Unemployment numbers may have dropped in May, but there are still plenty of folks out of work these days. Add that to the number of people who might want something else to do, and looking for work has become one of the most common uses of Lycos.
The word jobs and its various permutations are among our most popular searches every week, with very little variance. Last week for example, just the single word jobs, if included in the Lycos 50, would have been #12. That's before including other phrases like job search, career planning, and laid off staffers of Republican committee chairs.
Other than XFL players, who is out there looking for work on Lycos? Here are last week's most common searches for specific jobs. We've edited out searches based outside the United States, such as Canada jobs.
1) government jobs
2) computer jobs
3) health care jobs
4) summer jobs
5) work at home jobs
6) aviation jobs
7) teaching jobs
8) international jobs
9) teen jobs
10) part time jobs
11) engineering jobs
12) truck driving jobs
13) sales jobs
14) accounting jobs
15) graphic design jobs
16) environmental jobs
17) hotel jobs
18) construction jobs
19) finance jobs
20) pharmaceutical jobs
Wow, I wasn't kidding about those Republican staffers. Week in and week out, government jobs are the most popular job search. So much for that streamlining of the federal payroll we got promised back in 1994.
Two interesting notes: One-third of searches for computer jobs specify internet jobs. A similar percentage of searches for health care jobs specify nursing jobs, but there are very few requests for doctor jobs or physician jobs.
Of course, you can find all kinds of help for your job search at Lycos Careers, which offers job listings, resume postings, and all kinds of job advice including a very popular salary calculator.
The salary calculator said I should be making seven million dollars a year, but I mistakenly entered my profession as "light-hitting utility infielder with back problems." If you agree with the calculator, please email mikelansing@redsox.com.
TOMORROW: The new Lycos 50.
