Job-hunting online poses a number of opportunities and
threats for job-seekers. What follows is a short list
of frequently asked questions about online job-hunting --
along with Dr. Hansen's responses.
For information about more traditional job-hunting methods, career
development, college or graduate school questions, and other
job-search and career issues, check out Dr. Hansen's
Directory of
College, Career, and Job-Search E-Zine Articles.
Q: Where can I post my resume?
A: There are literally thousands of Websites -- often referred to as
job boards -- where job-seekers can post one or more versions of
their resumes.
But before you jump onto your computer, you need to develop a
strategy for deciding which job boards will be best for your job
search.
There are basically four types of job boards:
- Mega, National Job Boards. These are the Monster.com, the
HotJobs.com, the FlipDog.com, etc. These sites have a massive
number of job listings and resume postings. For a list of our
top
ten job boards. Don't foget to use the
Quintessential Careers Job Board!
- Regional, Geographic-Specific Job Boards. Just about every region,
every state, and every major metropolitan area has one or more
"local" job boards. If you are looking for a job in a specific location,
then using one or more of these job boards makes sense. To
navigate your way through, start with our
Global & Worldwide Job Resources.
- Industry- or Profession-Specific Job Boards. These so-called
niche sites have been growing in popularity, at least among
career experts. Recruiters claim they get better results going to
a marketing job sites than when posting the same job on a
general job board. Just about every industry and profession,
from white to blue collar, has at least one job board. Go to our
Career and Job Resources -- by Industry.
- Company Career Centers. More and more employers are
expanding their corporate Web sites to include job listings,
and where they also accept resumes from job-seekers. These
sties often have other great information about the employer,
such as articles on its corporate culture, benefits, career
tracks, and more. So, if you have a short list of employers
(for example, from Fortune's Best Companies to Work For),
check out this section of Quintessential Careers:
The Quintessential Directory
of Company Career Centers
Q: If there are so many job boards, how can I save time in
posting my resume all of these job boards?
A: Try one-stop shopping. If you want to leave no stone unturned and use as
many online job boards as possible, you can save a lot of time by going to a
site with links to large numbers of job boards. Naturally, we recommend
Quintessential Careers'
Job Sites by Category,
with links to almost 900 job sites. Most of these sites boast both
job postings and the opportunity to post your resume.
One of our readers described a good response after
using a one-stop site. Go to our
directory of the mega job boards.
Q: What if I really need my resume to be formatted functionally
or chrono-functionally and therefore can't post it on boards like Monster
because of the rigidity of their profile forms?
A: You can supplement your resume postings on job boards by publishing your
resume -- formatted the way you feel best spotlights your qualifications --
on your own Web page. There's usually a spot on the job board's intake
form for additional information. Once thing you can include in that field
is the URL for your resume on your own Web page.
You could also consider publishing a complete online portfolio of your work.
Read more about
career and job-search portfolios.
Q: When I post my resume on the major job boards, I get a flood of e-mails
advertising get-rich-quick, multi-level marketing (MLM), and pyramid schemes.
How can I avoid that?
A: Misrepresentation and unwelcome solicitations seem to be a common problem
for job-seekers who post their resumes on the job boards. One visitor
to Quintessential Careers wrote: "Here's a quick overview of my experience
with job boards over the last three months:
- An interview with a career consultant who represented himself as a
headhunter/recruiter.
- An interview with another headhunter associated with a job board.
- Requests for resumes from many other job-search Web sites.
- No feedback whatsoever from applications to listed jobs out of perhaps
75-80 occurrences.
- No interviews for real jobs.
One solution is to obtain a "throwaway" e-mail address from a provider such as
Hotmail or Yahoo for use during job searching and then terminating the account
after the search is complete to stave off these types of unwanted e-mail
solicitations. And the big job boards really owe it to users to tell
what they doing about what they're doing to prevent job-seekers from being
subjected to inappropriate solicitations and misrepresentation.
Q: When given the option of posting my resume and responding to
job-board ads nationally or locally, which should I choose?
A: The major job boards can be more effective if you localize your search. A
career counselor for a state employment agency who likes to test out job
boards so he can share his experiences with his clients told me that
Monster.com was one of the job-search tools that he actively used over a
six-month period, sending out approximately 250 responses per week. "My
personal experience has revealed that when trying to find a job in the HR
profession, responding to ads that are out of state is not an effective way to
gain interviews," the counselor said. "In other words, a person using
Monster.com will find little to no success when attempting to find work that
is located out of state." When he began sending out a letter of introduction
to businesses posting job-board ads for positions in his own state, his
success rate in landing interviews jumped to five out of every 10 businesses
whose ad he responded to.
A recent survey showed that 28 percent of Internet job-seekers are willing to
look at job listings that require relocation -- but 48 percent
aren't. If you want to stay put and still obtain a new job, it makes
sense to post your
resume on geographically specific job boards. It also makes sense to use
them if you do want to relocate because you can find openings in the city
you plan to move to. Link to geographically specific job boards through
this section
of Quintessential Careers.
Are you ready to work with a career coach? Take my quiz:
Are You Ready for Career Coaching?
A Coachability Quotient Quiz.
Dr. Randall Hansen is THE Career Doctor. He is also is founder of
Quintessential Careers,
one of the oldest and most comprehensive career development sites on the Web, as well CEO of
EmpoweringSites.com.
He is also founder of MyCollegeSuccessStory.com and
EnhanceMyVocabulary.com. He is publisher of
Quintessential Careers Press,
including the Quintessential Careers electronic newsletter,
QuintZine. Dr. Hansen is also a
published author, with several books, chapters in books, and hundreds of articles. He's often
quoted in the media and conducts empowering workshops around the country. Finally, Dr. Hansen is
also an educator, having taught at the college level for more than 15 years.
Learn more.
