Solid Site, But Don't Limit Yourself to Just One...
Written: Apr 24 '01
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The Bottom Line
Good site, especially the "Mega Search" ability to check other job sites. I recommend Headhunter.net, FlipDog.com, and CareerBuilder, in that order.
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| Full Review |
O.K, You've been working for the same company for years, and suddenly you end up on the street looking for another job. Or maybe you just can't take it any longer at your present company and you want to look at other opportunities. Or maybe you just hate life on the cubicle farm.
Whatever the reason, you find yourself looking for a job, and you naturally turn to the Internet. After all, the Internet is omnipotent, like some electronic Genie. It knows all, it sees all. It can land you the dream job in merely days! Or not...
Like many of my peers in the working class of America, I've found myself looking for a new position within the last year...twice.
The first time caught me unprepared, having been at my prized, sacred company for over nine years. At times I can't help but associate with one of the main characters in the movie "Friday", remembering the line that goes something like "How in the h... you get fired on your day off?!" It wasn't my day off, but it WAS my first day back from a two-week vacation, on a Monday, first thing in the morning.
After the initial devastation and then surviving a three-month stay at the "Out-of-work" hotel, I traded in my sweats for a suit and re-entered the workforce...for six months. This time though, it was my choice to evaluate the status of my employment and see the "writing on the wall". As the cutbacks started coming and pressure for new sales increased, I realized that the ship I had jumped on board was quickly sinking. That's when I decided it would be a good idea to get my resume posted on the web and start searching for a new home for my career.
One of my first stops on the Internet was CareerBuilder.com, which a friend had recommended. It turned out to be a good site, although I actually ended up using three or four job sites in total.
Features:
Most job sites have a variety of features in common, and CareerBuilder offers the typical search functions and ability to create an online resume. They offer many of the standard motivational speeches, common sense career advice, and salary survey information that most users never use. However, a couple of somewhat unique features intrigued me and kept me coming back to this site:
The site offers a standard quick search, and an advanced search option with the ability to specify full-time, part-time, contract, temporary, or all job listings. Additionally, the advanced search allows one to specify a variety of job sites to search. I like the one-stop-shop approach.
Additionally, CareerBuilder allows one to search by company name. I found this extremely helpful when trying to quickly research openings at companies that interested me.
The site also allows one to create up to five "Personal Search Agents" (PSAs), which essentially automate your repeat searches. You have the option of having these PSAs e-mail job listings that match your specifications directly to you, and I highly recommend this as a way of keeping updated on new postings.
Another convenience factor is that after you've created an online resume and cover letter, you can automatically apply for jobs by clicking on the "Apply Now" button at the top of the job listing page. However, I must say that I now prefer the way that FlipDog.com enables users to directly apply from the job detail page. The interface is just easier to use and the process just makes more sense. CareerBuilder.com makes it possible, but FlipDog.com makes it feel "natural". There is also an option to apply via e-mail, but the e-mail addresses are coded specifically for CareerBuilder.com rather than revealing actual addresses. I like the fact that FlipDog.com shows the real e-mail address of the recipient, making follow-up messages much easier and more effective.
Job Listings:
Overall, the listings are presented in a simple enough format similar to the other billion or so other job sites on the Internet. The one thing I really like is that there are no frames, just a clean job listing, and each listing typically has quick links to company profiles, company web pages, all jobs listed for a particular company, and contact information.
The listings seem to be mostly updated, although once in a while you get a message like "Sorry, that position is no longer available." Also, since the listings come from many other sites, they sometimes don't contain complete information. This is a shortfall of the sites on which the posting originates, and I don't blame CareerBuilder.com.
One nice feature is that you can save job leads, enabling you to keep track of certain postings. The drawback to this is that you can only save up to 20 job listings. I know when I was looking for a new job, I certainly applied for a LOT more than 20 jobs (and I mean A LOT more than 20 jobs!!), so this is minimally helpful.
Drawbacks:
In a nutshell, here are the major shortfalls to CareerBuilder.
Only saves 20 job leads, frequent "warning: page expired" messages which require starting a search over again, site requires users to log back in EVERY time you return to the home page, and most of the career advice is standard stuff without much real "meat" to it.
Most annoying is the fact that you have to keep logging back in if you spend too much time looking at the details of a job. Somebody should tell the folks that run this web site that security is not a major issue and that users should not have to log in if they spend more than two minutes without clicking on a link. I feel like I spend half of my time just signing back on to access the site.
Summary:
As I write this, I'm trying to remember what prompted me to submit an opinion on CareerBuilder.com, as I'm now starting to remember some of my frustrations with the site. Oh yeah, it was mainly that one can search multiple job sites from one place, save job leads, and log-on to your heart's content.
CareerBuilder.com is a good job-search site, although I admit that I've had more responses through FlipDog.com and Headhunter.net. I actually recommend signing up at all three sites, but for the serious job hunter, I recommend Headhunter.net, then FlipDog.com, and finally CareerBuilder.net, in that order.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
RBradford
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Location: Dallas, TX
Reviews written: 109
Trusted by: 32 members
About Me:
I'm a Computer Hardware, Software, and Gadget Junkie.
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