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Proliferation of Online Job Sites Overwhelms Job Seekers

Clutter for employers and lost opportunities for job hunters

August 15, 2008
As more people find themselves out of work due to the economic downturn, many will undoubtedly turn to the growing number of Internet sites listing job opportunities.

While the proliferation of job-search sites has several positive aspects, one employment authority says many job seekers will rely too heavily on the Internet and become distracted from the most fruitful job-search activity: meeting with people face-to-face.

"The number of job search engines has grown in recent years from a handful of major players, such as Monster.com and HotJobs.com, to hundreds of sites, offering everything from industry-specific and localized job search engines to dating service-like compatibility matching between job seekers and employers," said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., the global outplacement and business coaching consultancy.

Add the growing number of online classified sections posted by local newspapers, employer sites, and job listings on the websites of professional associations and job seekers easily have thousands of places to search for employment opportunities online.

"However, access to thousands of job search sites on the Internet is not necessarily a good thing, " Challenger said. "The choices can be overwhelming for those who find themselves either voluntarily or involuntarily in the labor pool. One could easily spend all day, every day surfing the Net for job vacancies, emailing resumes and waiting for the phone to ring. Unfortunately, this approach will rarely lead to a new job."

Since the beginning of the year, the Challenger firm, which tracks job cuts announcements daily, has recorded nearly 580,000 job cuts, compared with 436,000 at this point a year ago. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that employer payrolls have experienced a net loss of 463,000 jobs since January.

The first place many of these displaced workers will go is the Internet. In July, there were 3,864,100 job vacancies posted online, according to the latest Conference Board Help Wanted Online Data Series.

While the Internet has the potential to be very useful for job seekers, Challenger said it has become the primary tool for many, when it should be considered secondary to the traditional technique of meeting prospective employers in person.

"Those who make the Internet their primary job search tool are likely prolonging the time it takes to find a position. Overuse of the Internet also threatens to prolong the hiring process on the employer's end, as well, by inundating employers with irrelevant resumes. Some human resource executives complain that for every qualified candidate that comes in from the Internet, there are 10 to 20 who do not even come close to being a good fit," said Challenger.

The more irrelevant resumes that hiring managers have to wade through in order to select the handful to bring in for interviews, the longer it takes to fill the position. One result of this has been the increased use of digital screening software that scans incoming resumes for keywords. Resumes without the right words are filtered out of the process. This will make it even more difficult for job seekers to get their resume in front of the hiring executive.

"This is not to say that the Internet has not revolutionized job searching," Challenger said. It has certainly made it easier for someone in San Francisco, for example, to search for job openings in Miami. In addition, the ability to conduct keyword searches has reduced the amount of time it takes to target the type of position a person is seeking."

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