Real Talk | Real Recruitment. Chapter Six - Where Are the Jobs At?

Years ago, the only place to look for a job was an ad hanging on the wall of a company, in the newspaper or at the unemployment office. Now, a jobseeker has many more options right at their fingertips yet many are still struggling to know where to look.

Today, let's dig into WHERE to search since we've already covered WHO?different types of jobseekers are,?WHAT?a job search really is,?WHY the job?is available in the first place, and WHY a jobseeker might be looking for a job.

A jobseeker can now comfortably scroll through job postings sitting on the couch at night; they can set alerts on job boards to automatically email them when a job they are interested in goes live; or they can follow hashtags like #jobalert or #nowhiring and get 24/7 notifications.

In addition to traditional job boards, there are job postings on TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter. There are job fairs, university career centers, and livestreams that focus on job opportunities. There are recruiters talking about their roles in LinkedIn posts, newspaper/magazine articles about upcoming company expansions, and news coverage of employment trends and mergers/acquisitions.

While most of us might rely on LinkedIn and Indeed the most, there are countless job boards that jobseekers can take advantage of, and many of these are industry specific (picture below). Some of these job boards are specifically designed to support transitioning military members and veterans, workers with disabilities, or international applicants.

What is the most trusted source of information?

We know that jobseekers have way more options of WHERE to look for jobs so today I really want to focus on the one place that jobseekers should rely on as the 100% most accurate source of information during their job search ..... a company's career page. ALWAYS.

Why is it so important that I stress this fact?

Because I want every single jobseeker to be aware that jobseekers have ZERO influence over the information displayed on ANY website other than our own. Once it gets scraped, it is gone!

What is "Scraping"?

What is "scraping"? I'm glad you asked! And, no it isn't referring to these glorious 5+ months here in Canada every time we get in the car :)

"Scraping" occurs when an organization's Applicant Tracking System (ATS) has third-party agreements with various job boards, and at various times throughout the day the data from our career websites is automatically scraped (pulled) to their sites. For example, at 10 AM and 3 PM every single day, any new jobs posted by my company will be scraped to all of the other job boards.

Because each of these sites have their own formats, criteria and layouts, there can often be incorrect information or added information that the actual company didn't provide. Basically, they fill in the blanks in order to post our job on their site. This can cause major confusion, stress and situations exactly like the three I'd like to share with you today.

Scraping Scenarios Gone Wrong.

Scenario One. Union members see a full-time job listed on X-Job Board that they didn't know about first, which violates the collective agreement, and a grievance is filed for not following protocol.

Reality - the correct part-time job was posted on our company website, but when it was pulled to the external site, the details did not match the correctly posted job.

Scenario Two. Hiring managers see an hourly rate that is exorbitantly high listed on X-Job Board, and reach out to the recruitment team frustrated over incorrect information that would go against their allotted budget for the year.

Reality - the correct salary range had been posted on our company website, but this website was using their own market research to input an hourly rate to attract more applicants.

Scenario Three. A jobseeker becomes enraged that a job has been live on X-Job Board for six-months, and begins slandering the company for not prioritizing hiring.

Reality - the job had gone through the recruitment process, a successful candidate had been hired, and the recruiter had closed the job in their ATS, but that update hadn't been scraped to that particular external job board so it still looked open.

The Moral of the Story.

The moral of the story - - - a company's career site is the ONLY place that a recruiter can make updates and post all accurate information for that role. We have 0% jurisdiction over the information posted on other sites, and have zero authority to make any changes.

Absolutely jobseekers can and should use job boards and social media as resources for their job search or to set alerts to be notified of new roles, but I highly highly highly advise that you validate that information on the company website before you apply.

My promise when I started this newsletter was to break down the recruitment process into its basic parts with truth and transparency, and I encourage you to click these links to catch up on WHO?the different types of jobseekers are,?WHAT?a job search really is,?WHY?a job is vacant within an organization, and the truth about WHY someone might be unemployed.

I hope you'll join me next time when we move on to talking about the WHEN and HOW of the recruitment process. Until then, happy job seeking!!