Recently, CareerBuilder.com, the nation’s largest online job site, launched a new Web site specifically tailored to the needs of college students.

According to official statements made in a press release, CBcampus.com is a “one-stop resource designed specifically for students and alumni to get the tools and information they need to transition their education into viable careers.”

According to Michael Erwin, a senior career advisor at CareerBuilder.com, over two million jobs were created last year in the United States, and that number is expected to increase in 2006. According to the press release, 2006 graduates have a positive job outlook, with one-third of employers expecting new college graduates to make up a quarter of their new hires.

In the age of modern technology, students are using a variety of resources to search for jobs and internships while they are still in school.

“Now is an exciting time to be graduating,” said Guy Davis, senior assistant director at the University Career Center.

Students are increasingly using online job sites to get their resumes out to employers, he added.

Eric Summers, a 2003 University graduate and current graduate student at Illinois State University, said that he uses online job sites to look for employment but that he is looking to use other resources as well. He returned to the University for the Business Career Fair and the resources the Career Center provides.

“I’ve been (using employment sites) basically every weekend, staying at the computer, e-mailing resumes, posting them at job Web sites,” Summers said. “But I understand that if I’m doing it, there are probably thousands of other people out there doing it. So the most difficult challenge is somehow to separate yourself from the pack.”

CBcampus.com is one of the most recent online resources. Students can post up to five different resumes on the Web site, which will be analyzed by job-matching technology to recommend open positions that are best suited to the student. These resumes are currently available for the top 50,000 companies in the nation to view. There are also advice sections on subjects such as writing resumes, interviewing and evaluating different job offers.

But according to Jim Byron, an underwriter of Fireman’s Fund, Inc., a California-based insurance company, companies still use the traditional recruitment methods.

“We will take people that apply online,” Byron said. “But primarily, the people that shake our hands, give us their resumes, tell us about themselves, those are the people we’re going to be most interested in.”

Whichever method students use to go about job-hunting, Summers stresses the need for students to get their resumes out into the business world.

“Take full advantage of the resources that the University of Illinois offers,” he said. “I’ll be finishing my masters this semester, so I’m trying to get prepared for the job market and I figured I’d revisit my alma mater.

“I trust that U of I can put me in the right direction.”