looking up individual students' web pages. Of course, it shows a tremendous amount of ambition and technical skill [to create an online resume], but as an employer, you simply don't have the time to do it."

To fulfill the needs of its client companies, Walker said her firm has instituted a new service that issues "internet directory books"--diskettes containing information on students who have paid Resume Expert to submit resumes on their behalf--to employers throughout the nation. Soon, colleges affiliated with Resume Expert will be able to FTP student information directly to the Resume Expert home page.

For more information, contact Ohio University Career Services at (614) 593-2909.