Take Monster with a big grain of salt.
Written: Jun 02 '07 (Updated Jun 02 '07)
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Monster.com's goal is to make money for Monster.com first and foremost.
There is nothing wrong with that: that's capitalism at its finest. But think about it. Monster
actually benefits more if you don't get a job than if you do.
I can't speak as a user of all the services they offer: I've only ever
availed myself of their free services. Let me digress a second: I'm a smalltown girl, and most of the good things financially that have ever happened to me has been as a result of a personal pre-existing face-to-face relationship. There have been a couple of exceptions: I once scored a sweet little gig based on an online mailing list or discussion, and I developed a business relationship and friendship from someone I met online in a discussion but it never panned out financially.
Monster has a huge selection of services you can avail yourself of, for free. You can post an online resume. You can set up a job searching agent. You have discussion boards where you can b**ch endlessly with other unemployed people and commiserate about how unfair the working world is for whatever downtrodden and unappreciated group you belong to. And you can read their little newsletter -- daily if you want, to read articles
that have great titles such as "the secret to acing the interview" only to have pretty vapid content.
When I was actually looking for a job I set up a search agent on Monster. You tell it the area and the qualifications and the interests you have and it searches for job offers in your area.
This job searching agent would only find jobs being offered in the burgs located respectively 40 miles north and 40 miles south of my burg, both wretched commutes. There are local jobs but I guess you gotta know somebody to get one of those. They rarely pop up in Monster.
I happened to land a job with a huge well-known company 40 miles to the south of here for a while (no thanks to Monster, but thanks to the guy at the unemployement services). I am an incorrigible social engineer and I got my HR recruiter talking. She told me that whenever they list a job at monster they lowball the salary or leave it out altogether. Hello? SALARY is critical to job seekers! If I'm gonna go to all the bother to tweak my cover letter just for a particular company and take a morning to drive down there, it's a huge downer when they offer me less than I could make CLEANING HOTEL ROOMS for a job that requires a degree and several years of experience.
I never cancelled my monster agent, and it still sends me jobs. They don't even list ballpark salary ranges. I think they'd do better if they at least indicated a range.
Here's another thing about Monster: It is overrun with ads. Every time I log in, it pops an ad page. I always say no thanks just take me to wherever I want to go. That is annoying, and it subtracts from what is supposedly their prime purpose: to be a resource for job seekers and employers alike.
To summarize: The really good jobs that I would want don't need pay to list on Monster. So there's a fundamental disconnect. Secondly I'm a firm believer in follow the money. The longer Monster has you the more they can market Monster to you. Once you get the job you may cancel them. So it's a bit of a conflict- the same way doctors wouldn't make a living if they REALLY made everyone healthy. I find it a little difficult to take it seriously as a job seeking resource. Still, having said that, it might at least get some job seekers thinking about how they look to a prospective employer,and for that I would have to recommend it anyway, despite the its shortcomings
Recommended:
Yes
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platypus55
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Member: Colleen
Location: Pacific Northwest
Reviews written: 117
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