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Assessing Resume "Bargains"

© Sharon Hill

What is true of Internet recruitment in general is also true of resume database access online - it is a great tool and time-effective recruitment research method for SOME positions, but not for all. Candidate resumes for those positions for which a candidate will typically not relocate or commute any distance, and those positions for which an employer would typically not pay relocation expenses, will be hard or impossible to find in any Internet recruitment site's database. The exception might be niche sites - industry or area specific.

The question then becomes, if you are finding the position advertised on a niche site, especially area-specific, might you not be better off turning to the local newspaper? Especially since most major newspapers participate in their own recruitment site or partner with a wider area site on which the recruiter can choose location.

There are several things to look at in resolving this quandary.

• First, are you paying for resume database access? If not, then the question is moot.
• If resume database access is included in the price of ad placement and you wish to post jobs on the site, then does the ad's response, without consideration for the value of the database access, warrant the price of the ad? Again, this would make the question moot.
• If, however, there is a fee for resume access then my best advice here is to find testimonials. Wander around the site, find employers using the site. Call or email them and ask their opinion of the site and the resume database access. You may even want to contact applicants at random, even if their skills are not pertinent to those you seek. Make sure they are aware they are on the site, they are still job-hunting, and the contact information is up-to-date. If employers aren't profiled then ask the site's sales staff to provide you with testimonials. That's their job - to sell you on the site. Make them work for your business.

Unfortunately, the Internet is new enough that it does not have the policing in place that print media do. The newspaper industry's Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) is a much respected non-profit which has for decades accurately scrutinized the distribution numbers reported by newspapers. It 'keeps 'em honest.'

For the World Wide Web there is no such policing organization. When sites report hits, views, and demographics you can only assume they are giving you the true picture. There is no way to verify this information. Even sites whose hit counter is viewable can easily alter the volume of hits.