Fiona Harper is a leading recruitment advisor to job seeking professionals and has appeared on TV and Radio discussing the best methods to find a job quickly during the recession.
With 17 years in employment consulting and human resources, Ms. Harper's experience spans across various business sectors and in a variety of industries.
Here at WritersViews.com, we feel privileged to have her share her ideas to help our members.
As a recruitment advisor, the most common question I am asked (as I am sure you have probably guessed) ... is :
How to find a job in this market?
Well ... let me get right to it.
National job statistics and government reports all indicate that there are millions of jobs being offered either due to newly created positions or due to vacancies as a result of retirement.
If you look at all the advertisements, whether via traditional print (e.g. newspapers) or jobs posted by employers at online job sites (costing them a few hundred Dollars for each post), there is no doubt that millions of jobs are still being offered in U.S. even in this economic climate.
So first and most important, don't despair. YOU CAN find the job you want with a few smart and outside-the-box strategies.
For the last couple of year my advice to all is - If you need a good job quickly, consider using "boutique job sites".
Boutique job sites are different than other job sites (who only do 'listings') in that they offer many convenient services that help both employers and jobseekers to reduce workload and speed up the hiring process.
In the past few years I have found that these boutique job sites are quite convenient actually and have great features but they do have a small nominal fee. Personally I think a service that works and helps people find jobs quickly is worth paying a small fee for.
There are many boutique job sites that are now quite popular, may be as a result of job scarcity in the last couple of years. Some jobseekers will happily pay $10 or $20 in order to have the resources and contacts that can find then a good job quickly - as time is of the essence.
Boutique job sites offer some very innovative services to create conveniences such as screening and scheduling - this in particular I find very smart and effective. Which means they have access to employers that do not have the time nor the inclination to go through all the hassle of placing jobs ads in newspapers or regular online job sites (listing sites), reviewing countless number of resumes, screening, scheduling, and interviewing. These employers pay a fee to boutique job sites to have the tedious and time-consuming work done for them since if they did the work internally, it would cost them time, money, and resources and most often would cost them a lot more than outsourcing it.
For jobseekers this would mean that you now have access to employers that others don't have access to unless they are getting the services of the boutique job sites and only then.
It is important to remember that boutique jobs sites are not recruitment agencies. They are online job sites that have very unique services in order to accommodate and facilitate the various processes that bring speed and convenience to the hiring process. They are easy to use and employers that use them hardly want to go back to the old ways of ad placement and review 1000s of resumes to select a few candidates.
One of the most popular boutique job sites on the Internet is Careermatch.com - a site that offers a meeting room for hiring managers and candidates.
Careermatch.com offers a somewhat unique service compared to most other boutique job sites. They offer a Profile Matching service that most employers I have spoken with, regard as very impressive and long-awaited simplification of the entire hiring process. Profile matching allows employers to find qualified candidates instantly via key search parameters (hence called profile matching) and then jobseekers and employers meet online and chat and discuss job details, qualification, previous experience, etc. It is convenient and substantially reduces the time involved in the recruitment process.
There are only a few job sites that bring you and the employer together for a Live Chat (such as Careermatch.com). But the ones that I have used I would certainly recommend to my clients and these have been absolutely priceless because you get to speak/chat with the employers directly. You can sell your skills and find out about future projects and future jobs openings.
These sites are now much more popular because jobseekers are looking for an advantage to get in the door first, and get the job before it hits the mass market. You even find out about jobs vacancies before they are even posted because you can discuss future projects with employers.
There are other boutique job sites with varying features and they include, Executive Search Online , Executive Openings
, Freelance Writing and Editing Jobs
, Doostang For Professionals
, Talents, Artists And Models
, and a few others.
In conclusion, I believe that traditional job sites (e.g. Monster.com
, SnagAJob.com
etc.) may be effective for very exceptional candidates that stand out from all other jobseekers but boutique job sites give you a real advantage to have a direct access to employers awhere you can chat and discuss job openings and current and future projects. But this does come at a cost of $10 or $20 instead of the usual free sites that make their money by sending you emails on resume service. You get what we pay for.
When it comes to the job market, time is of the essence.
Fiona Harper is a recruitment advisor with 17 years of career counseling and HR experience. She can be reached via our contact page, writer ID 35408.
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Monday 21st of May 2012 at 12:50 am
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