The Internet has now given the ability to take the job search beyond boundaries, in that you can now effortlessly look for a restaurant job in Toronto or chef jobs just with a few clicks of the mouse. Simply type your preferred career and location into your favourite search engine and watch the jobs opportunities come in.

It sounds easy doesn’t it? Well remember with the ease of using the Internet to search for jobs you must keep in mind that to conduct an effective job search using only the Internet is almost an unrealistic expectation. You still will need to apply, submit your resume and attend the interview. All of which will require research on your part.

Research on a potential employer is still a critical part of any successful job search. Jobseekers should make it their priority to learn as much as possible about potential employers and the industry they represent. The five tips below will help you with your job search:

1. Remain Focused
Stay focused on your research goal and if you stumble across an interesting unrelated website, bookmark it and come back to it later. If not, before you know it you've lost track of what you wanted to accomplish, and have spent the last hour watching funny videos.

2. Develop a Research Strategy
Develop a plan before you begin looking for information by deciding in advance how much time you are willing to invest researching a particular topic. Your topic will influence where to look on the Internet, whether it’s searching newsgroups, blogs or company websites. Knowing roughly where your information might be found will assist you in developing your plan.

3. Keep Records
As you research potential employers you will collect a lot of information. By organizing the information you want to keep and discarding that which has little or no immediate value, you will be better prepared when it comes time to responding to emails from employers that you are interested in.

4. Set Realistic Goals
Goals will ensure you stay on track and should be specific, such as ‘spending 2 hours a day researching employers who are looking for chefs or cooks’ as opposed to the goal being ‘searching for a job on the Internet today’.

5. Visit the Restaurant
Sometimes, if you are lucky, the hiring manager may interview you the moment you drop off your resume or fill out an application. So be prepared and make sure you are properly dressed. In order to get some face time with a manager you will want to make sure you don’t show up during a rush. Try to visit the restaurant around 10am during the week to beat the lunch rush and before 3:30pm on weekdays to beat the dinner rush. On weekends many restaurants will have a breakfast or brunch rush so you will have to do some research if you plan on visiting the restaurant on the weekend.

Finding a job online is the easy part. Making sure you are the right fit for what the company is looking for will take more effort on your part. Remember when performing your research to remain focused on the task at hand, develop a research plan that will help you to obtain a goal, keep good records of potential employers so you may refer back to them later and set realistic goals of how much research you can perform. If you become overwhelmed with the amount of information available, there are also plenty of head hunters and executive recruiters that will assist you in matching your skills with a company that is looking to fill a vacancy.