What makes a job board suck? (Jobseeker version)
If you’re looking for work, nothing can make you throw up your hands faster than a job board or company career site that sucks (well, ok, maybe a fight with those idiots handling your health insurance, but we’ll save that for another day).
This begs the question: why exactly does a job board suck? What constitutes a ‘sucky job board’? Let me propose a few characteristics:
1) Requiring registration before you can look at a job’s details: this is just ridiculous. Why, oh why? Unless you’re The Ladders (another discussion, another day), the job board should be welcoming you with open arms.
2) Making the process of applying to a job painful and time-consuming: Again, this should be easy, folks! Let me upload my resume, add a bit about myself, and be on my way. And if you do make me jump through hoops, at least tell me why.
3) Trying to sell me something every single moment: Monster and CareerBuilder, I’m talking to you! Interstitials in job boards should be outlawed. Seriously, how many job seekers want to accidentally sign up for a visit from their neighborhood Navy recruiter?
4) Slowness: I’m talking glacial internet slowness-I hit the ‘Apply’ button, grab a cup of coffee, and return to find the site still grinding away. Don’t give me Java-this and Flash-that if your servers and T1s can’t handle it! Please!
What do you think? If you’ve ever sat in the job seeker’s seat, tell me what your pet peeve is.
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I couldn’t agree with these statements more! But I do need to urge you not to paint us all with the same brush. The websites of JobsInThUS, http://www.jobsinme.com, http://www.jobsinnh.com, etc, work extremely hard to continue to put our job seekers first. Never any registration required, applying to opportunities is nearly always as simple as clicking a button, entering a cover letter statement, and attaching your digital resume, and we have NEVER charged job seekers for any service we provide.
Actually, you missed one other major reason why job boards suck: FAKE JOB POSTINGS! Our sites screen EVERY employer who posts with us, and no business can use our site without speaking with us on the phone. We don’t allow out of state postings, up front investment opportunities, multilevel marketing jobs EVER.
I’d challenge you to take a look and prove me wrong. Thanks for giving us a chance to defend ourselves.
Jason Blais
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncblais
http://twitter.com/jasoncblais
Jason,
Fake job postings are the worst – I agree. And I certainly didn’t mean to paint ALL job boards with the ‘sucky’ brush – just to point out a few things that are truly annoying on SOME sites.
– the Doctor