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Job Board Logic

I remember in 1992 when the “world wide web” (the term internet had not been invented yet) was touted as a game changer for recruiting. And it was true…..for a time. There was Monster, then Careerbuilder but two was not enough, the job board industry realized that they could carve up the universe into bite sized pieces and convince recruiting departments that they had to be part of this movement in order to get closer to the talent they seek.

And millionaires were made.

Today, we’ve seen a proliferation of niche job boards (to the tune of over 45,000 available) and the promise of the web (automate and create efficiency) has all but gone by the wayside.

Allow me to explain via example: Continue reading

Monster.com – Wrong end of the Moose

Many of you are aware that, for the second time in 18 months, Monster’s database was compromised.  This time the personal information of 1.2 million job seekers was stolen, in 2007 it was the username and passwords of legitimate Recruiters. 

According to the dictionary;

Hack; to damage or injure by crude, harsh, or insensitive treatment; mutilate; mangle:

Using this definition of HACK; we can safely say that Monster’s inability to secure the sensitive data of jobs seekers and paying customers has created the “follow on” hacks below: 

They hacked the confidence of millions of job seekers and paying customers world wide

They hacked the job board industry by creating distrust in eRecruitment

They hacked the hopes and dreams of millions of job seekers who will now get phishing emails instead of bona fide communications for employment

They hacked a percentage of these job seekers lives because they will naively give personal information to criminals who call or email them based on this stolen data

They hacked  customers in 2007 when they used the breach of their database as the reason to squeeze hundreds of thousands of additional license revenue out of us, saying that it was OUR fault for sharing passwords!

 And finally, another definition of HACK from the dictionary – this time in reference to the person who made the decision to spend $3 Million on a Superbowl ad instead of on additional security measures:

Hack
Noun;
1. A person who engages in an activity without talent or skills

Enjoy the humor, marvel at the irony!

Ipso Facto

It is January so I still have time to get my “2009 Predictions” in along with the hoards of others.  In the Recruiting community, predicting what will happen in our industry has become not only a tradition, but a somewhat stale one at that (like Aunt Ruth’s Thanksgiving Turkey, who everyone has to eat even though it’s dry and overcooked every year) with most “predictions” being nothing more than observations of what’s happening already:  (these are actual predictions from our thought leaders)

There will be less hiring this year

There will be fewer recruiters employed this year

Social Networking will continue to expand

Recruiting vendors will suffer

Less business travel

and so on.

Not exactly Nostradamus-worthy predictions right?  Since much of this was already happening in 2008, these just don’t seem like predictions to me.

So I’m not going to make a bunch of “observa-predictions” – you can read it in the Wall Street Journal and make your own.  I’m simply making one prediction.  One thing I can see on the horizon that, if things don’t change, will come true by Christmas this year.

I call it the “Ipso Facto” prediction.  Here it is;

I predict that 2009 will be the year that Job Seekers take back their job search.  I predict a “revolution” of sorts where job seekers, tired of being treated like a commodity, begin to fire their job boards and begin to demand tranparency from corporations they apply to.  If we are going to see 10%+ unemployment and it hits all industries and socio-economic levels – I believe the 21st century internet job seeker says, “ENOUGH ALREADY”.

So why “Ipso Facto”?

There will be no one to blame for this trend but job boards and corporate career sites!  Allow me to elaborate;

Job Boards today are flush with “false” jobs – jobs put there by anyone with a checkbook  who can pay for a posting.  At worst, they are people/firms who want to lure candidates into the false hope of finding work (to feed their family) so these predators can build a multi-level marketing organization or get someone to work for commission only with false promises of big returns (Madoff style).  Anyone posting a resume on a big board should have the Arnold Schwarzenegger of spambots on their computer – it’s really ugly and people are tired of it.

Corporate Career sites have no fraudulent intents but commit similar “crimes against job seekers”.  Even though there is no law requiring private sector companies to post their jobs externally, many HR departments are convinced this is a best practice for Equal Opportunity reasons.  In times of growth and expansion it may be a good idea as you can gather the best internal and external candidates for consideration.  In times of contraction, when you are already planning on filling that role with an internal candidate or a pre-determined candidate – this “artifical posting” is simply cruel hope to the millions of unemployed Americans.  These same job seekers who gleefully complete your online profile and apply for the “artifical posting” or even the real postings are, more often than not, rarely communicated with once their application has been acknowleged.

I think job seekers will be pushed past the tipping point and begin to demand better from eRecruitment.  They will flock to solutions that put the control of their job search in THEIR hands as they once and for all tire of putting it into the hands of people who don’t handle it with the care it deserves.  They will demand a “job seeker bill of rights”:

There are recruiting solutions today that treat the job seeker with the dignity they’ve always deserved and I’m happy to say there are corporations out there who treat job seekers the same way.  The partnering of these corporations and these solutions vendors will become a force in 2009.

I’ll answer to my peers if none of this happens but I think it may already be taking hold as you’ll see when you read this post from a blog titled; “The Day I Fired Careerbuilder”.

Power to the Job Seeker!

The “New” Monster?

Monster.com unveiled its new and improved site claiming;

Monster’s new job search is easier than ever! To apply for the job is 65% faster than before!

I know Monster has a crush of cubicles staffed with Product Managers who no doubt spent hundreds of man (or woman) hours talking to job seekers to develop their “new and improved” hyper-speed application process but Monster, did you also spend that time on the Recruiter side?  You know, that side that pays your fees and determines your future?  It seems that the New Monster is simply speeding up a problem created by the Old Monster.

After spending 15 years at a recruiting desk and having been a Monster, Careerbuilder et al user since their inception I can unequivocally tell you that allowing candidates to apply for the wrong jobs 65% faster is NOT what your paying customers want!  Monster added questionnaires, pre-screening tools etc to try to mitigate this issue but the facts are that a majority of candidates apply for a job they are not qualified to do.  This creates the millions of excess applications for jobs every year to Corporate America.

Proof that Monster didn’t do the due diligence on the Recruiter side is evident in this sales pitch to employers from their new site;

For employers, a faster, easier search process for seekers means more candidates than ever will make time to apply to your Job Posting.

I don’t know of 1 Recruiter who is looking for MORE candidates to apply to their postings.  As a matter of fact I would estimate that over 90% of Monster’s employers are looking for ways to streamline that number, not increase it.  By increasing the number of people who can now, faster than ever, apply for your jobs Monster is exacerbating the job posting issue for employers, not solving it.  The steps in the process are:

Job seekers search for postings that match what they want to do.  Maybe what they have actually done but certainly what they want to do even if they aren’t qualified. (no one applies for jobs they don’t want to do right?  Just see all the postings on Monster stating. “stay home, make millions” – the process appeals to the WANTS of a job seeker, not the qualifications of one)

Job seeker hits “apply now” button on Monster job posting which traditionally takes them to the employers career site where they actually apply for the job in the employers ATS.

Recruiter sifts through the first 20-25 applications until a viable pool of candidates is found (5-7) and then begins the interview process.

Recruiter rarely if ever reviews any applications that come in after interview process has started (#26 +) THUS creating the black hole of recruitment.

I know of Recruiters who get between 100-250 applications for every job they post (multiply times 30 open positions and you can see why “More” is not “better”)

If Monster was listening to the people who pay their bills (hefty bills with the Super Bowl ads to come this year) they would be focused on making it slower and more thoughtful to apply for a job not 65% faster and easier. 

New year, same Monster.

A Case for Annonymity – A Job Seeker’s Ally

Here we are in 2009 – still feeling the effects from 2008 in many ways.  With so many of our citizens unemployed or in fear of joining their unemployed brethren I can only imagine the rush to post resumes on the plethora of job boards out there.  Here’s a case NOT TO for all you would be job seekers or bet hedgers.

Now I know, you are told by everyone from your barber to your Father-in-law that if you are unemployed or about to be unemployed, you need to market yourself like Billy Mays (Oxyclean – classic pitch guy) markets miracle scratch removers.  I agree that you need to network like crazy and make sure people you trust know you are in the market.  HOWEVER, to post a resume on the Internet opens you to everything from spam to identity theft.

An article I read over the holiday points out that posting your resume on a typical job board can be at least annoying, at worst dangerous.

Be a lazy Google millionaire. Earn $64 an hour from home. Get 250 business cards free.

These are just some of the 80-plus junk e-mail messages, known as spam, that are pouring into John Gembecki’s inbox on a daily basis since he started looking for a job in July.

Gembecki is sure that every piece of spam is a result of the resumes he put on Monster.com and other employment sites because he created a Gmail account for his job search that he doesn’t use for anything else.

Leave it to spammers to take advantage of the underemployed but this is a true risk of posting resumes on any job board.

There are, however, alternatives which allow you to build a profile (not upload a resume – remember the “lazy google millionaire” – take the time and build a profile from scratch) and remain anonymous.  You only get contacted for opportunities that you define and you never divuldge your identity until you are contacted by a company (yes, an actual company) who has something of interest to you.  AllianceQ is built on one of these new technologies – QuietAgent.

Take the old addage in Recruiting that a job search is like dating.  If you wanted a date would you post your phone number and address on the supermarket billboard?  Nope, you’d probably go to eHarmony or Match.com and see what’s out there before you reveal yourself.  Smart strategy in dating, smart strategy in job seeking.