Have you been using very well known career sites for job hunting and have gotten little results? I'm specifically talking about sites you search postings and not sites catering to connecting to other professionals.
I want to share some information with my readers who are frustrated and feel like giving up on their job search. If you feel like nobody wants to hire you, talk to you, look at your resume then keep reading.
I have done recruiting for many years but, in the past couple years my efforts have been more strictly computer based and not out at events, working a table or in a direct interaction. My efforts are more blue collar based jobs at 35,000 and under.
Two years ago I wanted to switch fields and I pounded job postings hard. I was literally sending out sometimes 20 resumes a week and seriously getting zero responses. I felt like a failure. I settled on a job I found on of all places Craigslist. I took a huge pay cut and felt it was necessary to change the direction of my resume. Plus I had little success on big career sites and I thought it was me.
Last year I started working for a company who uses the big career sites for all their recruiting efforts. Six months in I realized why I never got phone calls for jobs. It completely changed the way I felt about my resume and how you get a more stable, good paying job.
The first thing you need to know is the career sites are very expensive to advertise jobs on. The local medium size business I worked for could not afford to post on these sites. This company did about 500,000 in sales. Companies pay per posting and or monthly and it's not $25 per posting. It's more like hundreds or thousands of dollars per month. Unless you are a very big company without your own website and recruiting team then you can't afford these sites. You will notice a lot of temp agencies using these sites because they can afford to post. You see very few Fortune 500 companies because they have their own team and expect you to seek them out. Industries with high turn over and low wages use these sites because again they can afford it.
The next part of the puzzle is what struck me and made me angry in the end because I wasted so much precious time. Many times when you so call "apply" on these sites you're not really applying at all. Think of them as inquiries or a company or site harvesting resumes or candidates. Unless you are directed to the company's site to apply be weary! An application is a legal document. Many times a legitimate hiring company wants you to answer certain questions to screen you out and not waste both of your time. This would be things like drug testing, license for a job, criminal background, age requirements for certain jobs etc. If you simply click apply and it sends your resume then don't get your hopes up. Why? Because it's going into someone's email or hiring program with the other hundred resumes. Let me be frank. At least half of these resumes are bullshit. They are people clicking on anything so they can keep their unemployment and recruiters and hiring managers are very aware of this frustrating issue.
I still buzz these sites job hunting but, if I want to apply I first go to the company's website and check their career section. I know it will direct me to apply on their site or the company they use for applications. Also don't think pounding the pavement does not work. Dropping off a resume or asking for a manager or HR department is not out of the question for smaller companies. One day I was driving by the Girl Scout office and thought it would be neat work to work there. The next day in business casual I dropped off my resume. Guess what? I got a call within two days.
Another thing. I have my resume posted on a big site without my last name for good reason. Don't be so public with your info. Seriously it could go anywhere. These career sites many times will offer a free trial to "companies" and let them search for free for maybe a week. It gives them a week to harvest resumes. Lately I have gotten a ton of requests from people offering me a job to pick up and send packages from my house. It is a major scam however they got my info from the career site because I let potential employers contact me via email. Luckily they do not have my last name or my phone number.
No comments:
Post a Comment