The Popularity of Online Job Classifieds

Enid Burns has written an article featured on ClickZ.net concerning the shift of job classifieds to the internet. After a sample, by TNS, of 5,000 was surveyed, it appears that there is a polarity in the popularity of online job classifieds. The divide–interestingly enough–is income.

More than three-quarters of those with household incomes of $50,000 and over use the Internet to search for new employment. About 70 percent of the same group use newspapers. Households with incomes below $25,000 rely on newspapers 80 percent and Internet 50 percent. Data for job seekers under 35 is more evenly distributed between the survey’s categorized “high” and “low” incomes.

So does this mean that if you want to find the better paying jobs, you need to go online? Of course not. That quote states that 75% of high income are looking online and 70% using newspapers as well. Higher income job-seekers are just looking online in addition to the paper, widening their search.

The Problem with Online Job Hunting

As an individual who has, in recent past, dealt with online job-seeking, i feel that most systems seem too cumbersome to use. Monster wants you to log-in, update your profile, etc. The same with CareerBuilder. These are great sites if you’re shooting for getting a barrage of resumes out there to a large quantity of companies. Does this work though?

I feel a personal approach is the way to go. I think the reason why craigslist is such an effective job search tool is because it’s more personal, much like its print counterpart–the newspaper.

If i’m in the middle of a job hunt, I don’t want to send my resume to some “skimming” program that searches for keywords in my resume by way of a google-esque nature. I’d rather send it to an actual human being who might at least look at it with his/her eyes and not string matching.

That is the problem with the “big” job search sites. They tend to feel way too impersonal for my liking. If you’re a job seeker, here’s my advice, seek out those sites with a more personal feel. Find those listings that provide you with an actual person’s email, not careers@thiscompany.com.

If company’s want to allure the cream of the crop in candidates, maybe they will take heed and realize that it’s not just what the prospect can do for your company, but what your company can offer that prospect in return. With a cold & impersonal auto-submit process, much like what Monster and CareerBuilder offers, I (as a prospect) wouldn’t feel like I’m getting much other than my name in barrel with all the other fishes, only to have a script program pass me over because of diction.