Whether you're looking for chemistry jobs, summer internships or research opportunities, the Internet provides a wealth of information.

Several Web sites offer chemistry or science-specific job boards and permit job seekers to post resumes. These sites also share industry trends and interviewing techniques. Some give guidance about potential salaries.

Over the last few years, the number of college graduates using the Internet to find jobs has soared. A survey by the American Chemical Society found that nearly a quarter of new graduates with a B.S. in chemistry used the Internet to find jobs in 2001, up from 3 percent in 1996.

"Any time you're doing a job search, you have to use all means available to you-whether it's a first-time job or mid-career or advanced career-from personal networking to print ads to online job boards," said Mary Funke, former general manager of the American Chemical Society's JobSpectrum.org site.

JobSpectrum.org offers career resources for professional chemists and chemistry students. Job seekers can post resumes, search job listings, browse employer information and receive e-mail alerts for new jobs. The site also provides tips on evaluating the job market and describes strategies for networking and interviewing. Most services are free even if you're not an ACS member.

Campus Center, part of JobSpectrum, is tailored for students, teachers and employers. Campus Center helps students plan careers and find jobs, internships and post-doc opportunities. It assists faculty in showcasing students and aids employers in finding entry-level talent.

Students can post resumes on Campus Center for top companies and chemistry departments to see. The job board lets students try a broad search or narrow their search using keywords.

Funke recommends key word searches because drop menus may just cover words that an employer highlighted. Using a key word search, a job seeker could find, for example, all entry-level pharmaceutical positions in sales in Indiana.

ACS members have the additional benefit of calculating potential salaries. The ACS Salary Comparator computes a range of full-time base salaries by factoring in experience, education, professional specialties, types of employers and geographic locations.

Students seeking internships and summer jobs can search the ACS online version of the Directory of Experience Opportunities. Updated each fall, the directory lists internships, summer jobs, fellowships and cooperative education (known as "co-op") programs.

The National Science Foundation, for example, runs the Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program, which gives schools grants to finance summer research opportunities for students.

"If someone goes to school far away but is home for the summer, they can look for a school near them," said Emily Thompson, education assistant in undergraduate programs at ACS. "If you're at a smaller school, you might have the chance to do research at a larger school."

Job seekers also can also check out classified ads in another ACS publication, Chemical and Engineering News.

"If I were a chemical professional, I would always follow Chemical and Engineering News," Funke said. "I would always follow JobSpectrum, and I would pick one or two other science-related sites, such as MedZilla or, if you're looking for European opportunities, sciencejobs.com."

Chemistry graduate students and professionals interested in academic jobs can use The Chronicle of Higher Education. You can link onto jobs from there or go directly to http://chronicle.com/jobs/.

In addition to locating jobs, searchers can use the Internet to investigate a potential employer. Students can find company information at JobSpectrum.org's Campus Center or go directly to a company's Web site. Job seekers also can find financial information and company news at Hoover's, Inc. A company name search for Procter & Gamble, for example, turns up a "capsule" summary that says P&G is the No. 1 U.S. maker of household products. The capsule also notes that P&G bought hair products giant Clairol, the maker of Herbal Essences, from Bristol-Myers Squibb.

All this information, Funke points out, could prove useful during a job interview.

Despite the vast resources available online, experts caution that job seekers should not use the Internet to replace human queries and interactions.

Dr. Chris Falzone, a chemistry advisor at Pennsylvania State University, worries that his students will use the Internet as a crutch to avoid personal contact.

"The Web can only do so much," Falzone said. "You're not going to really know the atmosphere (of a university or company) unless you go there and meet with people."

Falzone suggests backing up Internet research with verbal conversations and questions. Is your potential boss a reasonable person? Is there a chance that the project that interests you will be dropped? How long has the company existed? Is a merger pending, especially for smaller companies?

"Don't try to do everything through the Internet in terms of finding a graduate school or finding a job," Falzone said. "Ask hard questions. Look at the people point-blank and ask what's going on."