The traditional knock on internet recruiting is that the population of candidates on-line is largely limited to tech heads. Geeks. In other words, if you're not recruiting for an information technology position, the information superhighway is a dead end.

That may have been true in the early days of the Net -- circa 1995 -- but it just ain't so today. With computer costs dropping below $500 and Internet access available from a small army of inexpensive providers, participation has broadened considerably. In fact, the Internet is now probably the world's most democratic institution, and as a consequence, it is increasingly representative of the population at large.

Pinning down precise statistics is admittedly difficult for a group as large as 73 million, the estimated population of Internet users, at the moment. Moreover, the breakneck pace of growth in Internet participation means that any data about the group has a half-life rivaling that of a fruit fly. Nevertheless, findings from an array of surveys and market studies now make it possible to get a reasonably accurate sense of who's on-line and what kind of work they want.

First, the median age of people using the Internet continues to rise. It's now 38, which is clearly younger than 44, the median age of the general population, but certainly not the normal age of the quintessential tech head. Indeed, according to one report, the fastest growing cohort of Internet users is people over the age of 50. They represent the leading edge of the baby boom population and, with some thirty years in the workplace, they have considerable operational and management experience. Many can legitimately compete for positions as department managers, program managers, business unit managers and vice presidents.

For example, 89% of the subscribers to Exec-U-Net, a newsletter for senior managers and executives in transition, recently reported that they are using the Internet as a part of their job search campaign. There's not a geek among them, but they do offer seasoned skills in key functional areas and experience in such industries as healthcare, transportation, communications, manufacturing, retail sales and energy.

Second, those who are visiting recruitment Web-sites are increasingly passive as well as active job seekers. Getting a shot at people who are happily employed but willing to consider something better is every recruiter's dream, and the Internet now makes it possible. Recruitment web-sites have devised an array of techniques -- from blind entries in resume databases to personal search agents which notify individuals of positions which match their interest -- that enable "non-candidates" to explore the job market while protecting their confidentiality. That capability has morphed the Internet into the first truly effective tool for career self-management. With employer loyalty now a museum piece, it gives even the most satisfied and secure (for the moment, at least) employees a good reason to log on.

Third, while information technology is often well represented among the candidate resumes archived in databases at leading general purpose recruitment web-sites, it is no longer the majority career field. In fact, my newsletter surveyed several hundred sites and found that the various disciplines of engineering were collectively the most prevalent occupation in their databases. Also well represented were finance and accounting, sales and marketing, human resources and general management.

And fourth, there has been a breathtaking proliferation of sites serving the employment interest of specific populations. Today, you can find niche or specialty sites for candidates who are telecommuters, journalists, movie actors, morticians, airline pilots, nurses, lawyers and casino game operators as well as truck drivers, weed scientists, Ph.D. mathematicians, accountants, soon-to-graduate college students, bilingual professionals and electrical engineers.

Over 50% of this population has a college degree (versus 24% in the general population). In the United States, at least, they are almost evenly split between males and females. They come on-line to browse, send and receive e-mail, get information and, increasingly, to look for a new or better job. In the process they are transforming the Internet from tech trek to star trek, a place where recruiters can find some of the best and brightest in today's candidate population.