I recently moved to the city, leaving behind my old job. I’m currently on the lookout for a new one, preferably something in the clerical field (I was a receptionist/bookkeeper/general office worker before now). I’ve been trolling Monster.com in the hopes of finding some entry level position but I think I’m wasting my time. None of the places I’ve applied to so far have written back, and instead I get spam from “business opportunities” that promise 100k a year for my modest investment fee. Do people (aka anyone here) really get jobs from Monster.com? Do companies look at Internet applicants less seriously than people who fax their resumes, or apply in person? Should I continue emailing my resume to every clerical position on the site?
I have gotten many interviews from both hotjobs and monster, and actually scored good jobs from both.
It behooves you to “update” your resume frequently (at least once a week) as your resume shows up according to last update with most recent first. I got best results “updating” Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights. You only have to add a period and then delete it for the computer to believe you “changed” or “updated” your resume, and then you go back to the top of the list.
I once landed employment through hotjobs.com.
I actually got my job through one of them. I can’t remember which though.
I saw the employers ad, wrote them a “cover letter” saying why I’d be perfect for the job, and that started the interview process.
However, I applied to a lot of jobs where I got no response.
I also got a couple interviews for jobs I wasn’t right for.
All the other interviews I got when I took my current job were through connections.
An agent found my resume on Monster or Dice (can’t recall now) and I’m starting my new job this Monday. I have in the past and continue to get frequent inquiries from employers and agents about oppotunities.
How long did it normally take before they contacted you? It is more normal for the employer to contact you or the other way round? And which is the best site to use–I’m just registered at Monster right now, but will probably post to Hotjobs soon. Any others I should be looking at (especially regional services; I live in the Pittsburgh area)?
I got my current job via hotjobs or monster.
I was hired at my current job through an online ad, and turned down an offer that came through an online ad. My husband found both of his last two jobs online.
We use monster, hotjobs, craigslist (for our city), jobsummit, flipdog, and the job section of the major local newspaper’s website.
I think it used to be that fax or mail were considered better, but that companies are increasingly going to email or online applications. A lot of companies have job listings on their own websites, too, so you can shop that way.
The wait time varies. I’ve had people call me a few days after applying and I’ve had calls about applications that were weeks or months old.
My husband is in a clerical position as well, and the one thing we found frustrating was that a lot of the positions advertised were through employment agencies of one sort or another and it was never clear whether the jobs were real or just there to lure people into placing their resumes with staffing company. Lots of real ads are out there, though.
I did once, but it was a crappy job that was totally misrepresented in the Monster.com posting. And this was after a year and a half of carefully researching each comapny, composing individual cover letters, and tailoring my resume to each position. I got fed up and just bombarded every administrative posting I found, whether I was qualified or not, and not even including cover letters. Within two days, I had a call, a series of interviews, and a job.
So yeah, but I’ve had much better luck with newspaper classifieds. YMMV, of course.
When I was unemployed, I posted to CareerBuilder, Monster, and several specialty boards for the engineering world. I actually got my job through USAJOBS, which is a FedGov Office of Personnel Management operation.
Got several nibbles and interviews through CareerBuilder and Monster, though.
CareerBuilder and Monster both worked for me.
- actually, I found both the job whose Internet connection I’m abusing now and my previous job via job search engines. Both jobs in my field (Corporate LAN/WAN on Cisco) and with pretty decent (Fortune 500) media companies.
The first job (through dice) took a lot of work and at least a year to land - I believe I must have replied to literally 3-400 ads. In the end, it turned out that the profile (Cisco WAN analyst with language skills and experience with European ways) limited the pool enough that I landed the interview, which I then proceeded to ace. 
The second one I landed through a rather pleasant phonecall beginning with the words “We’ve noticed your resume on monster.com and we’d like to know whether you’re still looking ?”
Looking back, I still think dice served me best - of course, that site is exclusively for the technical field.
I think that, over an estimated 18 months, I had perhaps 3 or 4 companies contacting me directly, plus maybe 10 technical recruiters. The last were a nice ego-stroke, but never really led anywhere. (These numbers do not include the scammers who’ll offer “to get your resume in front of the right people” for a not-so-modest fee. Steer clear of these.) In other words, the rate of outgoing to incoming communication was about 100:1.
It can work.
I got a job via Monster, IIRC. However, it was me doing the initial leg-work.
I recently got a nice three month consulting gig with a big telecom through either CareerBuilder or a local online jobs board.
I got my present job through Monster. Or I think it was Monster, could have been Dice. The company saw my resume online and called me.
Slee
I got my current job from monster, and I never even uploaded a resume. The ad just listed an email address for the HR department. I emailed a PDF of my resume and had the job a few weeks later.
My current job and my last job came off of Monster.com. In both cases, they called me. The last company contacted me directly, and my current company got me through a recruiter. In both cases it was a result of finding my resume online.
Also in both cases I’d applied for tons of other jobs and got some interviews so it didn’t happen overnight, but I’m 2 for 2 when they come to me. Definitely keep your online resume current and detail as much as you can about your skills.
EZ
Back during the Great Job Search of 99, I submitted my resume to a head hunter in the Feb-March timeframe. Via that headhunter, I heard from an interested company in July and interviewed in July, I didn’t get that job, but the hiring manager liked me and gave my resume to another hiring manager in the same organization. I interviewed with the second hiring manager in September and landed a great job which I still have.
I meant to say a headhunter at headhunter.net
I’ve found that - at least in my field - the good jobs don’t go up on the internet. If I do a search in my field I typically get up to 3,000 results. Then I’ll do the same search and subtract the words “sales” (to get rid of the no-salary sales jobs) and “home” (to get rid of those keyword-driven work from home scams) and it’ll turn up about 20 jobs.
Of those 20 jobs about 15 are entry-level jobs that I’m over-qualified for, and 5 require a Master’s Degree/MBA, 30 years of experience, and a hand-written letter of recommendation from the Pope.
All those sites ever did for me was flood me with about 5-10 spam emails a day.