Well, it depends on who you ask. Concerning online job boards, one recruiting firm says this:

“So how do we find our candidates?

Good old fashioned networking. We don’t rely on commercial resume websites to find our people. You can do that yourself. The Internet only accounts for about 10% of total hiring anyway.”

Of course, the 10% of hiring probably does come from the ‘do-it-yourself’ crowd. Not that I would know because no source is cited. I like the “old-fashioned” aspect though. It’s really old-school, like an Apple IIc computer or 8-Track players: cool-but not very practical or efficient.

Then there’s this philosophy that I found from another recruiting firm’s website:

“I am more intrigued by the niche, online job boards.  Our society is moving towards specialization through outsourcing.  As that trend continues, I suspect these niche-specific job boards will become the preferred channel for sourcing the right candidates.”

I couldn’t agree more. So, I asked a recruiter buddy of mine to break the tie;

“That’s easy…” he says. “If you’re not online, you’re behind.”

‘Nuff said………

I was reading a blog post recently about how the hiring process was largely broken because companies were concentrating too much on the process itself; not the people. Then it went on to say that the next great thing in online recruiting is the Employer Video Feed. The blog post said that it put more of a human face on the company, instead of a brown-paper wrapped job listing.

Don’t get me wrong; I am all for video feeds. However, they must be done properly to be effective. By “properly” read: professionally produced. Although there are no guarantees, chances are that a professional will represent the company brand a lot better than rank amateurs sharing a camcorder and a bottle of tequila.

 Could you imagine corporate HR cheesing it up in a “let’s get friendly” video job post? (Queue up Karen Carpenter, please)

Video feeds are becoming an important part of the 21st century marketing mix. With video production, you definitely get what you pay for!

“Why use niche boards like DegreedJobs.com when I can just go to one of the other big ones?”

Good question. Let’s take it from an honest, results-oriented perspective. I was investigating this very thing when I hopped on one of the Big 3 boards looking for a position as a Marketing Manager in Southern California. I hit “Submit” and was immediately directed to an official looking registration page asking for my Social Security number. After a fair bit of wondering what was going on, the realization hit that I was looking at an advertisement page for a lending company.

I clicked on the “No Thank You” link and went to my search results which were broken up by tile ads of every color! Flash ads, blinking ads, and static ads screamed at me from the results page. Scanning through the job posts, I quickly calculated that 30% were work-from-home scams promising me anywhere from $20K to $100K per month…guaranteed!

Wow, I was amazed there were even any positions available offering that kind of money. Taking those calculations a bit further, suppose this particular job site had 100,000 jobs posted. It would follow that upwards of 30,000 of those “job” posts would have me stuffing envelopes or sending away for more information (for a nominal fee, of course).

After my safari into ad-land, I decided to close out my session and what to my ad weary eyes did appear? A nice pop-under ad with glowing reindeer…hawking the lowest mortgage rates in the country.

The next time I go looking for a job, I will just stick with a niche-board thank you very much.

May is here and Spring is a time for renewal, and….you know; I am just not going to ramble on about the usual pre-summer metaphors. I will tell you that staying ahead of the job market is paramount to your career. Whether you have plans on upward mobility or changing careers, fortune favors the one who has his stuff together (or something like that).

Granted, right now the Job-Seeker is in charge. But, how long will it last; a month maybe a year? Then what? Will you be in a position to leverage your skills? Staying ahead of it means being ready when the market shifts. And, in the employment industry things can happen pretty fast.

Now is a good time to take stock of your accomplishments and update your personal marketing portfolio: update your resume, stay in touch with contacts and references, build relationships with industry professionals. Keeping your information current will put you in a better position to move up when everyone else is moving out.

Get Productive!

So, I’m talking to this recruiter buddy of mine and I asked him what he thought of Job-Seekers that put salary information on their resumes.

“Ignorant” was his reply.

Then I asked him about salary information on an online job board profile.

“Good idea” was his reply…..wait, huh?

“Yeah,” he continued. “I use it all the time.”

“Well, why online but not in print?” I queried.

“What are you, a moron?” he says. “If the salary information is on the resume and I present that candidate, we are all pretty much boxed into that number.”

Oh…..

“Yeah. Salary info on a resume leaves no wiggle room for anybody. If it’s left off the resume but included online; recruiters know what will fly and will crash. It could mean the difference between a deal or no deal.”

Got it…..open the case.

Speaking of getting info PDQ; RSS is a convenient way to stay on top of your job search. Many job boards offer job listings RSS to subscribers. Jobs you want are deposited neatly into your In-Box as soon as they post…giving you an advantage over the competition.

Happy Hunting!

If you’re like me, you like information….a lot of it…really fast! For all you info/blogo-philes out there we have placed our network content via XML feed.

Feel free to add our blog content straight into your browser using convenient buttons on the degreedjobs.com and the degreedjobs.net homepages. That way, you will get your info…fast!

It never ceases to amaze me how people dream up ways to bilk you and me out of our money. Two things that really irk me about online education:

1. Diploma Mills

2. The boneheads who actually buy this garbage.

I was reviewing a gentleman’s resume recently and noticed he had a degree from Rochville University. After doing a bit of research, I found that I can buy a degree from Rochville for as little as $199. I can also have a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 5 days! Wow! What a joke…..

What goes through people’s heads when they say to themselves “You know, if I bought a degree I could get a promotion and a raise and a new car and a….Pink Slip.” I have a friend who is a recuiter and he told me a story about an applicant who got a Bachelor’s degree…from a community college!

There are a lot of terrific online schools out there. It is beyond me why people think they need to lie about their academic credentials to make it in the world. Anyway…just thought I’d rant a little. Thanks!

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Happy Hunting!

The trend in recruiting seems to be that online job boards will play a larger role in future hiring activities. Companies are investing more in web portals and online application processes. Professional recruiters are beginning to see the cost effectiveness of online job boards. In 2006, more than $15 billion was spent on web-based advertising. If you are a serious job-seeker, your campaign must include a job board.

The first step is to select a job-board that fits you circumstances. besides the “Big 3″ there are many fine niche-job portals that might serve your career goals. Job boards are getting more and more specialized and boards are starting to concentrate on specializations such as engineering, medical, financial, and legal. We want to make sure that you find the right career opportunity. Below are few helpful hints on maximizing your job search: (more…)