Job Site Review

Starting a job search

It can be hard to separate the best job sites from the rest of the pack simply because there are so many: as of June 2009 there were over 100,000 job sites worldwide, according to WorkforceManagement.com. Meanwhile, the economic downturn of the past couple of years has affected big job sites like Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com and Yahoo! HotJobs. They have struggled to find revenue as large employers can no longer afford expensive contracts for job listings. At the same time, the number of people looking for jobs has greatly increased, and job sites are seeing more traffic than ever.

Part of the slack has been taken up by social networking sites. A BusinessWeek article says "social networking sites are exploding in popularity, as people look to connect with pretty much everyone they know, from friends to co-workers to potential employers." The article discusses a poll released in August 2009 by the placement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas, that found that using social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn.com and Twitter is now the second-best way to find a job (the best is still in-person networking). LinkedIn also posts job listings, so it offers the best of both worlds.

The world of job sites will contract slightly in the near future as two of the three biggest sites become one: Monster.com bought Yahoo! HotJobs. The cash deal won't be completed until later this year, and at that point, under a three-year agreement reached by the two companies, Monster will begin providing the career and employment content on Yahoo! HotJobs home pages in the U.S. and Canada.

We found more articles than reviews when it comes to job sites. Forbes.com and Mashable.com maintain lists of best job sites. About.com has several helpful reviews and listings of the best job sites according to different criteria; PCMag.com, Education-Portal.com, OnlineCollege.org and BlackVoices.com have lists of "best" job websites for specific demographics. EbizMBA.com lists the job sites with the most traffic, and Webbles.com lists the 30 sites that won their 2010 Reader's Choice awards.