The rapid proliferation of the Internet in India is fast changing the way job hunts are carried out--by individuals, companies and headhunters. Long resumes and wrong profiles are out. Quick responses on the E-mail are in.

Job hunting through the Internet is fast becoming popular, and this holds true not only for software professionals, which was the case even a few months ago. Currently, there are a few sites catering exclusively to Indians, offering all kinds of jobs both in India and abroad.

The latest sensation to hit the information superhighway is www.naukri.com, a paid Internet placement service. Launched a couple of weeks ago, naukri officials claim at least four lakh people have visited the site, a largepercentage of whom have since opted for subscriptions.

For an annual fee of Rs 6,000 for Indian companies and $200 for those overseas, the site allows corporates to place unlimited vacancies for a year. For individuals interested in posting their resumes on the site, the cost is Rs 500 a month. Identities are kept secret and all services provided assure total confidentiality, particularly for individuals.

According to Sanjeev Bhikchandani, director of Delhi-based Info Edge, the company that set up the naukri site, companies which have advertised at naukri have reported receiving as many as 200 quality CVs within two weeks.

The 3P Consultants' site, www.3p-jobsearch.com, was one of the first sites to be launched in India by a head-hunter and is rated as the number one site by the Inforseek search engine. The site provides information on top 500 Indian companies, investment opportunities in India and compensation surveys. You can sort the right vacancy based on multiple parameters such as industry,qualifications, age and experience.

An added advantage of the 3P site is that even those without an Internet connection can remotely log in to it if they have a modem. The 3P internal search engine also helps filter out unwanted resumes. Once the profile is specified, it scans through thousands of resumes and shortlists profiles that closely match the user's requirements.

According to Nirmit Parekh, managing partner of 3P, once the candidates are shortlisted by the company, E-mails to them are sent automatically. A meeting is then arranged between the two interested parties.

3P hopes to have a database of over 50,000 resumes soon. The service has already finalised six senior placements since the site was launched about four months back, claim company officials.

Unlike naukri and 3P, there are also profession-specific Internet sites that have been launched recently in the country. These include www.careerindia.com, launched by the Bangalore-based NetKraft, catering mainly to software professionals, andMumbai-based www.smartsearch.com, which targets its services primarily at finance and allied professionals.Barring naukri, services at the other sites can be had for free. These placement sites also try and provide value-added services. Naukriprovides free links to several major Indian and international career sites in addition to home pages of major employers. Careerindia provides information on visas and relocation in the US and also on getting jobs for NRIs who want to come back.

Placing resumes on the Internet offers a number of advantages: Companies can reduce the lead-time they need to post an advertisement in newspapers and then to receive and scan resumes. The Internet also gives a national and global reach at a fraction of the cost of any other media. According to latest estimates, there are more than six lakh people with Internet access in India. The market thus seems to be waiting and the placement services are ready. So, all you need is to do some logwork.