Jun 30 2003 12:00AM

Another week has started and I am committed to keeping a schedule. That's something I've been doing all along in my search. I get up on time, login consistently and work at least eight hours a day. I have a home office equipped as I would a regular business office. I check several job sites daily and read the email updates. I'm subscribed to a dozen job search engine sites. Despite its popularity Monster.com does not seem to be much help. I receive a daily update and rarely are there any listings with a good fit. An acquaintance advised me to update my Monster resume every few weeks to refresh the search engines employers use to query the site. I did that last week and received some useless activity --more on that later. So I guess he was right. I should probably do that for the other sites. I also use GeoWeb. It generates daily leads. Often I respond to one or two a day with a targeted letter and focused resume. GeoWeb costs but seems a good value. I've found the same jobs listed on multiple engines so it doesn't make sense to subscribe to them all. That brings up a whole big issue that both frustrates and irritates me to no end. I label them the Seeker Sharks. These are the companies that target job seekers as customers. They sell a variety of services of questionable value with no guarantees and plenty of fees. Often a job listing isn't a job at all; it's a Seeker Shark trolling for customers. You need separate the Seeker Sharks from the legitimate process facilitators like contingency or fee paid agencies. Each week I get a few emails and phone calls from Sharks with varied agendas. Mostly they sell a resume service. Increasingly they offer to blast a resume to tens of thousands of companies. Some offer franchise opportunities. The most insidious offer franchises for executive job placement services. Stop looking for the right position and swim with the Seeker Sharks. Generally I respond to these ads until I ferret out their intention. I wonder if it saps me of energy or makes me wiser and emotionally stronger. Someone questioned what I meant by, "I think I know the answers." Having job searched several times in my career I considered myself sufficiently wise and skilled as an applicant. Perhaps not - my time out of work argues against me. Clearly the old rules written in a less computerized, networked and electronic job market don't apply in this one. The only measure of success is the right offer. Part of my severance included payment for an executive outplacement firm. I researched and found a prominent advertiser in Nashville--where I wanted to settle. I had visited them a few months before my separation and then again after I was released. I interviewed with the President, read all their material and found no filings with the BBB or Chamber of Commerce. They represented themselves to have local and regional business connections and the ability to put me in front of decision makers to focus my search and compress my time frames. I signed up. It took several weeks of sessions before I suspected they lacked any real ability to help me or anyone else. Their contacts were non- existent and their service consisted of some self assessment tests and a resume writing exercise. They occasionally delivered a leads I had found on my own. After a few months my counselor was fired and we got together. He confirmed my worst suspicions. I spoke with dozens of their clients who received similar unfulfilled promises. Though several attorneys assured me the firm was actively practicing criminal fraud, pursuing a case would require a four-figure retainer. The BBB and state consumer protection agency offered only sanction and not remedy. Then I got a letter from the firm's attorney accusing me of all sorts of malfeasance, business and tortuous interference. They threatened a lawsuit if I spoke with their existing clients and unilaterally terminated my contract. That's in the past and I wonder every day if I could have handled it better. Job hunting approaches: I wonder about the job search engines on the Internet. Are they worth it? How much should one spend in time, effort and cash to others to support a viable and serious search? Hurdles & issues: What should I have done differently in searching and selecting a firm to facilitate my search?