Monster.Com (& other like-minded operations)....have you used them? Did they work?

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Am at a vocational crossroads at the moment. Hell, who am I kidding? The bus left me at this vocational crossroads about five years ago, and I promptly sat down and took a goddamn nap. Now, I find myself still here and in quasi-desperate need for change, the incentive for advancement/financial increase, etc. Along with more accessible channels (in-house job research, networking among friends/acquaintances also in my field), I'm thinking of giving Monster.Com a go.

Anyone with experience in this area? What fruit did it bear?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 13:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, worked for me. I actually had to take my shit down because i got so many calls/emails. The only problem is that their searching seems automated...in a lot of cases someone doesnt actually read your resume, it just had keywords they were looking for.

― Spinktor the Unmerciful (mawill5), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 13:57 (twenty-one years ago)

What are the other ones aside from Monster? Aren't they a bit more stream-lined?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 13:58 (twenty-one years ago)

i got just one (unsuccessful) phone interview after months of scanning monster and other job listing sites. i eventually got a job because someone i know knew of one at same company. i was also told by a reliable source my CV was miles better than anybody else they considered for the job - go figure. maybe it's different in the UK - depends on what job you're after too I guess.

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 13:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I found it totally useless- depends on the occupation probably, but you could do better with industry-specific job listing sites.

― sucka (sucka), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 14:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I figured as much. I'm looking towards the media, specifically.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 14:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, im an IT jerk. So maybe its a little different.

― Spinktor the Unmerciful (mawill5), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 14:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I found my job on hotjobs.com. I think the key was that from the hotjobs listing that I managed to figure out what company the job was with; I then went to the company's web site and sent in my resume directly, rather than through the hotjobs site.

HR called me for an interview the next day and I got an offer the day after the interview. Wouldn't have had a clue that the job existed without hotjobs.com.

I'm a biomedical editor, for whatever that's worth.

― quincie, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 14:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Its great for IT, I started to use it but ended up getting hired by my old employer after graduation anyways.
Workopolis isn't bad as well but might be a Canadian thing, I can't remeber.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 15:01 (twenty-one years ago)

From what I understand, monster is just a back up for most companies. Also, I once temped in an HR department for a big company and was instructed to shred most of the resumes without even looking at them.

It doesn't hurt to put in a search to be emailed to you just in case. I think it is better to look at classifieds online or try to search specific company websites.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 15:04 (twenty-one years ago)

if you're looking for media jobs, alex, mediabistro and journalismjobs have tons of listings. (mediabistro's listings are more nyc-centric.)

caveat: usually those listings work better if you add a dash of 'i know someone there' to your application.

― maura (maura), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 17:42 (twenty-one years ago)

thanks, Maura...much obliged.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 17:52 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

I'd just like to take this moment to hang my head in disillusionment that I'm still in the very same predicament I was when I started this thread.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 10 June 2005 00:45 (twenty years ago)

my sympathies, alex.

― oops (Oops), Friday, 10 June 2005 00:52 (twenty years ago)

i belong to a bunch of those sites. monster has gotten me the most responses, probably because it's the biggest and most well-known. but be careful that you don't make your resume searchable to employers -- you'll get a ton of spam from really sketchy pseudo-companies that have no web presence.

― metal assembly (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 10 June 2005 01:05 (twenty years ago)

What are the other ones aside from Monster?

careerbuilder is a slightly smaller version of monster.

― metal assembly (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 10 June 2005 01:06 (twenty years ago)

You are in NYC, Alex. It is tough here. Just overheard an older man and a man about 30 commiserating today about when things are going to "getting back to normal" and how it is "getting back to the dark ages" not normal. Basically, a variant of a conversation I overhear seemingly every day, but probably more like once a week. In the city of opportunity, people are struggling like kittens in a bag.

― PNS RNKLE, Friday, 10 June 2005 01:07 (twenty years ago)

but be careful that you don't make your resume searchable to employers

Hey that sounds like what happened to me...

But, why WOULDN'T you want employers to see your resume? If not employers, then who? Just headhunters? Seems like if you want a job, make sure any and all employers can see it. I just used a lame address that I made up on my website specifically for this.

― PNS RNKLE, Friday, 10 June 2005 01:09 (twenty years ago)

i dunno, i'd kinda like to be able to control who sees my life story...

― metal assembly (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 10 June 2005 01:13 (twenty years ago)

http://www.journalismjobs.com

http://www.mediabistro.com

― Hurting (Hurting), Friday, 10 June 2005 13:58 (twenty years ago)

Don't make the resume searchable by employers, just dump shit into keywords. Obviously this works best for IT. A better way to go about things is to use any and all connections you might have, by which I mean ANY AND ALL, that means EVERYONE YOU KNOW, because that is how everyone above a certain pay scale actually gets hired as far as I can tell. You can find out about a position from the web and you can get e-mailed by headhunters and brought in for interviews from the web but quite honestly at your level Alex I think what you need to be doing is going from one place to another and just letting everybody you run into that you're looking around for new opportunities. Use the phone, e-mail, stay in touch, and then when something crops up you have a better chance of being fresh in somebody's mind as a dude who's hungry.

(I have an interview Tuesday afternoon and another one lined up whenever I can be bothered to haul my ass out to Reston VA (both from personal referrals))

― TOMBOT, Friday, 10 June 2005 14:09 (twenty years ago)

A better way to go about things is to use any and all connections you might have, by which I mean ANY AND ALL, that means EVERYONE YOU KNOW

Been trying that, but to largely no avail, alas. I'm now at the point where I have no reason not to throw everything at the wall just to see what sticks. Nothing ventures, nothing gained...blah blah blah.

I have an interview Tuesday afternoon and another one lined up whenever I can be bothered to haul my ass out to Reston VA (both from personal referrals))

Good luck, man!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 10 June 2005 14:52 (twenty years ago)

Nothing ventured....

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 10 June 2005 14:52 (twenty years ago)

I began reading this thread, thinking "Wow, someone's going through the same thing I'm going through!" And then, I saw the date of the original post and the walls of my office began to close in on me.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 10 June 2005 15:44 (twenty years ago)

Know where everyone I know work? THE PIZZA PARLOR OR THE COFFEE SHOP. Networking ain't gonna help me that much.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 10 June 2005 15:45 (twenty years ago)

I just posted my resume on JournalismJobs.com. We'll see what happens.

Another question: on y'all's respective resumes, do you cite your "career objectives"? I find it a little too limiting, but do you?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 10 June 2005 16:28 (twenty years ago)

it really depends on you career path.. for tech/IT? Monster is invaluable. I've gotten a gazillion interviews through Monster.
(although ironically, I've never LANDED a job via Monster, although I came close enough several times to still call them invaluable. Also, if you're on unemployment benefits, Monster is your friend, as far as centralizing your job search logging efforts.)

Craigslist is quite underrated for job listings still.

― donut e-goon (donut), Friday, 10 June 2005 16:31 (twenty years ago)

The trick with Monster is: you have to change one word in your profile somewhere once a week.. that way, your resume ends up going to the top of the list of some database employers use for searches, if you allow searches, which is what you SHOULD do.

On the other hand, recruiters rule Monster job listings like piranhas in a river filled with capybara carcasses... Your best bet is to contact companies directly through their website... Avoid recruiters, as they just inflate your game, and take a commission from your salary... great if you're "hot shit", but only about 100 people in the world are "hot shit" in this economy.. which is getting better for IT/Tech, but employers still demand the impossible in an interview, and still act very cocky.

― donut e-goon (donut), Friday, 10 June 2005 16:35 (twenty years ago)

I'll refine what I mean by recruiters.. I mean "headhunters". There are recruiting companies that work with big companies regularly for contracts.. That's how I got my last three contracts the last two years.

― donut e-goon (donut), Friday, 10 June 2005 16:36 (twenty years ago)

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