Job Search Engine Guide

John Sumser is Wrong

   

John, you’re kidding right?  You don’t really believe your analogy comparing job search with lawn mowing, do you? 

   

Your arguments don’t make sense to me:

   

-          Indexing information for search is not the same as purloining copyrighted material;

-          Vertical job boards do not act like gang members;

-          Attributing information from your site to you is not disrespectful;

-          A business model based on broader coverage of the market is not limited to firms unable to muster a real sales force;

-          Providing additional free advertising for your content is not vandalism.

   

Here’s an alternate analogy – your argument is similar to the response of a small business when Wal-Mart comes to town.  Is Wal-Mart good?  Millions of consumers think so.  Yet some small businesses can’t compete.

   

So John, we all need to compete in the market as defined by consumers, or prepare to be forced out – that’s the way free markets work. 

   

That said, manners are important.  So if Simply Hired has ignored requests to cease indexing your content, then by all means call them out.  But painting all vertical search sites with the same brush just doesn’t seem mannerly. 

   

Jobster Tops for Active Job Search

   

Perhaps, given all of the recent positive press for Jobster, this seems like piling on, but sometimes, when a company is on a roll, they can do no wrong.

   

In a new job search shootout with CareerBuilder (previous winner: most accurate), Indeed (previous winner: active job search), and SimplyHired (previous winner: most jobs), Jobster wins the new crown as the Best Site for Active Job Search!

   

To take first place, Jobster won the social networking portion of this comparison hands down, and came in 2^nd for both Search Accuracy and Correct Jobs Returned.  Results are based on ten search strings, two- to four-words in length, in three metro areas, ranging from huge (Los Angeles, CA) to modest (Columbus, OH).

   

Going from 4^th to 1^st in less than six months is very impressive.   Congratulations Jobster!

   

   

   

No rest for the winner though.  There’s still plenty of room at the top, since none of the tested sites returned 50% of the matching jobs in this test. 

   

SimplyHired found slightly more of the correct jobs than Jobster (46% versus 41%); but SH also returned more incorrect jobs, and 8% of SH’s results were duplicates.

   

Indeed found 36% of the correct jobs for the ten search strings; but did deliver the best ratio of correct results at 66%.  SimplyHired and Jobster followed at 60%.

   

CareerBuilder came in last across the board – returning the fewest jobs, the lowest accuracy rate, and almost no social networking features.

   

Damon at SimplyHired states “We will be making some very cool changes to the site over the coming weeks.”  Jason at Jobster indicates that their recent release is just the first step in a larger rollout plan.  And another top ten site informs me, confidentially, that they plan a major release within a month. 

   

Add in the reentry of Fligdog, plus the production release of Live Expo, and these have to be the most exciting times we’ve seen in the world of electronic recruiting and job search!   Today though, Jobster leads the pack – all hail the new king!