Odds of Finding Your Next Job On A Major Job Board
About 2,000 people are injured by lightning strikes around the world each year. The odds of an average person living in the U.S. being struck by lightning in a given year is 1:750,000. Roy Sullivan, however, was struck by lightning 7 times in his life between 1942 and 1977. What are the odds of that? 1:22×1024 - that is 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. One billion trillion!
The odds of finding a job on a mega-Job Board is about 10%. These statistic change from time-to-time. For example, In 2007, over fifteen thousand were surveyed, and 19% responded they found their job on an internet job board. The year before, the same survey identified 13.2%. Currently, however, about 10% will find their next job on a mega-job board. The statistics are not in your favor for getting struck by lightning, nor are the in your favor for getting a job quickly from a mega-job board posting…..but both can happen.
Your success may depend on many variables
- How specialized is the job posting? Is there a small talent pool? For example, a posting requiring a PhD in Alternative Fuels will have a much smaller potential labor pool than a posting requiring a “BBA”.
- How long has the posting been online? If it was brand new, you may get in before the Recruiter is inundated with resumes.
- Which mega-job board do you use? If you use Monster or CareerBuilder, you are competing with more people than on specialized sites like The Ladders or DICE.
Can you find a job using a mega-job board?
Absolutely! The point isn’t that there aren’t valid jobs on Monster, CareerBuilder, or HotJobs. There are! The point is that when we are looking for a job, we tend to spend 90%-100% of our time while we neglect the other pieces of the job search which can help you find a job faster - like Targeted job searching, networking, and making personal connections with hiring authorities. When you are diversify your time between many job search methods, your job search will be shorter and more effective.
One of Angela’s clients, who landed through a job board posting after his 3-month job search last year, told her, “I’m really glad I did everything, the networking, the website with my resume on it, the business card, LinkedIn, etc.” He didn’t say it outright, but what he was trying to say was that he got much more than a job during his job search – he learned a lot and got a professional network that he can hang on to from now on.
Use the mega-job board as ONE of your methods for finding your next job. Just don’t make it the ONLY method.
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Jay Markunas is the co-host of The Job Search Boot Camp Show. He’s also one of the co-presenters in The Job Search Boot Camp webcast – 3 evenings to career success. Visit his website for more information at http://www.GreatOccupations.com
Tags: Career, careerbuilder, hotjobs, interview, job search, mega-job board, monster, purpose, Resume, retirement, Senior Work Solutions, The Three Signs of a Miserable Job