While the percentages are relatively low, public employment services may be relatively effective for job seekers in certain occupations. The best way to determine if your local service can help you is to visit, investigate their program, review their job listings, talk with staff members, and give them a try. If you see a fair amount of activity in your area of interest, you may get good results. Commercial employment agencies charge a fee either to the job applicant or the employer whenever someone is hired. Some agencies cover a broad variety of jobs, while others specialize in an occupation or industry, e.g., accountants, computers, health care, etc.
Many employers use agencies to supplement their recruiting efforts.
Career consulting and marketing firms provide a range of services to job seekers for a fee. The better ones offer career counseling and assessment to help you define career direction, give training in job search methods, interviewing and salary negotiation, and provide guidance in developing your resume. Advertising yourself is an approach in which job seekers attempt to advertise their talents by placing an advertisement on the Internet, in a newspaper or trade publication announcing their availability for a specific kind of work. This is an extremely passive approach with little probability of success and is therefore not encouraged.