Many job seekers spend countless hours each day looking for the perfect job on Internet job boards. It is not unusual for some searchers to spend four to six hours each day submitting résumés and cover letters to putative jobs. And that’s the rub. These job seekers don’t know the truth behind the job boards.

Without question, online job boards have made job searching easier. Companies post jobs online and job seekers access them from the convenience and privacy of their home (or office) computer. And the number of job seekers accessing job boards is staggering: There are millions of jobs posted and millions of people accessing the sites every day. For many people, job boards represent the heart and soul of their job search.

But the question is: Are people actually hired for the jobs posted on those sites?

The fact is that the number of jobs listed online and the number of job hunters looking online are no indication of the number of jobs actually FILLED online. While the job boards boast that millions of people are harnessing the service, they neither track nor publish their success rates or whether they are actually filling jobs.

In a 2002 study by CareerXroads, the publisher of a Web-based directory that reviews online career sites, employers were polled to see what percentage of their new hires came from the largest online job boards. Here are the numbers:

Monster.com - 3.6%
CareerBuilder - 1.5%
Hotjobs - 0.5%

Even if these figures have doubled since 2002, these are not figures to brag about. Thus, it appears that companies are spending millions of dollars on sites that, in some cases, account for less than 1% of their new hires.

At best, job boards generally account for about 10-15% of the available jobs out there, with the bulk (60-75%) still found through networking. If this is true, then why are millions and millions flocking to the job boards?

Convenience
Online boards are easy and convenient to use. As a result, millions use them because there's minimal effort involved. Therein lies the trap, including a lot of frustration and wasted time. Networking is hard, but posting résumés on job boards is relatively easy.

Conflict of Interest?
Also, according to Nick Corcodilos of Ask the Headhunter, some job boards appear to be engaged in conflicts of interest. In a lengthy and scathing investigative report, Corcodilos revealed a phenomenon that he dubs “Job-Board Journalism.” Some of Corcodilos's assertions in this well-documented report include:

• Employers appear to be making very few hires from job boards and do not routinely divulge hiring success rates. Highly reputed publishers, such as Gannett, Inc. (which owns USA Today and dozens of other newspapers), Knight Ridder (another huge newspaper chain), and Tribune Company (another big chain) own the CareerBuilder site and use it to publish editorial content, career advice, and advertorials. Under their newspaper logos they encourage job seekers to use the CareerBuilder service. Another prominent newspaper, The Wall Street Journal's CareerJournal.com service uses a résumés-and-jobs clearinghouse called CareerCast and CareerJournal produces its own career-advice articles.

• The editorial content of these sites and their counterparts in the print editions of participating newspapers tends to encourage users to spend a great deal of time on job board sites posting and updating résumés, as well as applying for jobs. Corcodilos cites a CareerJournal article that encourages readers to update their résumé every day when posting them on job boards.

Corcodilos writes: “While they deliver articles exhorting readers to use their site on a daily basis, they don't divulge the service's success rate.... But they have no qualms about egging you on to spend precious hours applying for jobs that employers are unlikely to hire you to fill.”

Time is a precious commodity while job searching. The real issue is not the poor success rate of these boards, but their constant exhorting the employment seeker to devote inordinate time and resources to a job hunting method that isn't likely to land you a job. The reality is that job boards are an ineffective way to hire or to get hired.

What To Do?
Recognize the limitations of Internet job boards and understand that a 3% success rate ain’t great!

Alumni Career Services at the University of Utah receives dozens of jobs each week from well-known organizations and companies seeking more experienced employees for bone fide positions. These jobs are sent out to all of the members in Alumni Career Services as an e-newsletter and are then placed within a proprietary database.

Once each month, Alumni Career Services offers a Job Search Seminar with Susan Marks. This all-day program shows how to tap into that hidden job market and how to avoid the Internet scams.

Bottom line: The Internet provides an abundance of great tools for job-hunting, but it's not the be-all and end-all. The Internet is just one tool in the job seeker's toolbox; there are many others that are more effective. Remember: Time is precious and job-seeking time must be used wisely.

Need more information? Contact Julie Swaner, Program Manager of Alumni Career Services, (801) 585-5036.