Take a peek at JobFox.com to see if you’ll benefit from networking with recruiters, as promised by Rob McGovern the site’s CEO. Rob is the founder and former CEO of CareerBuilder.com, so he knows a few things about what does and doesn’t work on both sides of the hiring equation.
Be seen and considered
The job-seeking market positioning for JobFox.com is that it gets you into conversations with recruiters. But, on scratching that topic with Rob, there really isn’t a platform for conversation – just a new way for recruiters to see your resume and for you to select whose attention you’d like to attract.
Don’t expect a LinkedIn discussion group kind of mixing it up with people you don’t know but come to, via your interactions on LinkedIn. Rob propounds that you and recruiters can’t meet on LinkedIn anyway, but that’s not my clients’ experiences. They answer questions, start discussions and post on LinkedIn quite successfully.
What about the custom look?
My greatest concern about JobFox is that you can’t customize your resume for various opportunities. So much for us job coaches telling you to stress your interest in boating for a yacht company, and experience counting boats for an accounting company. On JobFox you can’t take the same job experience and spin it with different emphasis or detail.
Rob’s concept is that JobFox will do you better than the other board sites, including the one he’s left. I spent some time talking with him and I’m not sure I quite get the additional goodness. But, for right now there are fewer candidates on the site, so you might get the attention of a recruiter who otherwise won’t find you in the stack of resumes that pile up from bigger job boards.
The secret sauce
Of course, the secret sauce of JobFox is in the search algorithm – isn’t it always? So as a test, I put up a profile and signed up for the most relevant network I could find for myself: corporate training. So far, I’ve gotten one email from JobFox alerting me to the fact that there are 167 recruiter networks to join, which sounds less targeted than I expected. They sent a few possible jobs my way, including teaching elementary school. No, not me, never, uh-uh. But, I didn’t post a resume so perhaps the algorithm is trying to serve me the best it can – even if that would put me in the summer swelter of North Carolina. Unless you’re talking Aix-in-Provence, I’m not likely to move my home base out of Los Angeles or New York City.
With the lack of resume customization in mind, it’s more important than ever that you are in the right groups on LinkedIn – since recruiters will undoubtedly qualify you by looking at your LinkedIn profile and presence. Having the right groups by industry, function and interest, plus leading discussions and answering questions will be important to creating a personal brand image that may trump any education or work experience you may have.
Rob also had a word or two about Facebooking with work colleagues. I still counsel all my clients to act on social networks as if everyone is watching. With any luck, the people who are Facebooking with you – or want to – will rise in importance and their ability to hire or recommend candidates and otherwise cascade their career goodness over you.
Today’s friends can become your co-workers, bosses, investors, clients and referral sources. Rather than worry about blocking anyone out, keep your social networking at least PG-rated, and spend personal time with your real friends telling them what real friends get to know about you.
Word of mouth news about jobs and personal recommendations on job candidates are still the most likely way for you to get into the company and position you desire.So, remember we remember what you posted back in the day.
Meantime, consider JobFox.com as one of several places where you’ll have the opportunity to see and be seen by the people you want to know.
