Have you ever gotten a job through Monster.com?

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by SurfDoctor, Jan 22, 2011.

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  1. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    I am in no way looking for a job, but I have friends and loved ones that are. Most of the people I have talked to tell me that Monster does not often yield them a job or even an interview. One person remarked that putting a job application in on Monster was like dropping it in a black hole. Have you had a similar or different experience? If you have had success, do you have any tips I can share with others?
     
  2. b4cz28

    b4cz28 Active Member

    It’s funny you posted this. I was at a friend’s house and about three or four of us were talking about the same thing. Not one of us had gotten a job or known someone that has.
     
  3. airtorn

    airtorn Moderator

    After finishing her master's, my wife found a full-time teaching job at a local ACICS school through monster.com. She taught there for a couple of semesters before moving on to bigger and better things. The biggest thing that helped her get the job were master's degree in hand, prior teaching experience, and the flexibility to work the required hours.
     
  4. wmdude

    wmdude New Member

    I did, but that was about 4 years ago. Now the major job boards seem to have more junk on them than good jobs.
     
  5. b4cz28

    b4cz28 Active Member

    So she did send her info through monster?
     
  6. airtorn

    airtorn Moderator

    She did but contacted the school directly a day or two later.
     
  7. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    This seems like a good idea.
     
  8. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    Seven or eight years ago, when I was doing regular appearances on Good Morning America, ABC took out an employer subscription to Monster, and then we searched their millions of resumes for those listing fake degrees. We concentrated only on the totally fake, not the debatable unaccredited ones. When we reached 5,000 high level ones, we stopped, but the actual number would have been vastly higher. By 'high level,' I mean either those with six-figure jobs, academic jobs, jobs with high responsibility, and so on. From the several hundred with Columbia State University degrees came the nine segments aired over the next few months.

    Around that time, my publisher had the very clever idea of approaching Monster to offer a resume-checking service, weeding out the beyond-any-doubt fake degree listings, which would give Monster marketing an edge. Summarily rejected. Not too long after, it became public that the top guy at Monster.com himself had a fake MBA. Oh dear.
     
  9. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    In 2001 my dh was using the internet in his job seach. He applied for about 150 jobs (that he was qualified for) using monster and a few others (career builder, etc) but didn't get a single interview. He also applied to about another 50 that were a stretch for his qualifications or that he was totally overqualified for (PAnera counter boy). But, not even a "no" most of the time. The courtesy emails he got could be counted on 1 hand. In the end, it was a local lead via networking that landed him a job. I can't imagine my husband (who is pretty kick ass lol) wasn't a competitive applicant. My assessment agrees with the black hole theory- total waste of time.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 22, 2011
  10. ITJD

    ITJD Active Member

    I have gotten interviews and phone screens.

    I'd argue that it's not Monster but the process and economy.

    1. These days you must be a perfect fit for the job you're applying for. There are too many people without jobs and monster is the easiest way to apply for jobs. The competition is extreme. Companies are not looking for underqualified or overqualified as they're hedging bets due to volume, they're looking for qualified.

    2. You must apply for the positions on boards within 30 minutes to an hour of them being posted to have any chance at all of being noticed. Most jobs get hundreds of applicants and recruiters only really look at the first 10-20.

    3. Screening software eliminates a lot of candidates due to spelling errors and cutely formatted resumes. Always have an ASCII resume, always have skill lists and key points at the top of the resume. Do not name your resume "resume.doc", rather name it something like "firstname_lastname.doc"

    There are fewer and fewer humans doing screening and those that do are only looking at a small subset of submissions. Stand out and be on top of the job postings for best results, and it doesn't hurt to call the employers directly after a day or two as others have already stated.

    Best
    IT
     
  11. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    Good ideas, thanks. I'll pass those along.
     
  12. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    It only takes a few minutes to send out resumés via Monster and similar sites. I, too, was unsuccessful in using these services, but since I could send my resumés to 20 or so places within 10 minutes of waking up (still feeling groggy and having not eaten breakfast), I felt it better to do so than to not do so.

    It is kind of like if the corner store was giving out free lottery tickets. I'd never buy one, but if it was free, and wasn't out of the way, I would at least take one. Besides, since I was unemployed, it wasn't like I had anything better to do with that 10 minutes per day :smile:
     
  13. dlcurious

    dlcurious Member

    I have had better luck recently submitting resumes thru indeed.com and simplyhired.com, which link to individual company sites as well as jobs posted on the bigger boards. It seems easier to post your resume to the larger sites then refresh them every few days, if by no other way than editing it, added a blank space, and resaving it... recruiters tend to look more at the most recent resumes.
     
  14. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Back in the day I had good luck with employment agencies, the ones who find people temp-to-perm gigs and things like that. It gives someone who is good at it a reason to care whether you find a job. Granted, in my case this was a long time ago, but a friend's had a similar recent experience.

    -=Steve=-
     
  15. MISin08

    MISin08 New Member

    From the large-company hiring manager perspective (and admittedly a sample of one!) I'd agree the economy makes Monster of limited value. I can post jobs on Monster, but then I have justify it, write a second version of the ad vs. the internal posting, and keep extra records. And prove that we don't have a displaced employee somewhere who could do the job. Meanwhile I don't need to go outside. Recently I got 57 applicants on an internal (8 -- plenty -- worth interviewing) and turned away people with 10+ years experience. It's icky out there and a cattle call, even an automated one, is no way to get noticed.

    Phillip
     
  16. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    So it appears that the consensus seems to support the idea that Monster is a black hole for your job application to fall into and not much more.
     
  17. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    Back in the mid-90s I hired two engineers who resonded to my job ad placed on Monster (my employer at that time used Monster for the majority of engineering jobs).
     
  18. sjackson_ca

    sjackson_ca New Member

    Yes, but it was 8 1/2 years ago.
     
  19. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    Yea, that seems to be what has happened; it used to be a good thing and now it has turned into a black hole for your resume.
     
  20. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    I just checked monster for two companies I know that used Monster and judging from the amount of ads that are listed they appear to still use monster.

    If monster does not list jobs that interest you where else do those companies advertise (other than on their own web sites? Serious question.
     

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