Top Five Job Sites
Dateline: 10/27/97
Below, I've critiqued the five, most-popular job sites according to 100hot, sort of the Neilson Ratings for the Web. (By the time you read this, the ratings may have changed.) But, 100hot doesn't visit sites to determine ratings. Instead, they base their ratings on the number of page views (similar to hits, but more accurate), which does not necessarily reflect job-seeker success, nor–as with the Neilson Ratings–content quality. Sites may receive more page views simply because they have more aggressive advertising campaigns than others. Employers and head hunters visit job sites, too, and that helps to rack up the page views. On the other hand, two of the sites in the top five are, in fact, excellent, and I'm not surprised that they receive a lot of page views. Online Career Center and Career Mosaic are both, high-quality, comprehensive sites.
To determine the number of page views, 100hot downloads proxy server logs daily. They sample about 100,000 surfers: 60% from North America and 40% from the rest of the world. But, no need to worry about your privacy. 100hot doesn't track exact demographic information. They also do not include AOL, Prodigy, or Compuserve users. See 100hot's disclaimer for more information.
With all that said, here are the top five job sites out of the 59 at 100hot. I visited them for you, and I am objective in the first list. But, I couldn't keep my mouth shut; I throw in my two cents and rate the same sites again. My summaries are from a job seeker's perspective, not an employer's, advertiser's, etc.
100hot Ratings
HeadHunter.NET
Audience: All
Types of Jobs: Various
Job Searching: By keyword, category, location and salary
Résumé Services: Posting only. Complete the form then type or paste your résumé.
Other Services: None
Registration Required: Yes. Password emailed to you
Cost: Free
JobDirect
Audience: Students
Types of Jobs: Many, ranging from unpaid internships to full-time permanent
Job Searching: Automatic notification based on your résumé input, or manual by type, major, location, skills and interests
Résumé Services: Posting and questions by email. Complete the step-by-step template.
Other Services: Email Alert notifies you of jobs matching your preferences.
Registration Required: Yes
Cost: Free
CareerMosaic
Audience: All
Types of Jobs: Various
Job Searching: By keyword, description, title, company, location, and usenet
Résumé Services: Tips, posting, and RES-U-Match confidential service. Complete the form then type or paste your résumé.
Other Services: Comprehensive, including online job fairs (employer ads), international job searching, career, women's, college, and minority resources, Silicon Valley, San Diego and Austin resources, and more
Registration Required: No
Cost: Free
America's Job Bank
Audience: All
Types of Jobs: All. Networked to the job lists of 1800 public employment offices throughout the US
Job Searching: By menu, keyword and occupational codes
Résumé Services: None
Other Services: Employers' Web site listing, recruiter Web sites, and job market information. Includes links to your state employment services where more may be available.
Registration Required: No
Cost: Free
Online Career Center
Audience: All
Types of Jobs: Various
Job Searching: By keyword, industry and company
Résumé Services: Tips, ASCII and HTML résumé and cover letter posting by email and snail-mail
Other Services: Comprehensive, including career and college forums, career assistance, women's, college, relocation, immigration and minority resources, salary surveys, career fairs, international job searching, Job Seeker Agent (currently out of commission), and more
Registration Required: No
Cost: $15 for snail-mailed résumés, all else free
My Ratings
Here's how I rate the same sites from a content, resources and services point of
view. Forget the page views!
Online Career Center
Has always been one of my favorites. Its resources are extensive. But, I wish that they would add better résumé and job search forms, and get their Job Seeker Agent up and running again. (See Jobs by Email in my Net Links for the skinny on job agents, or my 09/15/97 feature for the whole story.) The good news is, they promise that their agent will be better once they move it to another machine:
Bookmark this link and keep checking.
CareerMosaic
Another one of my favorites, and one of the oldest and most comprehensive job sites on the Web. But, they too lack sophisticated résumé and job-search forms, and they don't have a job search agent at all. Better keep up with the competition, CM!
Update 7/98: CareerMosaic now has a job
search agent!
America's Job Bank
Not that I think their services are superior, especially since they don't accept résumés, but I do think it's a great idea that they linked all 1800 state employment services together in one place. I'm disappointed that you can't do more online, though. You still have to go into the state offices for many of the benefits and services.
HeadHunter.NET
They're a little too stuck on themselves for my taste. All of their bragging makes me suspect that ex-telemarketers have discovered New Media. They're quick to throw dollar and hit figures around, but I didn't see any statistics for how many people actually get hired. Where did they come from and how did they get so big, so fast? Through marketing, advertising and extensive postings to newsgroups (tons of them) is my gut feel on it, as it certainly can't be from vast resources, services and content: They ain't vast! Funny thing is, in a couple of places they brag about the originality of their content. The only "content" I found was job listings, registration and résumé forms, and brag sheets. All this seems more oriented toward attracting advertisers than job seekers. They do have a unique approach though: Their services are free to employers, too, probably another reason they got so big so fast. But, what the heck. If they attract advertisers while encouraging employers to provide us with lots of job opportunities, everybody wins. They do have lots of jobs listed. Naturally, I can't apply for a bunch of jobs to see what happens, so you be the judge. It doesn't cost you anything to find out how good they really are, except for time spent accepting or rejecting a ton of cookies. Let me know how it goes.
JobDirect
Is pretty skimpy on services and resources, and you have to register to even see them. I can't quite figure out how they became #2 in page views, except maybe from visitors going from page to page searching for the stuff they can't see until they register! (Incidentally, I did register so I could check them out.) Actually, it's no doubt from their aggressive marketing campaign. They are in cahoots with RankIt, an entertaining site for college students that heavily promotes JobDirect, and includes "...résumé and interview tips and plenty of other great advice." They also travel around the US in jazzy RVs that they call "custom-equipped websites on wheels," visiting every college and university they can. Now that's kind of cool, bringing the jobs to you and all, even if it may be under the guise of marketing a Web site. I like their automatic job notification and Email Alert, too. Just because I rate them last of five doesn't mean they stink! Just don't take page views as the last word...
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JSN
Clipart courtesy of Corel
Corporation.
Copyright © 1997, J. Steven Niznik. All Rights Reserved.