A quick assessment of internet job boards.

Let's face it, all of the information we come across is indicating that fewer and fewer employers are actually hiring off the internet.  At a recent networking event the guest speaker stated that internet job postings accounted for only 8% of hires in the St Louis area.  Still, we have to get our resume out there and so we go to the job boards.

I currently have mine posted on Careerbuilder, Monster, Jobfox, LinkedIn and TheLadders (and maybe one or two other smaller ones that I can no longer remember).  My synopsis, they all have the same postings and it appears that employers are not doing the best job closing out filled positions as I have encountered enough instances of clicking on a posting only to receive a message that the posting has been filled.  All conspiracy theories aside, this makes you think that the job boards are providing a method of formally posting a job for which the employer already has a candidate in consideration.

Let's immediately rule out JobFox; just mark it as useless.  The job recommendations are rarely relevant and the majority of communications from them are purely advertisement for educational institutions.  Monster and Careerbuilder are basically mirror sites so as long as you're posted on one of them, you won't miss anything. I've applied to a number of positions through Careerbuilder and am averaging 45 to 60 days in order to receive a response from any of the companies that are responding.  Not bad, but the biggest drawback is the lack of single profile application.  The majority of postings take you to the individual company's website on which you must create a profile, upload your resume and then apply for the job.  Didn't we satisfy those requests when we created our profiles and uploaded our resumes on the job board?  I cannot keep track of how many profiles I have on how many company websites.  I tell myself that at least my resume in being stored in each company's resume repository for six months and may generate a lead (it helps me sleep at night).

As for TheLadders, it's a premium site for Executive levels seeking $100k+ positions.  I did sign up for their resume writing service for the whopping $700.00.  I look at it as a short term investment for long term gain.  Did I expect to land an executive position as a result?  No.  My theory was that I would benefit from a resume written by people who are familiar with that level of job search.  So now I have a reasonably well written resume that has garnered more hits and interest than my personally written one.  So in the end money well spent, but perhaps a bit pricey... just a bit.

The best site that I can recommend at this point is LinkedIn.  You can job search and click apply, fill out a brief cover letter and done!  Plus if you know someone who knows someone at that company you can also ask for an introduction.  Truly networking at its best.  So if you're not on there then get moving and create your profile.  Think of it as the Facebook for professionals site.