Instigator Blog - Latest Comments in 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

Nadeesha Cabral — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:37:38 -0000

Well, since you've put it that way, I believe that freelancers stand a good chance in capitalizing on this. But then again, I see HR in big companies slowly gaining momentum again. But, I could be wrong...

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

Doria — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:59:52 -0000

Found this from Digg

Nicely done video and I think this is a good way to do marketing :)
Maybe I will tweak this idea a little bit and come up with something for our service.

Umm, about the job part.. well, join them or beat them.

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

Lorraine in NJ — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:40:02 -0000

I more than have my answer now as to why most internet job postings (especially those by recruiters) are WORTHLESS. I was beginning to suspect something when after a month of applying for jobs I was "spot on" qualified for as the Brits would say, my phone wasn't ringing the next day, as it should have been.

These recruiters are really doing a disservice by scamming the public. Note to recruiters: If you advertise for a position and get a resume from someone doing exactly the same job AND they are a SUMMA CUM LAUDE graduate, RUN don't WALK to the phone and get them in front of your client! You get what you pay for, and this caliber deserves a higher pay rate. It's as simple as that. Want to impress your client ? Send them "top of the class" candidates.

If you can't walk the walk, (i.e. follow through with your posting) don't play games with people by wasting their time !!!

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

Laveranues Pedigree — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:16:00 -0000

I've used career building to great success. I definitely see how spammy everything has gotten for online jobs but it's still the best way in my mind to find a job without question.

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

Adam Right — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:59:14 -0000

Having played the Monster game (as an Employer) and failed miserably to get enquiries from the kind of people with the experience and skills I require I agree totally that they make the application process way to easy.

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

Ben Yoskovitz — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:34:45 -0000

@Dominic: I'm not a big fan of video resumes. I've said that before, and continue to say that because of the issues you bring up, and the legal issues as well. I DO think video job ads will become the norm for most companies. But video is just one tool, not THE tool that solves all recruiting problems.

Thanks for stopping by and commenting!

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

Dominic Roberts — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:19:46 -0000

Do people really want to post video resumes of themselves on the web. i have worked with some good developers who were too shy to muster more than a couple of sentences at an interview but were good coders. I know that is industry specific and in many cases they wouldn't have got anywhere near an interview but it is the same for many people. It takes a lot more time and effort to put together a video resume of yourself than to do it on paper, and how are agencies going to search for your skills when they are in video format.
Web sites that tie your skills right in to you ronline profile will help agencies find the people faster and more effectively. Social Recruitment offers this and is as much the way forward as video resumes and video Ads will ever be.

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

Phet — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:16:05 -0000

http://phetermine.zblog.ru/

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

Matthew — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 17:51:46 -0000

The job market in general looks bleak. The best bet is to focus on developing your skills and education. There are professional career management companies you can consult so you can gain an extra competitive edge.

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

Michael — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 03:11:15 -0000

We started bonfirejobs.com as an attempt to correct some of the problems in online recruitment.

Employers can search the resume database free of charge and only pay (the **candidate**) upon receiving results from the candidate they contact within 24-hours.

It is our belief that job seekers who post their resumes on a website should be compensated for their time.

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

Steven — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 12:40:24 -0000

I agree 110%,and have been urging the FTC to do something about some if not all of them.
I've never heard of anyone getting a job in this fashion.
I myself am seeking my last career as Iam 53,and I have found nothing but smoke and mirrors on these so called job search sites.
all the best

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

Ben Yoskovitz — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 14:54:56 -0000

@Travel Guy: Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I don't worry about "everyone doing it" because unlike text ads which are all the same, videos can be wildly different. Companies can take completely different approaches - be they longer, shorter, about a specific job, about the company, etc. So there's plenty of variety.

As well, I don't want candidates "quickly scanning" through anything - that's what leads to them randomly applying for jobs that might be fits, without really evaluating whether they want to work at that company. I want candidates taking the time to look into a company, and decide whether that company has done enough to attract them...

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

Travel Guy — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 22:15:45 -0000

Ben, this was a good summary of why the whole internet job market doesn't work. It's completely saturated and everyone looks the same.

Also, most employers, HR departments and candidates lack the skills to accurately describe what they want, so everything sort of runs together and differentiation is hopelessly missing.

I think this video was an excellent attempt at trying to stand out. But only because I actually watched it. This approach will work for a while, but once everyone is doing it, things will be worse than they were before.

Main reason is you can't quickly scan through audio and video, so if they don't get indexed accurately, no one will ever listen or view them.

The indexing will require folks to do what they can't do anyway, which is describe what they want, so we're back to where we started.

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

Theresa — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 14:23:49 -0000

Quinn

I can see your point on your first question, especially around here, and would like more specifics on your second.

I am open for constructive suggestions, as mentioned above, I know I have much to learn (don't we all); and when you stop learning is when you really start losing it.

Have a good weekend.
Theresa

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

Quinn — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 05:37:44 -0000

Theresa, your comment brings up another point worth considering - are the job boards broken, or are there just so many applications on them that recruiters have a glut of resumes to go through? Maybe you're the reason you can't find a job, not the job board.

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

Theresa — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 05:35:08 -0000

Thanks Emily, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I could bore you with a list of reasons why I didn't learn many of the skills discussed here - networking, etc. - early on, but I didn't. I am an introvert, sometimes strongly.

Now I have a good beginning educational background, having finished my Masters in February, and I am learning/catching up on these soft skills.

But I have been unemployed for a very long time too, even with the temporary agencies.

I am disenheartened reading most of these comments; it is nice to know that I am not alone.

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

Derek Todom — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 20:49:21 -0000

I don't even bother responding to job ads online anymore. It's going back to the old days. You gotta find a number and pick up the phone.

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

Marek — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 20:09:35 -0000

I don't think it's that bad. In my opinion the major sites will survive for the very simple reason, lots of ppl get jobs through online job sites.

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

Dave Nofmeister — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 20:00:28 -0000

As far as any experience that I've had, online job postings rarely work. I'm in IT, and typically I will see a posting on a site, and go after it, just to not get the job. Often I will be registered with a staffing service, and will get the same job I couldn't apply for directly 3 weeks later.

I've had the same job for the past 5 years, so fortunately, this hasn't been a problem for a while.

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

Stugatz — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 13:39:53 -0000

Online job boards are fine in their current state. My last two employers found me via monster. In regards to number six in the original post, the easier the better. Its a waste of time to craft a cover letter and resume for EVERY job you apply to. If you do that you are lucky to get four resumes out a day and in reality your hand crafted resume ends up in the pile at the HR office. Its pointless. Its all about volume. You get enough resumes out there, and you get a hit. You send out 20-30 a day and you will get something. Thats EXACTLY what I did and it worked every time. The only time I will write custom resumes is when I find a job I really might like, other than that its point and click. Job hunting is a pain as it is, so why not make is less of a pain.

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

hans gieskes — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 16:23:51 -0000

your comments make sense, principal reason for both resume spam and job-swamp is technology: stupid search engines match people and jobs by search algorithms and thus can be fooled easily by both job seeker and employer.

People cannot be fooled so easily,they search & screen way better: referrals yield more than twice the number of hires than 40,000 job boards. (careerxroads.com survey)

Still thousands of people do find a job or a new hire through job boards, so they will not go away. The economics will get worse though with job posting becoming a commodity with facebook and Craigs list. Same for resume search. Monster revolutionized the world with thousands of people a day submitting resumes online as of 1999 - but look at facebook et al: 150,000 people a day join social networks, posting a public profile...

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

El Yanqui — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 19:32:36 -0000

I have become completely disenchanted with the online job recruiting boards. It becomes a full time job simply to avoid the spam and somehow make your own CV noticeable in a sea of spam. I've gone back to the old fashioned way of using the Yellow Pages and sending my CV out to everyone in my field.

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

Ben Yoskovitz — Fri, 25 May 2007 14:21:31 -0000

@busybutlistening - Good recruiters can definitely reduce the noise but they're also very expensive which can be prohibitive for a lot of companies, especially if they're hiring quite a few people / growing quickly.

What's your take on that aspect of the recruiting business?

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

busybutlistening — Fri, 25 May 2007 01:06:34 -0000

I definitely agree. I waste so much time posting jobs to monster, craigslist, facebook, etc and nothing works well. I still have the most success with recruiters who reduce the noise of terrible applicants. Its 2007-we don't need a human 3rd party anymore!

Re: 9 Signs the Online Job Market is Broken

Ben Yoskovitz — Tue, 22 May 2007 15:00:07 -0000

sites de busca - thanks for the input. I agree that niche job boards are better, but I still think they do very little to truly differentiate companies.