How do you find a job on the Web? I didn’t think there were any (good) options, but now there are, at least for me.

Since I work for myself, I find myself looking for new projects fairly often. And since I am always in the market to go full-time again for the right job, I keep an eye on what’s out there. But it’s often seemed to me that the options for job- or gig-searching on the Web were overwhelming: monster.com, hotjobs.com, and the like have always seemed nearly useless to me, just because there are so many jobs there that they are hard to categorize. I am immediately piegeonholed by these places as a personal assistant, a film editor, or something else entirely wrong. Similarly, Craigslist is an absolutely horrible place to look for a gig, much as I love the place, because it’s got so many startup magazines looking for free copy that it’s tough to find anything remotely serious.

Once again, potentially useful sites are overwhelmed by an extremely low signal-to-noise ratio, as easy-to-find sites get millions of submissions from employers and staffing firms using the shotgun approach; since they’re making such a small investment, they take little care with the information they present, and the audience they present it to. And once again a couple of the usual suspects come to the rescue. In this case, it’s Matt Haughey’s MeFi Jobs and the 37signals Job and Gig Boards.

Both these sites are relatively new: the Job and Gig Boards were introduced in April and Matt added the Jobs site to the Metafilter network on August of this year. The fact that they are so new is part of the genius–only people who have been following either of these sites/companies would be aware of these new boards, so the only people who would (likely) be applying would be people that fit those demographics: smart, tuned-in to the Web, interested in good content and good design. Not surprisingly, a large number of the job postings are for Web developers and designers.

I hate to bang this pot yet again, but the way to build a social tool on the Web is to make sure the people who use it have an investment in it. Metafilter Jobs is essentially free to list in, and 37signals isn’t that expensive, but both employers and applicants have something invested in these communities, and don’t want to look like idiots or jerks. This is a good and useful thing.

By the way, the reason I’m making this post is just this: I applied for a job at a major media company through the 37signals board. Even though the job was filled, the guy who posted it looked at my material and emailed me back. I was really impressed with this small gesture of professionalism, a bit of respect that comes from being part of a community.