The millions of sites currently estimated will grow into several times that many worldwide. Even so, they'll still all fit into just six categories, depending on
1) what they do and (2) whom they do or don't charge for their services. Here are the five types:
- Commercial Service Sites
- Proprietary Headhunter Sites
- Proprietary Corporate Sites
- Job "Search Engine" Sites
- Executive Paid Membership Sites
1. Commercial Service Sites
These sites sell their services to employers and headhunters, who pay the site (1) to publicize their job descriptions and (2) to view the site's database of resumes which have been collected either through an open invitation for everyone to post... or from responses to specific job postings that have run on the site... or (although the site may not say so) from both sources combined. Presenting job descriptions and allowing the site's resume database to be looked at are the main sources of income. Secondary income sources are the display of advertising and the levying of "per-click" fees for sending the site's visitors onward to other sites.
2. Proprietary Headhunter Sites
There are thousands of these sites... each owned and operated by a single recruiting firm or a franchised chain. Their purpose is to publicize the firm and/or collect resumes for the firm's own database. Thousands of firms- contingency and retainer-have their own sites, and most accept resumes. Some sites display some of the jobs the firm is filling and others do not.
3. Proprietary Corporate Sites
These sites are the employment areas on a corporation's own Web site. Logically, they should display only the company's own openings, gather resumes of people applying for them, and circulate the resumes-if at all-only inside the company. The company should also save resumes for reconsideration when other appropriate positions open up.
However, some of the commercial sites (#1 above) have persuaded corporations to outsource to them the employment part of the site... in which case, when you browse for jobs, you may be steered beyond the company's own jobs into the commercial site's full list of job postings.
Moreover, your submitted resume may automatically go into the commercial site's database, not just the corporation's... in which case it's instantly available to every headhunter and every company paying to view the commercial site's database.
A sure giveaway is if, when you peruse a fairly wide variety of job listings on X Corporation's site, you suddenly find yourself viewing jobs that appear to have been posted by headhunters or by companies other than X Corp. If that happens, ask yourself this question: "Is my current situation such that I should risk posting on a large commercial employment site?" If you're a beginner or an unemployed middle manager seeking all the publicity you can get then, by all means, proceed to broadcast your resume online. If not, pursue any X Corp. openings through the non-Internet methods discussed in other parts of this book.
Hype and Misinformation to watch out for:
If the employment site isn't outsourced, participate! The only exception to this advice-and it's worth considering-is that entering the company online submits you to the jurisdiction of the HR department. That's great when they know someone like you is needed and they're advertising for you on the company's Web site. Then, as a first step in finding you, they will consult their database. And it's better to have them introducing and supporting your candidacy than challenging it.
But what if the Human Resources Department has not yet been informed by the decision-maker? What if referral by an enthusiastic personal contact, or classic networking, or even an elegant and persuasive mailing from you might have gotten the ball rolling with the decision-maker even before he or she informed HR or an outside search firm? Then you'd have had a good chance of being considered before those sources provided strong competition for your candidacy. Also, putting your resume in the corporate database does define you. If you subsequently walk in the front door, the information you submitted at the back door probably will wind up being looked at and compared with your latest paperwork.
4. Job "Search Engine" Sites
A relatively recent development on the Internet job board scene is the arrival and rapid growth of several Job "Search Engine" Sites... also sometimes described as "consolidator" or "vertical" sites.
This field arose in late '04 and early '05. The two pioneers-now the most famous and firmly established sites-are Indeed.com and SimplyHired.com.
Sites like these provide a valuable service to people looking for every sort of job. The computers of these sites scan hundreds and even thousands of Internet job boards and provide descriptions of-and links to- all the jobs they find.
The benefit is obvious. Why spend endless hours perusing Monster.com, Career Builder.com, HotJobs.com, and the others if you can do "one stop shopping" on an intermediary site that has done all of the investigation for you?
5. Executive Paid Membership Sites
Paid membership sites are essentially the opposite of the Commercial Service Sites (Type #1). Commercial sites get their revenues from recruiters and employers who pay (1) to post jobs and (2) to look inside the site's database of resumes. The executive pays nothing to view and apply for the jobs. Some commercial sites, however, demand that the executive post a resume before being allowed to apply. He or she doesn't pay with cash, but rather with a resume the site will charge to access. Sometimes there's no free lunch!
But now let's examine the sites that charge a membership fee. There are thousands of Commercial sites, but only a handful of Paid Membership Sites.
