More online job listings

Online job listings originated from human resources departments that wanted to post jobs online. Companies like Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com, and HotJobs.com were formed to start posting jobs for thousands of employers. Companies actually spend millions of dollars each year on these web sites to post jobs there. It is hard to determine which online job boards are the most successful because they do not track or publish their success rates.

Online job listings don’t always guarantee the job will be filled by a qualified candidate nor do they guarantee that you will find a job. In fact a survey polled in 2000 stated that only 4% of job hunters found jobs through the online job boards. However, human resources recruiters reported that online job boards are one of the most successful ways to find new employees and they planned to spend almost half of their budget on online job boards.

Even though online job boards can’t guarantee a job, they can help potential employees gain exposure to new companies. They also help people with their resumes and interviewing skills.

One of the most popular online job listing sites is Monster.com. In order to use Monster.com you must be 18 years of age and agree to their privacy laws. Monster.com specializes in helping people change the way they traditionally search for jobs. People can create accounts with Monster.com and begin applying for jobs within a few minutes. Employers spend thousands or even millions of dollars each year on Monster.com to advertise the open positions within their organization. They provide career advice for anyone that is interested and they even help companies select the best candidates for the open positions.

Monster.com has a global database and is home to over 75 million visitors. The services provided by Monster.com help people find the career they have been seeking and they even help them with advice on how to keep their job. Surveys have shown that most company hires come from Monster.com if the company is using an online job board.

One of the largest problems with online job boards is that the companies tend to focus on their internet traffic results rather than hiring success. Companies like Lockheed and GE formed their own online job listing site called DirectEmployers.com. This web site was established to bring potential employees to the web site of these major employers so their human resources department could screen their information and determine if they were eligible for job interviews. Unfortunately the search engine rankings turned out to be pretty dismal and people rarely went to the job board to view job openings. Even though the web site is not as popular as Monster.com it is starting to catch fire with other employers that are fed up with the major online job boards. DirectEmployers.com now has over 99 companies participating and their fees to join are low compared to others. Since employers are making few hires from online job boards, it is discouraging for many people. A lot of companies have starting posting job openings directly on their company web site.

Companies like Flying J have a complete corporate web site that lists all their current job openings. Job hunters can submit their resume and fill out an employment application directly through their web site. Utilizing their own web site to advertise job openings completely eliminate the need to spend thousands of dollars on online job sites. Even with their own web site, corporate human resources departments continue to think some online job listings really do generate results.

One of the popular online job listing sites is CareerBuilder.com. The reason large companies like CareerBuilder.com is because they are partnered with large corporations like American Online and Microsoft. They have over 1,000 partners and are associated with 150 newspapers. Online newspapers actually link directly to CareerBuilder.com instead of listing the jobs in the classified section in the online version of the newspaper. They currently are home to over 23 million members that are seeking new careers. Job hunters can browse through thousands of jobs, since they have over 1.6 million job listings available.

In order for online job listings tobecome successful, job board companies need to start measuring their hiring success rate. It is hard for job hunters to determine which online job listing company will help them find their career, especially if they can only look at the revenue stream of that company. Online job listings tend to offer career advice and encourage the members to indulge in additional services. The resume writing service is beneficial, especially if you do not know how to write a resume. Some web sites even offer advice on preparing for a job interview and selling yourself to the potential employer. The only problem with the information they provide is that it often turns into a sales and marketing pitch for the web site. Job hunters aren’t learning about career advice, they are learning about the web site and why it is better than other online job listing sites.

Another problem with online job boards is the overwhelming amount of SPAM jobs. These jobs are typically the generalized “work from home” opportunities that require job hunters to pay money to work for them. Even though job hunters gain exposure to hundreds of employers, they also gain exposure to those companies and scam artists they want to avoid. Far too often the online job listing companies are worried about meeting their sales quota and increasing their advertising revenue. This is why 4.8% of new hires are still found through the traditional method of looking through the classified section of a newspaper.

When you post your resume with an online job listing company, you will be put into a category according to your skills, education, and other things. The Wall Street Journal informs job hunters to update their resume on a daily basis because they are also ranked in order of recent updates. To keep your resume at the top of the list, you must edit it on a continual basis. Unfortunately, updating your resume on a daily basis is a difficult task and can cause many resumes to have errors and can make them seem long-winded if the person starts adding too much information. The easiest way to change your resume on a daily basis is to pick out a few words and change them. Once you save the resume, the file date will automatically change and the resume will be placed at the top of the list.

Updating your resume on a daily basis is time consuming and the online job listing sites cannot guarantee results for the time you spend. Many people think online job listings are fraudulent because of their tactics. Even if they don’t deliver the results people are looking for, they still get excellent web traffic and advertising.

Job boards are frustrating for employers too because they get overwhelmed with several applications for jobs and most of the applicants are inappropriate. So it’s not only job hunters that waste their time with the job boards, it’s the employers as well. Each year employers continue to fork out around $511 million to post jobs on online job boards. The amount only continues to rise when the human resources department has to spend time sifting through inappropriate resumes.

Job hunters are against a double-edged sword because local newspapers are starting to jump on the online job listing bandwagon. Job hunters have to search through hundreds of listings that do not pertain to them in any way and they have to deal with annoying advertisements in their search results. The goal of online job listing web sites is to get people to spend as much time on their site as possible. The advice articles they offer don’t necessarily guarantee they will help you get a job or help you do well during a job interview. These sites were created with good intentions, now they simply want to sell something. Local newspapers are getting advertising bonuses for using online job boards, so it’s difficult for job hunters to know who to trust and where to look.

The best way to go about finding a new job is to rely on word-of-mouth. No one is receiving a bonus for referring someone to a company. In fact, over 43% of all company hires come from word-of-mouth. That number is astonishing compared to the numbers reported by surveys of Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com.

Jobs will eventually be filled by the employer, but it is the job hunter that suffers. These job hunters spend countless hours on the job listing web sites and rarely find a job that offers them everything they need and want. The articles these individuals read may offer some good advice, but they generally promote the company the entire time, leaving the reader with a lack of knowledge and wasted time.

Instead of devoting an hour or more each day to online job boards, start selecting companies you would like to work for and search their web site for job listings. Posting your resume directly to the company without third-party involvement will save you a lot of time.