How to find a job

Would like to share my story of how a small resume distribution service called ResumeRobin.com helped me find work.

Finding a job in this economy is difficult. I would like to share my story. I have a Bachelor's in Computer Science from an Ivy League school. So, after graduating, I thought finding a job wouldn't be difficult. This was probably 2-3 years ago. I was on the West Coast, in the Bay Area.

Started looking for work about 2-3 months before graduation, thinking this should be plenty of time. Started sending out hundreds of resume. Still nothing. Started getting a little worried. Had to move back with my parents in Kentucky. However, a friend suggested ResumeRobin.com. After uploading my resume, I had about 15 recruiters contact me with specific job opportunities relevant to my major. After doing 3 phone interviews, I was invited to interview in person with a Bay Area startup, who then hired me on a temporary basis.

How do resume distribution services work?

Ever wonder how resume distribution services work? Here's a detailed explanation from ResumeRobin.com, the web's leading resume distribution service.

ResumeRobin.com is the resume distribution division of CBCJobs.com. ResumeRobin has strategic business partnerships with job boards and recruiters. Our resume submission service connects directly to our partner databases through API's (application programming interfaces) and uploads your resume directly to their resume database. We work with Taleo, Kenexa, Icims, Monster, Careerbuilder, Manpower, Randstadt, RobertHalf and many others.

The ResumeRobin.com Process

ResumeRobin Resume Parser extracts information from resumes ResumeRobin Shell Connector sends resumes to our partner network systems Your resume is ditributed throughout our network system.

You upload the resume into the ResumeRobin.com system Your resume file (ie .doc, .pdf) is saved on our server's harddisk. Your resume is parsed into two versions: an HTML version and a plain text version, both of which are saved in our database. Your resume is entered into the daily feed file, which is later used to upload it into some of our partner network sites (see below). The system then starts cycling through the thousands of job boards, career websites and recruiters. For job boards and career sites, our system connects to them via two ways: API's or feeds. During an API connection, a direct connection is made with another system (a job board for example). Through an SOAP request, various information such as name, address, email and resume body are transferred from our system to our partner's system. With feeds, a XML feed file is formed every day. This feed file, through its direct URL, is pulled and read daily by our partners. For many recruiters, we still use the old email protocol to mail them resumes. Our partner recruiters usually have a specific email address to receive resumes from us. Some of these emails are automatically parsed into their applicant tracking systems. Once your resume has been uploaded to our partner network, our system sets a preferred flag on your account, so that your resume comes up on top of related keyword searches when employees search our vast internal database of resumes. Recruiters and hiring managers search our system and our partner system for applicants. They find your resume and see your contact information. If they think you are a fit for the position, they contact you via phone, email or any other contact method you've listed in your resume (skype, instant messenger,etc)

The CBCJobs network is one of the largest job board networks in the United States. It is used by over 50,000 people daily. We have over a million registered users and over 15,000 employers. We are the world's first social network based on top of job search. Connect with potential employers like never before, through seamlessly integrated interface, and land the job of your dreams!

Our Top 5 Resume Distribution Service Websites!

Some of the top resume distribution services we tested were

1) ResumeRobin.com
2) Monster.com
3) CareerBuilder.com
4) Snagajob.com
5) Indeed.com

Of those, the best performing one was ResumeRobin.com, which we examine in depth here.

Trying to find a job in the 21st century is no easy task. Applying to each job can take up to 10 minutes, the jobs are scattered among many sites. 

The job is also difficult for the hiring managers and recruiters. Once a job vacancy is created, there are two ways to proceed. One is to post the job on whatever hiring system is being used and wait for applicants. The second is to scour the web searching for candidates. 

A site we recently came across is ResumeRobin.com. This site actually has a very decent free resume search engine that allows to search for candidates by keywords and location.

How effective are Resume Distribution Services?

Some can be very effective. They work by submitting the resume, via special software, the resume to various job boards, applicant tracking systems and corporate websites. Recruiters then search these websites when they have an open vacancy. This technique can be quite effective for the job seeker as their resume goes out to many places with the click of a mouse.

In our testing,  ResumeRobin.com was the most effective at resume distribution.

How is the Resume Distributed?

The resume is usually originally created in a word processing program. Once the resume is uploaded to a resume distribution site, such as ResumeRobin.com, it is converted into HTML format and stored in the site's database. The system proceeds to connect with each of the thousands other server and transmits the information to them. During transmission, information is verified to make sure it has transmitted successfully.

Do Resume Blasting, Resume Distribution Services Work?

For a hundred bucks, you can pay a company like ResumeBlaster to send your resume and cover letter to 3000+ recruiters in up to 6 of “your disciplines.” I know nothing about their particular service but I know that they are one of several out there that will bulk mail out your resume and cover letter to recruiters in their database. If you’ve been looking for a job for a while, this service probably looks very appealing to you. For a mere $89, or less if you want to reach fewer people, you can do something that would otherwise take you several days. It seems like a good deal, almost too good to be true, right?

Before you pony up a nice dinner, let me offer up some reasons why this might not be a good idea.

Junk Mail Syndrome

Unless you’ve done a really good job opting out of junk mail, you probably get a bunch of letters each week you’d classify as junk mail. You also probably shred them without even opening them.

I’m inclined to believe that a recruiter who is tired of getting bulk resume mailers is probably doing the same thing. If you read reviews about resume mailing services, you’ll notice one trend – a very low response rate. Direct mail, which is the industry term for what we call junk mail, has a response rate that is very low but relies on a large number of mailers. Half a percent is acceptable if you’re mailing out millions of mailers.

Expensive

If you assume a response rate of 0.5% (which may be a reasonable response rate), that’s 15 responses for $89. That’s $5.93 a response. That’s expensive compared to submitting your resume to a job hunting website for free. When you do that, chances are a headhunter/recruiter will see your resume and start trying to place you for jobs if they know of any that apply. Headhunters make jobs when they place you, so you’ll know quickly if you have marketable skills.

So $5.93 with a resume bulk mailer, assuming a half percent response rate, or free with a job hunting website.

Spamming

When you send a resume yourself, you know they want to receive it. They may not have asked you for it but you know they’re taking resumes and you’re sending it in a way they deem acceptable. When you use a resume distribution service, you can’t be sure. Maybe they opted into the service as a recruiter, maybe their email was pulled off a list of recruiter, maybe they don’t want to receive anything in bulk and the distributor isn’t as clean as they should be. Either way, when you outsource distribution, you may be getting their attention in a bad way. If the recruiters opted in, wonderful, but can you be sure every single one of them opted in?

Building Relationships

I believe that the most effective way to get a job at a company is by developing relationships with people at that company. Talk to friends, family, friends of friends, attend networking events, conferences, and the like to build these relationships. Even cold calling on a telephone is far more effective than sending out thousands of identical cover letters and resumes. You need to develop relationships to be the most successful in a job hunt and you can’t do that through mass mailings, electronic or otherwise. The USPS would love it more people blasted out their resumes at 44 cents a pop but the reality is that there are more effective methods.

My advice, having never used these services before, is to avoid them. $100 for a few thousand resumes sent may seem cheap, especially if it results in securing a job, but there are better alternatives and all of them are guaranteed not to piss off the recruiter. Finally, remember that these folks are overwheled as it is, “blasting” a whole bunch of them probably isn’t going to help. 

Have you had experience with services like this? If so I’d love to hear your opinions.

New 100% free resume search engine - ResumeRobin.com

Finding a good free resume search engine is hard, fortunately, there is ResumeRobin.com

http://www.resumerobin.com/resumesearch/resumesearch.php

Over 10 million active resumes on file, 100% free to contact

Resume Templates

Creating an effective resume is no easy task. The easiest way to do this is with Resume Templates. ResumeRobin.com resume templates give you the ability to quickly find a resume template from our database of templates for various occupations. Once the resume template is located, you can copy and paste it into your favorite editor and insert your information.

TO GET TEMPLATES, please click on link below:
Resume Templates from ResumeRobin.com

The 5 best affiliate programs to make money

So, you are looking for a good affiliate program for your jobs board, eh? Everyone is looking for a job nowadays, and creating a job board is a pretty good to monetize traffic. However, sifting through the good affiliate programs and the bad ones can be tricky. Thankfully, we compiled this use guide to best affiliate programs.

1. ResumeRobin.com Affiliate Program - ResumeRobin.com is a very popular website that helps people distribute resumes. They have one of the best affiliate programs in the industry, with a 50/50 recurring split. What does that mean? You get 50% of every sale, for the life of the sale. They have banners too. Just post links/banners to ResumeRobin around your job board and make money.


2. Amazon Affiliate - Amazon sells a variety of products. You can place links on your website to promote Amazon's products and make money.


3. SimplyHired Affiliate Program - SimplyHired is another job aggregator that pays you per click, but they are a bit harder to setup, than Juju. 


4. CareerBuilder Affiliate Program - CareerBuilder has a great program that pays you for each click you refer to them. The jobs can be either downloaded through FTP or searched returned via API.


5. Jobs2Web - they have a similar pay-per-click program as CareerBuilder, but do not pay as much. However, they do have quite a bit of jobs from large quality companies. Contact them to join their program.