Now that you've found them, how
do you decide which resources are the best
and will fit your needs? You
will have to make the final decision yourself based
on your own needs and preferences,
but following are questions to ponder as
you review everything you find.
What are you finding here?
• Is it advertising, or is there
useful information for your search? A site that is
merely advertising its services
isn't giving you any help right now
• Is it more formal (written
by an expert in this field) or informal (comments
submitted by others)? While
some lay users may contribute useful tips, arti-
cles from experts will have
more authoritative and reliable information.
• Are there lists of employers,
including maybe businesses, colleges and schools,
or nonprofit associations?
These can be very helpful for targeting key firms or
linking you to organizations
of which you were unaware.
• Are there job listings, job
search tips, and other helpful items? While job list-
ings are always good to find,
you may prefer a site with cover letter and resume
writing articles at a time
when you are struggling through this process.
About those job listings ...
• Are there real jobs listed
here, or just "sample lists of jobs we are currently
trying to fill"? Samples
are always fine, but when you're ready to "buy,"
pay for only the real thing,
even when it comes to "free" job listings.
• Are the job listings dated
so you know when they were added? It is
frustrating to you and to the
employer to waste time on a job that was
filled six months ago.
• If you don't see any dates,
can you find any relevant information under the
section for employers who want
to post jobs? For instance, how much do
they pay for the service, and
how long will their jobs remain here? Most sites
will tell an employer that
a job will be posted for a limited amount of time
for a specific fee. If you
can't find this information anywhere, put this site at
the bottom of your attention
list.
• In cases in which you can't
find any date-related information, is there contact
information so you can send
an e-mail message to the site's webmaster and
ask how long the site retains
position listings in the database? Hopefully
you'll get a response like
"We post jobs for 60 days." If the reply is, "We post
them until the employer removes
it," then keep the site at the bottom of your
list. If you get no response
at all, cross it off your list.
How old is the other information
posted here?
• Are articles dated so you know
the last time someone reviewed and revised
them? Articles can become dated
the same way job leads can.
• Are the site's owners updating
and adding new materials on a regular basis
(daily, weekly, monthly)? If
they are not posting anything new, how can you
be sure they're working on
maintaining anything else on this site, like the
job listings?
• Do the articles or other information
posted here remain for an extended
amount of time, or are they
deleted when new material is added? While it's
not necessarily a mark of higher
quality, an archive of the older articles is a
nice touch.
Who runs this service?
• Is there information for you
to read about the people who run this site? A
simple profile is not hard
to write, especially for a group with nothing to
hide from visitors.
• What's their background (recruiter,
industry specialist, librarian, etc.)? There
are many online job search
services now being run by people who have no
background in what they are
doing. They are just looking for some fast
money and are hoping you'll
give it to them.
• Is there a name, address, or
phone number for contacting them with
questions? At the very minimum,
there should be an e-mail address for
questions. Again, legitimate
services will provide this information. They
want to hear from you.
Do you know anyone who has
used this service?
• What did your acquaintances
use the service for (posted a resume, reviewed
job leads, worked through the
career exploration exam)? How well did it
work for them (got calls from
recruiters, found good job leads, got some
interesting insight from the
exam)?
• Did they like what they found?
Were the recruiters who called nice? Did they
feel comfortable with this
service?
• Do they feel it was helpful
and worth the time spent here?
If there's a fee for this
service, is it worth the cost?
• Can you find other sites and
services that offer an equal service at no
cost? Don't just pay for this
service; be a careful shopper and compare it
with others.
• What will your money get you?
If you are paying to have your resume
forwarded to employers, how
many employers, in what industries, and can
you have a list of those who
will be receiving it? Are these employers people
who have registered with this
service as interested parties, or is it a spam list
cobbled together from other
sources?
• What is the refund policy if
you're not satisfied? Again, look for who is
running this site, where they
are located, and how to contact them.
What promises are they making,
and are these promises reasonable?
• If they say anything about
"guaranteed results," then the Federal Trade
Commission will want to speak
with them. Nothing in a job search process
is guaranteed. There's no exclusive
access to the "hidden job market," and
there's no guarantee that shooting
hundreds of copies of your resume to
employers through e-mail will
result in your getting an interview, let alone
a job.
If you send these people an
e-mail message asking for more information on who they
are and what services they
are selling, do they actually respond?
• If they never contact you,
consider this a warning that saved you some money.
• If they contact you by e-mail
or phone, then judge them using your own
criteria based on the information
they provide. Be sure to ask them all the
questions that are important
to you, and don't let anyone bully you into
buying.
As we said at the beginning of
this section, the final decision for using any site
or service online (or off) is
yours and yours alone. Be a careful consumer and
buy wisely. And, if you get lousy
service somewhere or pay for services that are
not provided in the manner that
was promised (or do not produce the promised
results), don't take it lying
down. Complain to the Better Business Bureau
(http://www.bbb.org)
and the Federal Trade Commission (http://www.ftc.gov), and
send an e-mail to Margaret Riley
Dikel at webmaster@rileyguide.com, because we
want to know about it, too!
