Innovation can be cool; for out of innovation come better mousetraps. At the same time, innovation is messy; for out of innovation also come disruption and confusion. And it usually takes time for the market to figure out which innovations are really better mousetraps.
So what is this new whatchamacallit that JobCentral is building? Joel Cheesman posted twice this week (here and here) on the addition of search results from Indeed and Jobster to JobCentral’s ‘Search the Web’ tab (joining SimplyHired) – now all three major vertical job search engines are brought under the JobCentral umbrella.
Is this a better mousetrap? Does the hybrid combination of JobCentral’s ads (from member employers) with three parallel vertical job search engines leapfrog them to the head of the list for active jobseekers? Consider the following points and you be the judge – post your thoughts below.
- Four Queries – Four Result Sets
Searching for auto sales jobs in Boston, MA on JobCentral returns the single posting shown above. To search on SimplyHired, Indeed and/or Jobster, requires selecting each site, one at a time, and then reviewing each result set. Thus four queries, and four result sets for one search string.
- Inconsistent Search Parameters
Although a constant set of search parameters is entered into JobCentral to begin each query, the result sets returned from each of the vertical sites use a different set of criteria from your initial set. For instance, the search for auto sales jobs in Boston, MA returns jobs within the last 7 days from Jobster, the last 30 days from Indeed, and more than 30 days from SimplyHired. This variance in search criteria gives a false impression of the differences between the sites.
- No Refinement Filters or Sorts
For each of the vertical search sites (Indeed, Jobster and SimplyHired) JobCentral displays a list of search results that cannot be resorted or refined using filters. In contrast, each of the three verticals provide impressive sorting and filtering features to help jobseekers focus on the jobs that come closest to meeting all of their criteria.
- Results Match Native Sites
Run the same search on each of the three vertical job sites and you’ll see the same search results, in the same order, as displayed by JobCentral using the same criteria. This is good news in the sense that it shows smooth transparent integration; but it also means that the linkage to four sets of partially overlapping content has not been leveraged to improve search results.
- No Snippets or Dates
JobCentral does not display freshness dates with any of their search results. For many jobseekers, the ability to view the most recent ads is an important part of their job search strategy – these jobseekers figure that older job ads are more likely to be filled. And when you search the three verticals using JobCentral, you’ll see job titles, but no job description. In contrast, each of the three vertical sites provides snippets of their ad content with each search result.
- Search Agents Focused on JobCentral Content
JobCentral allows you convert each query into a job search agent – but the agents only apply to the JobCentral content. If you want agents for the three verticals, you’ll need to visit each of their sites.
- Too Many Nested Levels
When you see a job ad you like while searching SimplyHired using JobCentral, your first click will take you to the SimplyHired site to see their snippet and their related advertising. Your next click may be to the CareerBuilder site, where SimplyHired found the job ad, to view the job ad plus CareerBuilder’s related advertising. From CareerBuilder, you may then click on the link to the employer’s web site. How many intermediaries are you willing to navigate through to get the information you really want?
I could deal with the some of the above limitations if the search results returned by JobCentral were more accurate than the vertical search sites – but they’re not. So, using JobCentral to search Indeed, Jobster and SimplyHired means that I save a few keystrokes, but then I tradeoff the power to more precisely control my searches, quickly process the results, and create agents that replicate my searches day after day with no additional work on my part.
All in all, I currently see JobCentral’s ‘Search the Web’ linkages as a novelty rather than a better mousetrap. Still, if this is just the first step in a plan that will ultimately integrate the four search engines, combining the results from a single search to improve search accuracy – ala jux2; then in the future, JobCentral may indeed be a better mousetrap.
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