Speed up your medical job hunt with a powerful search engine. Simply go to the Times-Dispatch Web site inRich.com and click on "Jobs" and you will be instantly linked to the Yahoo! hotjobs Web site.

There you can click "Heathcare" under the "Browse Jobs" feature, and you will be linked instantly to an array of jobs in the medical field as well as a wealth of help and information on the job-hunting process.

"We are the fastest growing recruitment site of the three top online job sites, and the medical job sector is one area that continues to see growth," said Tom Musbach, managing editor of Yahoo! hotjobs a dynamic site that constantly updates a huge inventory of its worldwide job listings.

The "Healthcare" heading will pull up a variety of medical job listings that run the gamut from all levels of nurses to health-care management, laboratory, dental, health records, medical technicians, pharmacy, radiology, safety and more. And currently about one-third of those listings are in the Richmond area.

"Positions are open at VCU Health Care, LabCorp, Southside Regional and Hopewell Healthcare in such areas as medical secretary, social worker and physical therapists, just to name a few," Musbach said in an interview last month.

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But job searching is not the only thing you can do at the site.

The Yahoo! hotjobs site allows you to set up your own personal job-search information files where you can keep track of jobs you have already searched and store your résumé and cover letters. It will even alert you on new job postings.

"We have a job recommendation feature and a search agent," Musbach said. He explains that when you enter your information on the site and save it, the search agent automatically goes through current listings and compares it with your criteria. You will then receive e-mails for new job listings that match your criteria.

Under career tools, Yahoo! hotjobs provides advice, articles and information about interviewing, networking, salary and even résumés.

"We have tips on writing, updating and tailoring your résumé so that you are putting your best foot forward. You can also save various versions of your résumé and cover letter so you can pull them up and adapt them to each employer," Musbach said. "We also have a whole array of topics on interviewing along with interviewing tips. We also have a salary calculator."

The site recently incorporated a new area called Yahoo! Answers. Here you can see some of the questions that other job seekers have posted as well as the answers. Musbach says that reading these over periodically will keep you up to date on what is relevant in the job search market today. There are also various career articles posted as well as education and training opportunities and local job fairs.

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Maintaining privacy is one thing that people think about when posting jobs on the Internet, and Musbach says everyone should be cautious.

"We encourage customers to be on the alert for suspicious e-mail. Do not reply to e-mails or pop-ups that ask personal or financial information," he said.

"Log into your debit and credit accounts frequently to make sure there are no transactions that are suspicious, and use security technology firewalls, anti-spam and pop-up blockers to protect yourself."

And for privacy at your current job, when you post your résumé online, Yahoo! hotjobs has a feature called "hotblock" that blocks your current employer from receiving your résumé.

"I think we have a lot of great features, tools and advice," said Musbach about Yahoo! hotjobs. "The site has a really deep well of content that applies to so many issues. It is really a total career resource."