Parameters for Job Postings Online
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Some services charge the employer or recruiter/placement firm that places the "ad." A few recruiting services and major companies have even developed their own service for their own listings. Others charge the job-seeker who searches the listings. Still others charge both!
Posting time limits (renewable upon request) keeps most information current. There are occasional complaints by users about "stale" listings. But employers, who don't want to be inundated with responses to already-filled positions, are also motivated to keep their postings current.
Accessing online job postings is a proactive practice. Listings change frequently; services have their own niches. Novices should try services with local phone access to practice maneuvering online without the on-the-meter pressure of a long-distance phone call. You'll also get valuable experience in using your communications soft-ware's screen-capturing feature (which saves a "snapshot" view of the information on your screen for review later). It can save you a lot of money. Local bulletin boards, state employment offices and the services of local libraries are good places to start.
Response to an online job opportunity can be by mail, phone, fax or, increasingly, online.
The job-seeker who participates in this high-tech recruitment method automatically demonstrates skills now considered significant in most workplaces. Employers receiving responses to online job openings are virtually guaranteed applicants with a "prescreened" working knowledge of computers. Having your own e-mail address can greatly facilitate networking, which is still critically important for job-seekers.
Until recently, the vast majority of jobs listed online have been technically oriented. Online job postings are still rife with computer programmer/MIS/engineering positions. This is to be expected not only because of the target audience, but also because technical skills are relatively easy to label and categorize.
But the nature and number of online job listings is rapidly broadening as computer and modem use sweeps the business landscape. Not only are all kinds of jobs posted, but the modem allows employers to literally scan the world for people with exactly the right credentials.
Employers actually report a higher percentage of highly qualified candidates (50 percent) responding to online job postings as opposed to the 10 to 15 percent garnered through traditional print advertising.
One of the most active parts of the job-posting field involves improving access to help-wanted ads. A growing company called Classifacts, for example, gathers Sunday help-wanted ads from 40 newspapers throughout the country. Job-seekers call in and request a search on specific job titles (performed by the Classifacts staff), and can purchase the results (deliverable by mail or fax). Classifacts may become available on the Internet. Watch for other services like it.
But what of positions, often high-level, that would never be advertised? Not surprisingly, online job-posting services and resume-database services report growing use by executive recruiters using them as a means for identifying potential candidates (sourcing).
While executive search will remain a largely personalized and confidential process, recruiters are finding that posting jobs online produces sources and candidates quickly and economically. It is an appropriate outlet for at least some of their assignments.
OTHER ONLINE OPTIONS
A number of online employment services work on both sides of the matchmaking equation. Many post job openings and maintain a resume database.
Often these services include downloadable files (mostly shareware) relating to employment and career issues-everything from resume-preparation software to career planning and interview exercises. Message areas, sometimes moderated by professional career counselors, offer a forum for job-seekers to exchange experiences and tips. Ideally the networking that evolves from communicating this way can lead to employment.
Professional associations are increasingly involved in offering online job search/ resume database services as a membership benefit. Some have allied with existing online job-and-career service businesses, while others are managing their own systems.
All major online services offer some form of job-and-career information, either in a broad subject area or a specialty subgroup. Some services carry job listings or accept resumes for other private services.
There are more than 60,000 local bulletin boards in the U.S., and 40,000 more worldwide. Many of these are linked through bulletin board system (bbs) networks. Some of these homegrown networks, particularly FIDONet and JOBNet, many job postings, and resume database/jobs wanted listings. Information entered via a local bbs is "echoed" (shared) on the many participating bulletin board systems across the country.
