Career Corner

Job-Hunting Online

Virtually every job seeker uses the internet in today’s tech-saavy world.  Monster, Career Builder, The Ladder – millions of people use these online job-search websites across the world every single day. 

Many (probably most) of you reading this have posted your resume or applied for a specific job on one of these sites.  It seems logical.  Tons of jobs are available.  You find one (or several) that seem like a perfect match.  You send in the resume…just knowing that you will get a response.  You wait.  And you wait.  And you wait…but nothing happens. 

Has this happened to you?  If so, maybe you overestimate the importance of the internet in the job search process.

There is no doubt that technology like the internet can help improve the job search process.  The problem is, many people rely too much on the internet alone to find a job.  Richard Boles, author of ‘What Color is Your Parachute’ estimates that less than 5% of all job seekers actually find a job using the internet as their primary method.  Depending on the job that you apply for, your resume could be in the mix with 2000-5000 other resumes for each position.  If you were a hiring manager, would you sort through all of those?

A good friend I know sent more than 50 resumes over the last year to job postings on CareerBuilder.  This candidate is well qualified for the positions that he applied for.  He has a good resume that illustrates his greatest competencies well.  He was strategic about which companies he sent his resume to (he didn’t just ‘blast away’ applying for random positions that might not be a fit for him).  How many interviews do you think that he was invited for by posting on the internet?  10?  15?  20?  Not a chance – he received an invitation for only 1 interview.  That’s a 2 percent success rate.  That…my friends…is a waste of time.

How does one find a job in today’s world?  If you combine your job search with a thorough self-assessment of your skills and passions, networking, and the internet, your chances instantly increase to more than 50%. 

Remember to use the internet as a tool to supplement your job search…not as the primary means to finding a job.

Stay tuned in the weeks ahead as we talk more about job hunting and other career issues.