As the world moves more and more online, it is no wonder that one popular way to find a job is through online job listings. Let’s take a look at how they started, their success rate, and some of the most popular online job sites out there. Understand the pros and cons of online job listings can help you make an educated decision about how to find a job online, and whether or not to post your resume online.

How did online job listings start?

Online job listings were started by human resources departments in general. Basically the HR managers decided that they needed a way to get the job openings out to a wider audience, by posting them online. This is how companies like Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com, and HotJobs.com were formed. The HR managers became a catalyst for starting these sites that now post jobs for thousands of employers, and resumes from thousands of potential employees. Today, many companies spend millions of dollars a year on posting jobs online.

Pros and cons of online job listings:

Ok, now that you understand why they started, and how companies use them, let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons of online job listings from the employer point of view, and the potential employee point of view.

Pros:

For both the employees and employers, online job listings are a way to get exposure. The internet means access to and by millions of users. Posting an ad in a newspaper only gives you access to a limited number of readers, and of the people who read the paper, only a select few will look in the classifieds section. Online job listings are far easier to sort into categories, and to sift through. Most online job listing sites allow you to input qualifications you have, or are looking for, and only get access to the ones that fit those criteria.

Another big pro for potential employees is that most online job listing sites offer help for building a resume. In many cases people are not representing themselves well, and the resume builders and reviewers these sites offer can help them to put their best self forward, and not bog their resume down with things that should not be included in it.

Many online job listings offer help for people when it comes to interviewing skills. Many online job posting sites also have articles and tips for getting through an interview successfully once a potential employer looks at your resume.

A big pro of online job listings for the potential employees are the fact that your resume will be posted in a specific category, and will be sorted based on your skills, education, and other things. This means that people who find your resume online and give you a call will already know what your skills are, and neither of you will be wasting your time because of too vague of postings or resumes.

Cons:

With everything, there are going to be pros and cons. Of course, the cons of the online job posting are more of a con for the potential employee than the employer, but can be costly for employers.

One of the cons for potential employers and employees is that online job listings don’t always guarantee the job will be filled by a qualified candidate nor do they guarantee that you will find a job. This can mean that they are a waste of time for both sides. While they have definitely made strides in the past few years, in 2000 most surveys showed that only 4% of job hunters found jobs through the online job boards. However, today, HR recruiters still use online job listings, and find that it is one of the most successful ways to find qualified employees.

One of the biggest cons with online job boards is that the companies that are the most “successful” tend to focus on their internet traffic results rather than hiring success. So, you might see that Monster.com is popular, but their popularity is a reflection on how many hits they get a month, not on how many people actually find jobs online. It is because of this that several large companies, including GE formed their own online job listing site called DirectEmployers.com, with the hopes that they could be able to get potential employees information directly so that they could be the ones to determine if the person is qualified for the job. However, they did not get enough traffic, and thus we still have the problem of job boards that are too vague, or specific job listings without enough traffic to fill the job openings.

One con of online job listings is that many employers spend far too much money on posting job openings without the success that they want. This has resulted in many companies avoiding online job listings in general, but still using the web for jobs. Instead of using the broad online job boards they are simply posting openings and available positions on their own or corporate websites.

Another con of online job listings is that the better services are going to cost money, and if you do not get a job, you are spending money you do not have. The free sites and services are the sites that are not as successful.

Another con with online job listings is that many of these online job boards have far too many jobs on them to be useful, and many have an overwhelming amount of SPAM jobs. These are jobs that are either fake, or that are require you to pay out to participate. Most of the time they are called “work from home” jobs. So, while you gain exposure to hundreds of employers, you also gain exposure to scam artists.

Another con of online job listings is that in order to stay up in the list to get the most exposure to potential employers, you need to update your resume often, in fact many places recommend that you update your resume daily for the best results. This can be very time consuming.

One of the cons of online job listings is that often times people who post jobs get overwhelmed with applicants, and many of them are unqualified. This can be time consuming to sort through. Wasted time is wasted money.

Finding a job without online job listings:

Okay, with the fact that there are pros and cons to online job listings, let’s take a look at some of the other ways that you can find jobs besides online job listings. You can still use the internet, for finding jobs, for example, you can use social networking sites to hear about jobs from word of mouth. The reason this may be a better option than online job listings is that when you hear about a job from someone who knows you, you know it is a fit, and you know it is not a sales pitch because they aren’t getting something out of it the way online job boards do. The fact is that while online job listings are nice, over 43% of all company hires still come from word-of-mouth.

While online job listings can be beneficial, they can also be extremely time consuming, which leads to lost time for getting a job. So, instead of devoting an hour or more each day to online job listings, start looking at specific companies you are interested in, at their corporate websites, and network with friends and professionals to find a job.

Not all online job listing sites are a waste of time, and they can be useful if you use them appropriately and know which are worth your time, and which are not. The following are some of the most popular online job listing services.

Popular online job listing sites:

Monster.com

One of the most popular online job listing sites is Monster.com. You have to be 18 to use this site, and of course agree to their terms and conditions, as well as privacy factors. It is a great site for helping people apply for jobs quickly, and to be able to apply to tons of employers in a matter of minutes. Basically you fill out an application, and then Monster helps align you with potential employers. Employers spend thousands of dollars each year on Monster.com to advertise open positions. One of the great things about Monster is that they provide career advice, and pride themselves in helping employers select the best candidates for positions. Another great thing about this job listing site is that they have over 75 million visitors, which means lots of exposure. This is one of the most highly used job listing sites.

CareerBuilder.com.

This is a popular site for online job listing because they are partnered with large corporations like American Online and Microsoft. Their partners and associates mean that there are a lot of postings on their site instead of in classifieds or in the newspaper. This site offers many listings, and has lots of users, so again, you get good exposure.

Corporate Job Boards

Many companies, including international companies use their own websites to list current job openings. People looking for a job can submit their resume and fill out an employment application directly through their web site. This allows companies to quickly sift through applicants, and determine if they are qualified.