Quintessential Careers:
Posting Your Resume on Job Boards: The FAQs
by Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., and Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.
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Posting resumes to job boards is one of the major activities that job-seekers pursue on the current job-search scene, and questions persist about how to post most effectively, how to get results, and how to avoid some of the pitfalls of posting. Here are the answers to the major questions:
Q. How can I determine the best places to post my resume?
A. There are literally thousands of Websites -- often referred to as job boards -- where job-seekers can post one or more versions of their resumes.
But before you jump onto your computer, develop a strategy for deciding which job boards will be best for your job search.
There are are basically four types of job boards/job sites:
- National Job Boards. These are the Monster.com, the HotJobs.com, the CareerBuilder.com, etc. These sites have a massive number of job listings and resume postings. See our top 10 job boards.
- Regional, Geographic-Specific Job Boards. Just about every region, every state, and every major metropolitan area has one or more "local" job boards. If you are looking for a job in a specific location, then using one or more of these job boards makes sense. Navigate your way through geographic-specific job boards.
- Industry- or Profession-Specific Job Boards. These so-called niche sites have been growing in popularity, at least among career experts. Recruiters claim they get better results going to a marketing job site than when posting the same job on a general job board. Just about every industry and profession, from white to blue collar, has at least one job board. Check out these industry-specific job boards.
- Company Career Centers. More and more employers are expanding their corporate Web sites to include job listings and the capability to accept resumes from job-seekers. These sites often have other great information about the employer, such as articles on its corporate culture, benefits, career tracks, and more. So, if you have a short list of employers (for example, from Fortune's Best Companies to Work For), check out this section of Quintessential Careers: The Quintessential Directory of Company Career Centers.
Q: When given the option of posting my resume and responding to job-board ads nationally or locally, which should I choose?
A: The major job boards can be more effective if you localize your search.
A career counselor for a state employment agency who likes to test out job boards so he can share his experiences with his clients told us that Monster.com was one of the job-search tools that he actively used over a six-month period, sending out approximately 250 responses per week. "My personal experience has revealed that when trying to find a job in the HR profession, responding to ads that are out of state is not an effective way to gain interviews," the counselor said. "In other words, a person using Monster.com will find little to no success when attempting to find work that is located out of state." When he began sending out a letter of introduction to businesses posting job-board ads for positions in his own state, his success rate in landing interviews jumped to five out of every 10 businesses whose ad he responded to. Explore geographically specific job boards.
Q: With so many job boards out there, how can I save time in posting my resume to all of these boards?
A:Try one-stop shopping. If you want to leave no stone unturned and use as many online job boards as possible, you can save a lot of time by going to a site with links to large numbers of job boards.
Naturally, we recommend Quintessential Careers: Best Job Sites for Job-Seekers, with links to more than 900 job sites. Most of these sites boast both job postings and the opportunity to post your resume. And if you include our employer career center links, Quintessential Careers links to more than 1,400 sites where you can search for -- and apply to -- jobs.
One of our readers described a good response after using another one-stop site, and one we really like for its convenience, Indeed.com.
Check out our directory of all the mega job boards.
If you would like a print resource to help you navigate your way through the job boards, can find some excellent job-hunting books in this section of our Career and Job-Hunting Bookstore: General Career and Job Books for all Job-Seekers.
Q: What if I really need my resume to be formatted functionally or chrono-functionally and therefore can't post it on boards like Monster because of the rigidity of their profile forms?
A: You can supplement your resume postings on job boards by publishing your resume -- formatted the way you feel best spotlights your qualifications -- on your own Web page.
There's usually a spot on the job board's intake form for additional information. Once thing you can include in that field is the URL for your resume on your own Web page.
Learn more about creating your Web resume in our article, A Web-Ready Resume Can Be a Major Advantage in Your Job Search.
Q: What contact information should I include on my resume submission to job boards?
A: All possible ways to contact you -- landline phones (home and work), cell phone, fax number, e-mail address(s), and pager.
But once you've done that, be sure you respond when the employer contacts you. Writing in The Gladiator, a job-search "survival" newsletter, Shanna Kemp, who recently worked at a recruiting firm, notes: "I cannot count the number of potential candidates I contacted who simply never emailed or called back. As a recruiter, I assume that if the candidate doesn't call or email in return, they are no longer interested in employment and put them on my "uninterested" list. Also, many recruiters are searching for candidates to fill a position that is currently open and being interviewed for; if you don't respond quickly, someone else will and they will be hired."
Q: How can I ensure that my resume convinces employers that I'm exactly what they're looking for and gets attention?
A: Keywords, keywords, keywords.
Be sure your resume includes copious industry-specific keywords, and when responding to job postings, pack your resume with actual verbiage from the postings. Front-load your resume with keywords and your top skills and repeat them often so they'll be sure to be picked up by the employer's keyword-searchable software. For more about how to identify and use keywords, see our article, Tapping the Power of Keywords to Enhance Your Resume's Effectiveness.
Another way to get attention is to send your resume (with a cover letter) by postal mail to the employer simultaneously with your job-board submission. You'll grab attention because it's becoming less and less common to send resumes through snailmail.
Q: How often should update my resume submissions to the boards?
A: The way the system works dictates frequent updates.
Kemp, who suggests weekly updates, writes, "I was trained to search only for candidates who had posted in the past 24 hours first (and I always found several) then work my way back to a week." Some experts suggest as often as daily. But a big caveat here is to be cautious about how much time you're spending updating and re-submitting your resume to the job boards. Given that using the job boards is not necessarily the most effective way to find a job to begin with, make sure you don't let these resume-updating activities swallow up all your precious job-hunting time. Mix up your job-search techniques in proportion to the effectiveness of the various methods -- including networking, which is generally recognized as the best method.
It's also a good idea to check the policies of the boards you're posting to regarding how long they keep your resume active. Even if you don't update your resume submission frequently, you'll want to make sure it's still active on the boards.
Q: When I post my resume on the major job boards, I get a flood of junk e-mails advertising get-rich-quick, multi-level marketing (MLM), and pyramid schemes. How can I avoid that?
A: One solution is to obtain a "throwaway" e-mail address from a provider such as Hotmail or Yahoo for use during job searching and then terminating the account after the search is complete to stave off these types of unwanted e-mail solicitations.
And the big job boards really owe it to users to tell what they're doing to prevent job-seekers from being subjected to inappropriate solicitations and misrepresentation.
Q: Should I be concerned about privacy violations and identity theft when I post my resume on the boards?
A: Unfortunately, yes, according to some recent studies.
Pam Dixon, head of the World Privacy Forum, warns that many job sites still let too much information from resumes posted online get into the hands of third parties through online "cookies" that monitor Web surfing. To help prevent these violations, Dixon offers Privacy Tips for Online Job Seekers.
Q: I don't want my current employer to see that my resume has been submitted to a job board, nor do I want any employers to contact my current employer. What can I do?
A: The most reputable job boards offer "confidential" settings.
Select the identity-revealing information that you want blocked out. Some boards enable you to set up an e-mail account with them so you don't have to reveal your real e-mail address. And to keep employers from contacting your current employer, substitute "confidential" or "current employer" for the name of your employer on your resume or resume-submission form.
Q: Any special tips for boards like Monster that require a fill-in-the-blanks profile form for resume submission?
A: One important tip is that you don't have to fill in every blank.
Think twice about filling in the blanks with information that would limit your opportunities. In an article for Career Connections, the newsletter of Career Masters Institute, Ross Primack of Connecticut Works suggests leaving blank the questions about ideal job and ideal company as they can limit your options. Other advice from Primack:
- The salary and references fields are not required and should be left blank.
- Stating that you can start your next position immediately can make you look disloyal and as though you are prone to leaving employers in the lurch.
- The job-seeker's answer to the question about site location can also be limiting. Given Monster's three options of on-site, off-site, and no preference, choose no preference.
- Similarly, when you're asked about company-size preference, you'll keep more options open by indicating no preference.
- Be as specific as possible in completing the skill section, especially regarding software skills, and use the skill section to list keywords associated with your background and experience.
- Sometimes you do want to limit your opportunities to the fields that really interest you. Primack suggests using Monster's "Additional information" box to indicate fields in which you have no interest and state that you don't wish to be contacted by employers in these areas.
An additional tip from Shanna Kemp is to title your resume appropriately since Monster allows resume titles. "As an employer or recruiter on the search end... I ignore all resumes that don't seem relevant immediately -- and if I find someone better first, never go back," Kemp writes.
Q: I've already tried most of the suggestions in this FAQ, and I'm still not getting good results. Are there any untapped promising areas or new trends in online resume submission?
A: A relatively untapped venue is professional organizations.
Not only do they often have job ads for your specific field, but professional organizations were ranked as the No. 1 networking venue in the survey we did for our book, A Foot in the Door: NetworkingYour Way into the Hidden Job Market. Access many professional organizations through this section of Quintessential Careers: General Professional Organizations and Associations.
Another technique -- which hardly represents a new trend but is not used often enough -- is followup. It's not always easy to obtain contact information for an employer to which you're submitting your resume online, but it can be done, and your persistence can pay off. Even if you receive a rejection letter or e-mail, follow up to indicate continued interest in the employer.
Q: I've heard about some techniques for "fooling" the applicant-tracking system software that searches employer databases for resumes. Some of these techniques involve telling "white lies" and don't seem ethical. Should I use these techniques?
A: Some job-seekers are so incensed by impersonal resume-filtering technology that they believe they are justified in engaging in questionable ethics to "beat the system."
We retain a neutral stance on the ethical issue and choose not to publicize the techniques on our site.
Q: I've posted my resume to just about every job board imaginable -- even in areas I wasn't really qualified for -- just to cover all the bases. But I'm still not getting good results. What am I doing wrong?
A: Don't submit your resume indiscriminately.
Adding to the overwhelming volume of resumes employers receive online is a plethora of resumes sent for jobs the job-seeker is not remotely qualified for. If you think you're covering all bases by responding to zillions of job postings, think again. You do yourself no favors by adding to the clutter that employers must weed through. Managing the information glut that results from the bombardment of resumes is a major headache for employers. Some job-seekers think that even if they're not qualified, the employer will realize how much they have to offer and match them up with other company job openings. Given the sheer volume of resumes and the speed of the screening process, the chances of such a match occurring are beyond remote, so don't waste the employer's time or your own.
Questions about some of the terminology used in this article? Get more information (definitions and links) on key college, career, and job-search terms by going to our Job-Seeker's Glossary of Job-Hunting Terms.
Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., creative director and associate
publisher of Quintessential Careers, is an educator, author,
and blogger who provides content for Quintessential Careers,
edits QuintZine,
an electronic newsletter for jobseekers, and blogs about storytelling
in the job search at A Storied
Career. Katharine, who earned her PhD in organizational behavior
from Union Institute & University, Cincinnati, OH, is author of Dynamic
Cover Letters for New Graduates and A Foot in the Door: Networking
Your Way into the Hidden Job Market (both published by Ten Speed Press),
as well as Top Notch Executive Resumes (Career Press); and with
Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D., Dynamic Cover Letters, Write Your
Way to a Higher GPA (Ten Speed), and The Complete Idiot's Guide
to Study Skills (Alpha). Visit her
personal Website
or reach her by e-mail at
kathy(at)quintcareers.com.
Dr. Randall S. Hansen is founder of Quintessential Careers,
one of the oldest and most comprehensive career development sites on the Web, as well CEO of
EmpoweringSites.com. He is also founder of
MyCollegeSuccessStory.com and
EnhanceMyVocabulary.com. He is publisher of
Quintessential Careers Press,
including the Quintessential Careers electronic newsletter,
QuintZine. Dr. Hansen is also a
published author, with several books, chapters in books, and hundreds of articles. He's often
quoted in the media and conducts empowering workshops around the country. Finally, Dr. Hansen is
also an educator, having taught at the college level for more than 15 years. Visit his
personal Website or
reach him by email at randall(at)quintcareers.com.
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