Why Job Boards Don’t Work Like They Used To

Five or ten years ago, you could submit your resume to an internet job board and actually receive responses. Yes, the good old days. Today, if you primarily, or even heavily, rely on job boards for your job search you may receive a rude awakening. Here’s why:

1. More internet savvy job seekers

In the early days of Monster.com and others like it, fewer people understood the Internet and even fewer utilized it as a job search tool. Today, there are far more Internet-savvy job seekers. Additionally, because it is so easy to fire off a resume to numerous companies and postings at the click of a button, companies are inundated with resumes now more than ever.

2. Less jobs and more job seekers

With the current economic crisis, there are fewer jobs to go around for a greater supply of job seekers – thus further contributing to the flood of resumes.

3. Once the job is posted, it’s often too late

Once the job posting has made it to a job board, the environment has become ultra-competitive as you now have to compete with everyone else. Also, many times these positions have already been filled. Sometimes, companies even post positions to jobs that aren’t even open just to see which types of candidates respond!

So should you abandon the use of job boards altogether? No, you should not. Because it requires so little of a time commitment, you should utilize it, but it should not be a major part of your job searching efforts (and yes, that includes school job boards).

Your plan of action should more heavily emphasize “direct contact” methods. Don’t wait for a job posting to appear if you are interested in a firm. First, decide which companies to target. Second, find an “in” at the firm. This person can be someone you know or met. It can also be an acquaintance of someone you personally know. Third, find a way to be introduced and/or directly contact this person. You may reach out to multiple contacts at the same firm.

For this method to work, you have to be well-versed in what the company does, what their needs are and how you will meet those needs. Then, it’s time to emphasize those points and sell yourself to land the interview. Good luck!

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