Networking Ten, Job Boards Zero

A recent CareerXroads newsletter states "that about 90-95% of the tens of thousands of job boards accessible in the online marketplace are so poorly designed, managed and unsafe from a privacy standpoint that they constitute a serious career management hazard to anyone seeking new opportunities." Whoa! Not only is this very disappointing and scary news, but also a strong warning to job seekers spending hours of job hunting time applying online to job boards. Besides wasting precious time, they might be jeopardizing their privacy and their career. (BTW, the authors do advise on a "sniff test" that ferrets out those job boards that are okay/safe.)

In today's Internet age, the way to find a new career challenge remains the same as it was before the Web took the business away from print: through personal connections. Networking was and continues to be, the very best job search method.  Obtaining personal introductions and getting direct referrals to the hiring manager by a mutual contact remains the best way to find a new position and now, research shows that it may also be the safest. Neither cyber nor fiber delivers job leads with the same rate of success as relationships with company insiders. So play it safe. Use your contacts and make new connections to increase your campaign's effectiveness. Just another good reason not to coddle your lazy self with the easy task of resume postings and submissions but to assert yourself by making connections with hiring authorities. Definitely a more effective and productive method and now, shown to be safer as well!

Posted by Debra Feldman