How is it that CareerBuiler.com commericials can be so good on Superbowl Sunday (punching a koala, anyone?) but their articles so bad? Chances are everyone is guilty of clicking on a CareerBuilder article at one point or another. There’s something so deceptively alluring about them but only after you’ve already exhausted the internet and started happy hour early, of course.
Unemployed people have nothing but time to browse the internet for any form of entertainment, however base it might be. At some point, however, they might find themselves obsessively refreshing CNN and Yahoo for new news and inevitably a headline such as “How to fight the office blahs” or “Six six-figure recession proof work-from-home jobs that you don’t know about” will result in a click-thru. Everyone knows they’re better off shutting down the computer rather than clicking on the link. But maybe, just maybe, this article will have some interesting and insightful information that will result in a job.
WRONG.
Once again, the unemployed implode in fury as they realize they’ve been duped into reading yet another overly anecdotal article, littered with quotes reminiscent of the fake opinion holders from “The Onion”, with absolutely no helpful tips, and no new insight on how to survive in the working world should one be able to obtain one of those ever-so-coveted jobs. The thing CareerBuilder doesn’t seem to realize is that they’re silently killing the unemployed by offering tips better suited for high schoolers looking for mall jobs. This is a new era where fairly high skilled workers with years of experience and professionalism are suddenly out of a job, so tips on how to make eye contact, give a firm handshake, and not chew gum in the interview, are not only unappreciated, but make the reader want to have an aneurysm.
How about some helpful articles such as “How to find decent part-time jobs to help supplement meager unemployment benefits” or “How to get a high paying work-from-home job without having to fall for an affiliate marketing scheme touting an online university” or “How to find a job in your field with your skills ‘in this economy’ without too much effort or having to compete with thousands of other applicants”? Seriously, CareerBuilder, offer up some tips for real world people otherwise they just might actually punch a koala.
Tags: CareerBuilder, frustration, job searching
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This is the cover letter for your application to write CareerBuilder articles, isn’t it. Well played!
hahahahaha
Well done… and CareerBuilder isn’t the only culprit. Every single job board I’ve registered for sends me this drivel masquerading as helpful information. I may need help finding a job, but I’m not brain dead.
I’m pretty sure those articles are written solely for SEO ad dollars. They need to write for humans. Jobless humans.
They forgot: Making friends with recruiters at Job Fairs because they are becoming familiar faces.
My pet peeve is all the advice about resumes that says you HAVE to list all sorts of amazing accomplishments for every job (I saved/made my company X no. of $$! I increased sales X no. of $$/X %!) or else no one will EVER consider you for ANY job ever. Never mind whether that sort of thing is totally irrelevant to the kinds of jobs you’ve held in the past and/or are currently seeking.
That’s mine too! I am technical person (openvms system administrator). We don’t increase sales. How about the fact that OpenVMS systems don’t get hacked? Isn’t that a good reason for using the operating system? Of course, with the stealth marketing that DEC, Compaq, and now HP, have done over the 30 years of the o/s’s existence, the big shots don’t always know about it. Only what they see advertised in newspapers and magazines. Anyway, I feel your pain. Thanks for letting me rant a little.
When you consider that no more than 5% to 10% of all jobs are filled through the Resume process (I am being high here not to shock you) then you can see why the CareerBuilder and Monster articles are so lacking. I was told less than 2% of all jobs posted on the Monster’s site are completed through Monster. That was in 2007. Today would be much less.
There are far better career improvement methods and articles elsewhere.
[...] especially since I — even though I’m still employed — do get taken in when I see these article titles in my RSS reader. Unemployed people have nothing but time to browse the internet for any form of [...]
Even when I had a job I thought those articles were terrible. Now that I’m unemployed I find them totally less than helpful.