Have you despaired as the steady diet of bad news has traveled up the food chain, from online pet suppliers to Amazon.comand Yahoo!? Are you looking for a ray of hope for your potential e-commerce career? It may be time to take a second look at jobs in one of the most beleaguered sectors of the New Economy: The business-to-business marketplace.

Give B2B a Chance

Now, we can't honestly say most pure-play Internet B2B firms have turned the corner. Many that staged spectacular IPOs a year or two ago are now struggling to stay out of the penny-stock category. A wave of B2B consolidation is well under way as well. Take e-commerce software maker Ariba Inc.'s deal to buy collaborative software developer Agile Software Corp, for example.

Notwithstanding the broad-based dotcom meltdown, the Net-based B2B market will more than quadruple from 2001 to 2004, to more than $800 billion, according to market researcher International Data Corp.

Why will business-to-business grow so rapidly while business-to-consumer may have to settle for more down-to-earth expansion? Because unlike fickle consumers who can buy goods through whatever distribution channel fits their fancies, businesses are forced by competition to cut costs wherever they can.

And the costs of procuring materials and selling products are substantially reduced when these processes are brought online. That's why in 2002, 39 percent of big manufacturers will buy direct materials online, compared with just 4 percent in 2000, says a survey by Forrester Research.

What kinds of jobs are available at B2B businesses? With the larger shops employing many hundreds of employees, the full range of disciplines is in demand, from sales and marketing to product management, human resources, finance, legal and so on. Naturally, these companies require all flavors of technical specialists, from software engineers and systems integrators to systems architects.

Many B2B firms also employ a number of professional services consultants. And in most firms, an understanding of global markets is critical for staff in almost any discipline.

Hit the Floor Running

The hallmark of the B2B business is ever-increasing complexity. When major companies take their supply chains and distribution systems online, "the bidding process is just the beginning," says Keith Vincent, vice president of e-business at enterprise application developer Fourth Shift Corp. of Minneapolis.

It's a huge challenge to manage all the inputs and outputs of a manufacturer. "I'm real big on collaboration through the supply chain, but no one has really nailed that one yet," says Vincent. "You can't just walk out on the factory floor, because these days, everything comes from a supplier." Nasdaq-listed Fourth Shift serves customers such as Eastman Kodak Co. and Bausch & Lomb India.

Juicy Opportunity?

Eric Hill is doing his bit to nail a niche of the online agricultural commodities market. Hill, a senior programmer at eFruit International Inc. in Orlando, Florida, does software quality assurance for the firm's Juice Marketplace. This online trading system enables major buyers and sellers of juice to negotiate deals privately and get logistics help.

EFruit's diverse customer base drove the decision to implement the marketplace on the Internet. The 30-person company's clients "range from technologically well-endowed companies to a guy who owns a grove with a few hundred trees," Hill says. "To serve everyone, we use a Web browser." Things really get complex when Hill and his colleagues must integrate the Web interface not only with eFruit's back-end systems but also with customers' systems.

Managing Customer Relationships

Boston's Xchange Inc.'s business is to help its clients cultivate the business of their own customers, by mining customer data and using many media for marketing and other communications -- a suite of sales services known by the newfangled term "customer relationship management" (CRM).

"We provide e-messaging for Expedia," says George Carino, a business development executive for Xchange. "Expedia's customers say they want to go from point A to point B for the lowest fare. Our solution generates email that says, 'Here are the best pricing options for you.'”

Whether you're inclined to sales or trading systems or supply chain management, business-to-business Internet companies may offer big career opportunities in the long-term. It sure beats going to the dogs with Pets.com.