ACM CRC Content and Features

Features of the ACM CRC include the following:

• A profile section consisting of: a technical interests profile that extends the widely used ACM Computing Classification System (CCS); a technical skills inventory also extended from the CCS; demographics data; educational data; an interpersonal skills inventory; and work preferences inventory. This comprehensive profile data will serve as a backbone for ACM's "to-be-developed" Early Alert System, which will deliver customized information to members based on their technical, professional, and career interests.
• An "Articles and Columns" section accessible to members and nonmembers: career-oriented articles culled from ACM's Digital Library and CRC-exclusive columns. Specially written columns include Margaret Dikel's "Best of the Web" with annotations and links; her first two columns are "The Best Salary Surveys" and "The Best Ways to Research Companies." Also included is a special column for graduate students, "Graduate School Guidebook," as well as articles written for and by students such as "To Intern or Not to Intern," and the first in a series of articles on the "Trials and Tribulations of the New IT Worker." This section includes a series of articles on the "Latest Trends in IT" and "Profiles of ACM Fellows and Award Winners," these profiles offer readers a glimpse into the workings of some of the best minds in computing.
• The "ACM Recommends" section, a members-only section, contains recommendations by ACM members of the best technical web sites, lists, books, journals, courses, tutorials, and conferences. In many ACM professional and student member surveys, expert reading lists and recommended web, print, and on-site resources have always been seen as adding value to membership.
• The CRC Job Database section. Though the most important caveat in the ongoing development of the CRC has been, "don't merely replicate the services of career boards already on the Web," ACM will be building its own job database. Having a job database is a replication of services currently offered on the Web, however, it is ACM's intention to add unique value to this database. By encouraging companies and organizations posting job requisitions to complete a profile for each job requisition, CRC's job database will provide job seekers with much needed information about the career values and style of the department that the job resides in — we're trying to achieve a "best fit" situation for our members and organizations looking for qualified professionals. While it will take time for ACM to develop a robust job database, ACM will be working with third-party companies who have developed job extraction technology such as Flipdog, developed by Whiz Bang Laboratories.
• A Virtual Desk section will be provided to members so that they can store job matches, saved articles, contacts, résumés, and so on. Companies and organizations posting job requisitions will also be given a Virtual Desk that can provide archival records of previous job postings.

— L.I.