It is Rarely a Job Board Problem

As a semi-knowledgeable person in the world of job boards, HR, and recruiting, I see a lot and read a lot. What I have found is that you get a lot of job seekers who will beat up job and career sites until they are blue in the face. I will assure you there are some people who spend more time job complaining than job searching. You hear it all including, nobody calls me back, there's nowhere to apply, it's a recruiter's posting, the jobs aren't real, there's nothing that fits me, they require experience, I'm not driving that far, and the list goes on. Whether you've noticed or not, the feedback you generally hear is pretty much all negative. You never read, wow that's a great job site, boy do they have a lot of good jobs, did you see the layout on that one, those are some great employers, I want some more of that site, etc.

If you have been paying attention, as the world has become one giant blog, most commenter’s out there for most things are definitely leaning towards the negative complainer types, especially in the job market world. A close second for negativity would be your local news sites that seem to bring people out of who knows where. Let's face it, have you ever heard anyone say they love to job search are happy to be doing it? No chance, although when I have been on a job search I didn't mind it at all. It was actually sort of exciting, except for wondering if my suit would fit. The interesting thing is that just like with other areas in life, especially in government, the loud complaining squeaky wheels are often who gets listened to. There have been a lot of changes that have happened with websites and other areas in life due to a handful, relatively speaking, of loud people. The silent majority goes about their life and has better things to than to invest half a day complaining about something.

What can help people with job searching is if they changed their mindset about job sites. A job site is not where you go to find a job. Okay, now you've heard it all. It's true. A job site is just one of many tools and resources that does one thing, provides information. You should be using job sites solely to source information. If you are job seeking, don't log in and start looking for jobs for an hour every morning, until FB sucks you in, as your main way to find a job. Look at job sites as nothing more than one of a handful of tasks you do to find a buyer for your services.

Think about this way. People are finding new employers and changing jobs without every stepping an index finger into a job site. Just think of the 100's of millions of people in history who found a new job and never used the Internet. Here's my best suggestion. When you start your day job searching, make job sites at least number three down the list of things you do. Get creative. There are endless ways to find companies that can use your services. Do not just rush off to a job site first thing in the morning and start your usual searching. Stop and think.