“Job site seeks out love matches” |
| Job site seeks out love matches Posted: 18 Jan 2011 09:24 PM PST Here's a question that haunts not only philosophy majors: If a college graduate submits his resume to a thousand places online but his e-mail box is empty, did he ever really apply? While the Internet has revolutionized the world of career networking and made job listings far more accessible, the flip side is that getting noticed is tougher than ever. The pressures of the recession have only magnified the problem. Temptations to "just settle" for any job have led candidates to carpet bomb applications for positions they ordinarily would not consider. "There's so much frustration on both sides," says Jenny Floren, CEO of Experience.com, a Boston-based career search site that focuses on college students. "Yet even now, there are still hundreds of thousands of posted jobs that go unfilled. There needs to be a better way to bring employers and job hunters together." Floren's way is to think of her company as a "dating service." "Often the things that make a match work aren't always the most obvious. Sometimes it is the things that lie underneath the surface that make the job or make love work," she says. "Is there a right fit for everybody? I think there is. Our intention is to prove that our way gets people hired faster and keeps employers and employees happier than doing it the carpet bombing way." As with a matchmaking service, Experience.com gives applicants a detailed questionnaire to measure personality and character traits. It also attempts to quantify the value of summer internships, hourly jobs, volunteer positions and study abroad programs. "There are very few job listings out there that say 'we're looking for a camp counselor,' and we recently had a young woman debating if she should put it on her resume. In our system, working as a counselor demonstrates the traits of commitment, loyalty and leadership," Floren says. If an employer is looking for candidates with "communication skills," applicants are screened with college-appropriate questions such as "Have you ever done a presentation in front of a group?" or "Have you worked in retail?" Experience.com also allows companies to filter candidates by university, GPA and hometown — the latter based on the fact that employees with nearby family are more likely to stay at their jobs. Recent Northeastern University mathematics graduate Alex Cesaro credits the college-oriented Web site for helping him just land an entry-level finance job with GE Capital. He says his two study abroad experiences in Italy and South Africa and a volunteer stint with Habitat for Humanity were definitely noticed in the screening process. "It definitely gave me a leg up. By being forced into unfamiliar surroundings during my travels, I really learned how to adapt quickly to all types of personalities and to get along well with others in a much deeper sense than just going away to college," he says. "I think my interviewers picked up on this really quickly." Those are the kind of intangibles that can get missed when applicants are screened by Internet keywords. Even so, does that really make the job search feel like dating? Cesaro thinks the comparison is appropriate. "Employers have to put themselves out there as much as you do for there to be a good match," he says. "It was obvious on Experience that these companies were making an effort to find candidates who were as proactive as they were." The Working Stiff column runs every Wednesday. Check out the Stiff blog at www.bostonherald.com/blogs/workingStiff. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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