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- Download: Employment Website Etiquette.
- Download: Integrated Employment Branding Presentation
Changes At Online Career Center(AUGUST 17, 1996):We remembered that the new system at Online Career Center was scheduled to be available today. What we found instead was a new press release that moved the date out a week. We remain excited that the long overdue overhaul is coming soon. Here's their description of the new system.
Online Career Center has announced that it will release a new version of the popular Internet job site on August 24th. The foundation of the new OCC program will be Oracle's relational database management system.OCC, long known for its easy to use search engine, will now have faster search capability which will include the ability to search on sub-sets of previous search results.
"Agents" will be available for both recruiters and applicants. Recruiters will be able to clearly define the type or types of skill sets for which they are recruiting and resumes entering the database with those skills will be forwarded to their account.
Recruiters will be notified when new resumes are received and may then review all resumes in their account or only those resumes received since they last logged on to the OCC system.
Likewise applicants may activate an agent that notifies them of new jobs entering the database in which they might have interest.
Both jobs and resumes in the OCC database may be fully HTML coded. Those without full HTML coding will be bolded with URL's and email addresses automatically hyperlinked.
A Career Management section will allow applicants to manage their careers online. Resumes may be added, deleted, or edited online by their owners. Applicants may also make their resume active or inactive at any time. All changes will be made in a real-time environment.
Recruiters will have the ability to manage their own employment ads online. The new system provides add, delete and edit capabilities. These changes will also be in a real-time environment.
A bulletin board for recruiters only will allow private networking between all recruiters on the OCC network. Messages posted to the bulletin board may be answered publicly on the bulletin board or through a private email message.
Scheduled for release by August 31st is OCC - International which will include OCC - Europe, OCC - Australia, OCC - Asia, OCC - Mexico, OCC - Canada, and OCC - Scandinavia.
Online Career Center is the Internet's first and most frequently accessed career site. It is located at http://www.occ.com/.
Net-Temps and Yahoo!Sittin' In A Tree....
(AUGUST 15, 1996): Net-Temps, the hyper aggressive recent entrant in the contract jobs sweepstakes continues to demonstrate new performance possibilities. Today, they've announced a partnership with Yahoo.
As you are probably aware, the next phases of Yahoo's growth are a series of regional operations, first on the West Coast than across the United States. With fledgling operations in several areas (Yahoo! SF Bay, Yahoo! LA, Yahoo! Canada, and Yahoo! Japan), Yahoo is reshaping itself as a regional provider. While they've always carried some news content, the move into employment listings makes Yahoo a worthy mega-competitor in the employment advertising game.
Yahoo's SFBay Employment Ads seem to demonstrate their approach to the market. The ads appear to be free and no mention is made of a future charging scheme. We think this means that Yahoo is sticking to its "advertiser-supported" business model. They view employment listings as "user generated content" that creates a platform for additional ad sales.
A deeper look at Yahoo's offering shows that they've worked out the details for a direct exchange with Resumix customers.
As usual, we suggest that you keep your eyes on Net-Temps. They seem to have a knack for visualizing and executing powerful strategic marketing in our chaotic arena.
Gimmicks Multiply As Traffic Builders
(AUGUST 14, 1996): Although the recent competition amongst Online Recruiters has been about size, we're sure that its a short term lapse into a macho posture. The next layers of competition are going to be about traffic building features. Early entrants into the features marketplace have focused on career advice and interview preparation.
We've raved extensively about Tripod and Extreme Resume Drop which offer free home page resumes and targeted mailings. Kingdomality offers another nice traffic builder. Thesite includes a survey that asks the reader to answer a series of questions. The result is a profile of personality in Medieval Terms. It can be illuminating or silly. The most important aspect of the feature is that it's a differentiator.
In the coming months, service discriminators will be the basis of differentiation between the major employment sites.
Browser Search: Another Fork In The Road?
(AUGUST 13, 1996): In a recently removed beta-test version of Netscape, searching the net could be done by entering key words on the URL (Go To:) line. The search engine providers (Alta-Vista et all), who kick $25M into the Netscape coffers each year, protested loudly. Word has it that the latest versions of Microsoft's Explorer will have a similar feature. (Microsoft isn't beholden to the search engine providers.)
Our sources tell us that the purchase of a key word from Open Text runs $5K monthly. When you purchase a key word, your banner - ad is delivered to anyone searching on that phrase. It looks like a lucrative business and we can't imagine that Netscape will be able to ignore it for long.
The question is: Does it really matter? We think it depends on your business and your view of your customers. If you're looking for demographic qualification of the lowest common denominator, buying keywords makes a lot of sense. Small dollar retail goods, sites looking to build huge traffic volume and broadcast oriented businesses would do well to consider buying into the idea. But, as we've always said, traffic is not always a good thing.
Recently, we heard about a great, inexpensive traffic building gimmick. Search, say, Alta-Vista for the keyword of your dreams. Look at the top site on the list. Copy all of the html to a page on your site. Add an automatic redirect command to the top line of thew new page. Point the redirect command to the page you want to have seen. It's simple!
The only problem is that any customer worth having will quickly catch on to your shoddy business practices.
Ultimately, the browser search question will result in lots of people waking up to the fact that business is about relationships, not traffic. We're hoping that Netscape and Microsoft persue this new feature with a passion.
What The World Needs Now Is...
More Copy Editors
(AUGUST 12, 1996): We're not alone. Occasionally our prose runs to the tortured side. A spelling error slips in. A thought dangles, awaiting completion.
While we continue to believe that editorial perspective is a key to success in some forms of web-endeavor, we're discovering that perspective is like rough carpentry. The finish carpenters who smooth out the bumps and create beauty in the details are called copy-editors. They are a rare breed.
Bill Walsh, who is as cumudgeonly as copy-editors can be, has opened a web site for this important breed of text finisher. The Slot is a collection of musings about and resources for copy-editors. It includes:
- THE CURMUDGEON'S STYLEBOOK
A grumpy guide to the use of language
- SHARP POINTS
Some superb rants about copy-editing.
- WHAT EXACTLY IS A COPY EDITOR? (newly revised)
If you're developing a website that includes a large body of text, stop by The Slot for a reminder about the importance of text as a usability feature. And, if you find a good copy-editor, hire 'em.
New Net Growth Studies Released
(AUGUST 11, 1996): Network Wizards has completed the next installment in their ongoing survey of Internet Hosts. Included on their index page are pointers to several useful tools if you're pitching Internet Growth. (We particularly liked General Magic's Internet Trends, a solid testimonial to the effectiveness of porting Powerpoint Presentations to the Web.
The news in a nutshel....from the perspective of counting discrete Internet domains, exponential growth continued unabated through the first half of 1996.
Recruiters' Internet
Survival Guide
(AUGUST 01, 1996): It's here and we're proud. Staffing Industry Resources has published the Recruiter's Internet Survival Guide by our editor, John Sumser.
Order your copy today.
Besides our industry analyses and newsletters, we help recruiters integrate this new technology into their operations. We've added a detailed description of IBN to the website. We'd love to help you.
interbiznet is now offering single topic reports for the Industry. The first offerings are:The 21st Century Advertising Agency
Recruitment Branding Part I
Recruitment Branding Part II - The MechanicsEmail Colleen Gildea for your copy in PDF Format.
View Table of Contents at http://www.interbiznet.com/briefs/.
Order Today. Only $24.95.