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Quintessential Answers:
Q&A's with Career & College Experts

 

Questions and Answers with Career Expert Mark Mehler

 

Please note: On a somewhat infrequent basis, Quintessential Careers asks noted career experts five questions related to their expertise and publishes the interview in the current issue of QuintZine, our career e-newsletter. Those interviews are archived here for your convenience.

 

Mark Mehler is a partner in CareerXroads, a staffing and recruitment consulting firm, and co-author of a book by the same name.

 

Q:	What distinguishes your approach to compiling career sites from anyone else's? What make it different/better? How did you first get the idea for CareerXroads?
A:	CareerXroads was started when [co-author] Gerry [Crispin] and I met at a Human Resource Networking meeting that still goes on today in Central NJ in 1994. We saw that the Web was going to change communication between the job-seeker and corporate America. We both are human resource recruiting professionals, which makes us different in that we understand what the recruiters and job seekers are going through. We were collecting Web sites and realized very quickly that no one was looking at the vast "OZ, yellow brick road" of information in a way that the job seeker or recruiter could go to one place and find what was out there and then use it to recruit or find an opportunity. We answer over 150 e-mails a day for free from anyone who needs info on job or recruiting sites. We have branched into consulting with major corporations on design of their recruiting pages while also teaching recruiters how to use the Internet and emerging technology in their staffing efforts. Our biggest challenge is staying ahead of the many sites out there and the changes in technology.
Q:	What directions do you see online job-hunting taking in the next few years?
A:	In the next few years online job hunting will be individuals giving their e-mails, skill sets to corporations and they, in turn, will send back jobs that match. Resumes will become a thing of the past and will only be used to consummate the order/fill out application when hired. PC-to-PC interviews will be commonplace for the initial contact/meeting. Corporations will have in-house agencies and the fine line in the sand of how far corporations will go in their recruiting efforts will get even fuzzier regarding ethics. War on Talent will get worse.
Q:	What trends and changes in job-hunting have you observed in the last few years that have little or nothing to do with the Internet?
A:	Newspaper lineage for jobs has decreased, and it is a real question if this decrease is a factor of the Web or a great economy and not enough job-seekers. Applicant tracking systems have changed the way job-seekers must prepare their resumes. One can no longer print several hundred resumes, read Sunday's paper and be guaranteed a job. The rules have changed.
Q:	What is the most important piece of advice you feel you could offer today's job-seeker? What's the biggest mistake job-seekers make that your advice could correct?
A:	Job seekers should "attack" the corporation of choice, not necessarily a job. Most companies post their openings on their Web sites. Networking is still a key ingredient to the "hunt," so find a friend, acquaintance who will walk your information into the organization of choice. Plain vanilla resumes do not make it.
Q:	Do you see today's job-seekers (especially at the college grad/entry level) becoming too complacent about job-seeking because of the robust economy? How can job-seekers make the most of the strong economy and be prepared for when the current boom subsides?
A:	Making the most of a strong economy is to always be networking. You may not be looking for a job but a database of key contacts in corporate America is invaluable. Economic environments change, and job seekers need to be ready at all times for possible bumps in the road.

 

 

Mark Mehler is a partner with CAREERXROADS. Email: mmc@careerxroads.com. Website: http://www.careerxroads.com. Phone: 732-821-6652, P.O. Box 253, Kendall Park, NJ 08824. "Where Talent and Opportunity Connect on the Internet."

 

 

Check out all our interview with career experts in Quintessential Answers: Q&A's with Career & College Experts.

 

 

Maximize your career and job-search knowledge and skills! Take advantage of The Quintessential Careers Content Index, which enables site visitors to locate articles, tutorials, quizzes, and worksheets in 35 career, college, job-search topic areas.

 

 

 

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