Job Boards

As a current job seeker, I have spent a lot of time using various job boards to help me find the right employment opportunities.  Because there are a lot of others out there just like me, I wanted to write a post to help people wade through the myriad of sites that claim to help you with your search.

Because of the sheer number of sites available, this review won’t be nearly as comprehensive as I would like.  However, I hope it provides a good starting point for understanding the sites and what they offer.  One of the other challenges in reviewing job sites is that my feedback is most helpful only for those looking for similar types of opportunities.  Some job sites do a great job with certain niches while others cater to quite different opportunities.  To put it into perspective, I’m mainly looking at small tech companies.

I think it’s also important to think about what the purpose of the job boards is in someone’s job search.  For most, it’s the least likely way to get a job, but it’s also the easiest in some respects.  With a good cover letter and resume in hand, it doesn’t take long to apply to a lot of jobs through the job boards.  However, the chance of success is also extremely low.  The boards can be a great resource for finding and applying to jobs, but it’s also a great way to find jobs where the job seeker has better connections and can network their way to the job.

The sites I have been using at one time or another include (in no particular order): LinkedIn, Monster, CareerBuilder, IvyExec, Career Accelerator, OneWire, PartnerUp, StartUpHire, Doostang, VentureLoop, Indeed, SimplyHired, and TheLadders.   Those are the sites I’ll be covering during the rest of this post.

In addition to important sites, I think it’s important to talk about various features that could be important for job seekers.

Cost
When looking at a job site, you want to understand if it’s free or paid.  Some sites require a subscription to apply, others to see who the employer is that is hiring, and others to even view jobs at all.  It is my opinion that a job site that seeks to gain money from those seeking work isn’t worth the time.  I understand that some people are looking to switch jobs and so they are coming from a point of income to a better job.  But many job seekers are out of work for one reason or another and need to tighten the budget a bit.  As a job seeker myself, I don’t want to be paying $50/month or more to apply for a job for which I have a very low expectation of being moved along in the process.

The Good: LinkedIn, Monster, PartnerUp, VentureLoop, StartUpHire, Indeed, SimplyHired, CareerBuilder, OneWire
The Bad: Doostang, Career Accelerator, TheLadders, IvyExec

Search Functionality
Because of how time intensive it can be to keep up with multiple sites, each site’s ability to search becomes very important.  There are a few factors to consider:

• Does the site allow search across multiple locations at once or is it limited to single locations?
• How detailed is their Industry information?
• How well do they categorize titles?
• How well do the sites find jobs based on keywords?
• Does the site allow saved searches?
• Can you get email updates of search results?

Those are a few of the questions I ask when thinking about whether the site’s search will meet my needs or not.  Because of how complex this category is, I unfortunately won’t go through all the sites.  It’s worth noting that Indeed and SimplyHired are specific to having good search capability though, so start there to understand how it can be done well.  I also like the way LinkedIn provides check boxes to narrow a search down on the fly but wish they provided more options.

Site Focus
Some sites are just for jobs, others have networking and other capabilities built in to complement the job search.  LinkedIn does a great job of using my professional network to help me understand the best way to approach an opportunity.  If I don’t know anyone connected to a certain position, I might just apply and hope for the best.  A lot of the time, I find an opportunity and realize I know someone who can help me get that job.  In a tight job market, having a personal connection is the best chance a candidate has of landing that elusive position.

Other times sites have a sector or other specialization.  Ivy Exec and TheLadders try to focus on “premium” jobs.  StartUpHire is mainly geared towards people looking for very early stage opportunities.  VentureLoop is all about scouring for opportunities in companies that have received Venture Capital financing. Those are just a few examples, I’m sure there are plenty of other examples as well.

It’s difficult to say if the focused or general sites are better than the other.  It seems like it’s good to use a combination of different sites to make sure the job search process covers as much territory as possible.

Resume Upload
This one is tricky.  Many sites allow you to post a resume or your credentials on their site.  This is both good and bad: on the one hand it allows employers to search for you which can lead to finding opportunities.  However, it also leads to a lot of opportunities you have no interesting in whatsoever.  The other disadvantage is that it’s great to get your resume on every site that allows it.  What ends up happening is you post your resume on the first site, you get offers from all the major financial planning and insurance companies asking you to apply.  You politely decline because that’s not the kind of work you want.  Then a day or two later, you add your resume to another site and get the same offers again.  Not a big deal, but after you’ve added your resume to 4-5 sites and changed some details a couple times on each, your inbox can be swamped with a lot of offers that you probably don’t want.

While it’s great to have your resume out there to try to gain interest from an employer, it is also inevitable that you’ll have to filter through offers.  The good news is that if you do want to go into financial planning or insurance sales, posting a resume is a surefire way to get into the hiring process.

Closing Comments

I think there is some definite benefit from using the job boards.  It’s important to understand going in what you are hoping to gain from the use of the sites and choose a site that fits that need.  The nice thing is that without spending a lot of time you can find out a lot of hiring trends in various Industries and also apply to a few jobs.  You never know what will end up landing you that great job.