Have you ever noticed that virtually all recruiting websites these days are trying to get you to post a resume, or create a very thorough account with all of your personal information, right from the start? It is often the first thing they hit you with on their home page. There is no hello, welcome, how are you, please come on in. It is, we need your resume and information, or we are not dealing with you, so give it to us NOW. A little exaggeration, but that is how many of us feel when we show up to one of these sites.
Interestingly enough, many sites these days actually require you to give your resume and information just to do a job search, and many require this information in order to apply for a job! Hmmm, I am giving my personal information to some website and they are not even the company with the job? If a site is making you register to use them, move on. There are too many excellent sites with job openings posted from multiple sources that you can visit. If you see the name of a company posting a job to a recruiting site, but the site requires you to register in order apply, just go directly to the actually employer.
There are some other things to think about with recruiting sites, namely, is it worth your effort to post your resume. You have seen the ads "post a resume, get a job"? What they are actually saying is to post with us and maybe you will come back and click some ads, or maybe we can sell our database to employers. Since we know that recruiting sites benefit monetarily from you including your resume, and since everyone is begging you for it like never before, let us see if there are any real benefits for you the job seeker. Is it really the case...post a resume, get a job, or is it...post a resume, waste your time.
You probably fall into one of two camps, those that would definitely post a resume to a job board, and those who would never think of it. It may surprise you, but there are millions of people who have never even been on a job board. If only these sites could tap into this resource.
Many employers do, and many do not, pay for resume database access. Database access can costs many thousands of dollars, and is sometime hard to justify if your company does not do much hiring. For the companies with big budgets, they may pay for it, but it is rare that they would pay for more than one or two. Consider too that the companies who pay for resume databases often have Recruiters with many openings. I am fairly confident that many recruiters would prefer, or have to for efficiency sake, go the easier route by having you find them (job postings) versus them finding you (resume databases).
If you decide to post, do it in conjunction with other means of prospecting for a new job, and post to as many real sites as possible, such as the ones you know to be legitimate. Posting to just one site is not worth the effort. Stay away from sites that just look like a mess, or require you to sign up on page one. No company is paying them for their resume database. It is likely they are using your information for other self-serving purposes. If you leave your name, number, email and current employer off of your online resume, you will not be helping your cause. This is key information for an employer/recruiter. Your resume is your ad, so make sure it is perfect, and be sure to understand each resume database thoroughly so you can be found very easily.
When you post, try to refresh your resume often if possible. Again, for those sites that require you to register to view jobs or apply for a job, move on. There are many outstanding sites that do not require this step, and as mentioned, no one website has the market cornered on a particular company's job listings. Keep in mind too that while it may seem like every company must be posting their jobs, the percent of companies doing so is also relatively small. There are millions of companies (potential employers) in the U.S. Many people have had outstanding success utilizing resume databases, and some have not.
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