Gen Y doesn’t use job boards or do they?
Posted on April 7, 2008
Filed Under Career Development, Gen X, Gen Y, Job Search
On Friday Joel Cheesman posted an interview with so called Gen Y expert Penelope Trunk. Let me say that in general I like Penelope. I occasionally find her funny and almost always find her provocative. However, from a career advice perspective, I find her advice marginal at best and reckless at worst. The interview topic, outside of if Joel was wearing pants and how Penelope swears like a sailor, was Penelope’s opinion that Gen Y doesn’t use job boards. In fact according to Ms Trunk, only the desperate use them. Evidently those with real talent are so in demand that they find employment through friends or osmosis while hanging out calling eachother ‘dude’.
Now, there may some truth buried in Ms Trunks opinions, but the reality is most candidates do and should use job boards for one very simple reason; that’s where recruiters go to find talent. I work with recruiters from every type of company on a day in and day out basis and believe me, very few of them are using Facebook, Twitter or even Linkedin. They’re not scouring the blogosphere in search of talent. It’s not that they might not want to or won’t in the future, but that they don’t need to. There are candidates out there on the job boards as well as those that will search and apply via the company website. In short those that are in the market are making themselves known, not waiting for the phone to ring.
Ms Trunk and other ‘expert’s are repeatedly sounding the trumpet that the labor shortage is here and recruiters must use alternative recruitment methods in order to find the best and the brightest. Especially those in Gen Y, because they want to be pursued and coddled. Sorry, I’m not buying it. Those that are truly driven aren’t sitting at home blogging, waiting for the phone to ring, they’re posting their resume anywhere and everywhere. They developing and working their network to find the best opportunities. Opportunity may occasionally come knocking, but we’d all get a bit tired of Ramen noodles and Mac and cheese while we’re waiting. Until then get out there and make it happen.
Until next time…
I’d like to think that being a job board, we host the best opportunities that are available. However that isn’t always the case. Many of the employers we deal with only list the we need it today jobs. The jobs that need a certain someone to fill the position are looking for more of a personal connection than job boards offer.
Job boards are an easy way for employers to find high numbers. Most employers love that. It’s easy to read data, we give them good stats and can show if a campaign is working or not and make adjustments. Many of the ‘new’ social media aspects require a lot of time to set up a network, do research and ’seek out’ candidates.
It’s quality vs. quantity. Hopefully we are taking the right direction to deliver quality by providing highly optimized postings for job seekers to find relative jobs and show those jobs to qualified job seekers.
Recruiters, sell me your job. Make it appealing. Make it stand out. Otherwise you’re just another search result in a sea of equal opportunities.
Great take on this subject!
Great comments Greg. Good to hear directly from the source.
Scott, your wit and writing style continue to make me smile… great write-up!!
Thanks Cap’n!
Hi Scott,
Fine article and really enjoy your posts. Just had a query. By how much do you feel social networks have penetrated the job search equation. Like a few years back they did not count at all. But as they have stabilized esp. Linkedin and Facebook (of course some others as well) have they managed to get a foothold into this.
Regards,
Ravi
@Ravi, thanks for your comments. To you question around social network penetration, it’s difficult to say, but I’d put it around 5-10%, mostly for Linkedin. I know Sprint is one major company that on some level utilizes Linkedin. I think change will come, but it’s a few years out.