Time Flies When You’re Having Fun

It’s been about 2 weeks since I started .   Time to take a deep breath.    I found a number of jobs that were good matches for me.   Nothing overwhelming, some ok,  but with no obvious disqualifications – no requests for over 10 certifications and a preference for ex-CIO’s of a Fortune 500 company.

I was (and still am) doing some initial fact finding on the big boards.  So after this time, where am I? 

The overview: The big boards are like drinking from a fire hose (actually more like from Niagara Falls) – way too much information!  Admittedly as an overview, this is like a view from the moon…and what can you say about the earth from the moon view - it’s round and it’s blue (mostly). 

I’m stating the obvious.  (Reader…do you have a job out there for someone with this as a key skill? I’m available!)

Kidding aside, I have spotted some areas for metrics and done a review of the options on two of the big boards so I can compare them.  I can use these comparisons as rating scales going forward.   I have, I think, enough to plan forward!    Using the moon metaphor,  feel  I am adequately prepared to re-enter the earth’s atmosphere and start looking at a lower level (say 30,000 ft.).   

I grabbed my pencil and a napkin (aren’t these usually done on napkins?) and drew a flow diagram,  wordsmithed the results and voila!

I have a PLAN!

Indeed – Indeed!

Indeed remembers me!   I haven’t gone in here in a LONG time, but sitting there on the first page is my old search and a nearby setting for my location.   OK, so it’s about 20 miles off in New York…but who’s that fussy.   It has the main information - the wonders of computers!

The heading is the standard keyword and location seen already on Monster.   Assuming that will work as usual, I head for the options.   Here’s a nice surprise…The options have titles listed and the relevant count listed on the left hand side of the page.  (These were available in Monster too, but only when you ‘mouse-overed’ the individual option – an annoying inconvenience.)   The figures are available for each option.   This looks good.

Going down the left hand list, the companies are also listed by name!   Location too.   The options are there for job type (full time, part time, etc), recruiter, employer all pre-sorted out for the hungry job hunter to take advantage of.  Some of the work is already done for you!  

Wow,  the ads are all down the right hand side of the page.  Sufficiently out of the way so I can concentrate on the goodies in the middle.   I like this.   And at the bottom of the page there’s a couple of related ‘forums’ to explore and links to what I can expect to make as an IT Auditor in Brookfield. 

Terrific!  I’m impressed.   Next stop…dive deeper.

Some thoughts on Metrics

My vent when I started this was that there was very little hard data ever cited about job hunting.   As I said, there were a lot of stories.   I’m sure you’ve heard them  – the guy who blurted out his needs in an elevator and was talking to the CEO who hired him on the spot,  the homeless man (and supposedly jobless) who put up a You Tube blurb that went viral, the poor HR gal digging through gazillion resumes who picks out one because it is hot pink….etc.    

So what are hard facts that could help the job seeker.   Here after the first dive at Monster are a few areas that might be worth further exploration:

• How many jobs do they have listed?  The bigger the pool, the more likely the hit?
• How many ways do they have of searching their listings?
• Do the searches work?  The metrics would be a rating scale.  On a scale of 1 to 5, is the radius you typed in coming back with reasonable answers.    For twenty five miles from my home in Brookfield, CT.   Danbury is a 5, New Jersey is a 3, Kentucky is 1, Malaysia is 0. 
• Rating scales for ease of use – extra points given if you don’t have to reset the search each time you click to review a particular job.

The companies:

(OK, supposedly I haven’t gone there yet, but I did peek at some of them while doing my ‘big board’ search).

• If you Google them, what comes up?  Are they first in a Google search?  I’ll admit this is a little off my stated objective.   Unless you are looking at VERY small companies, a website means it’s researchable.
• On their website, do they have a ‘careers’ or ‘jobs’ section with a link?  This means that you can apply to the job directly to the company.
• …and almost as important…if you go to their career site or start an application,  does the url turn to something that indicates that their search is being outsourced?   They can get past this check by buying an http address, but http://jobs&stormdoors.com is not a good sign. 
•   I am sure there are other indicators…

Looks like a rating system for companies might be possible. 

The same goes for jobs, there are those that have such long lists of impossible qualifications that only archangels graduating Summa from Harvard with 100 years’ experience need apply and there are those where the qualifications are so foggy that a breathing body is all that is seemingly required.

Have to work a little more on this…but I think it can be done.