According to Wikipedia Today, Monster.com is the largest job search engine in the world, with over a million job postings at any time and over 150 million resumes in the database (2008) and over 63 million job seekers per month.
But, does all of that make them relevant to getting a real job in today’s market? Does that sound like a dumb question? Well, it isn’t. How many people do you know who have received a job offer and been hired from a Monster.com advertisement?
Maybe their sheer size prevents many people from even finding a relevant job. After visiting their site, opportunities seem to be everywhere. However, having said that, many jobs require a bachelors degree or higher education. Three are still many people who fall between the cracks and just do not have their degrees for many life altering reasons. As we all know sometimes life gets in the way of getting ahead.
Maybe employers who really want to hire could take a more aggressive approach and pay for educational needs. Some national employers like Home Depot already do that on a regular basis.
With the U.S. unemployment rate as high as it is the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that unemployment rates were higher in June than a year earlier in all 372 metropolitan areas.
A random selection of current statistics are as follows:
The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area is 6.6%.
Baltimore-Towson, MD Metropolitan Statistical Area rate is 8.0%.
Winston-Salem, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area 10.4%
Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area 17.1%.
Winston-Salem, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area 11.2%.
Danville, VA Metropolitan Statistical Area 12.8%.
Morristown, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area 13.2%.
Mansfield, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area 14.1%.
Modesto, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area 16.6%.
Flint, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area 17.6%.
Kokomo, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area 19.2%.
Yuma, AZ Metropolitan Statistical Area 23.1%.
El Centro, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area 27.5%
Unemployment (Household Survey Data)
The number of unemployed persons (14.7 million) and the unemployment rate (9.5 percent) were little changed in June. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 7.2 million, and the unemployment rate has risen by 4.6 percentage points., according to the Labor site.
All in all the many jobs listed on Monster.com could be scooped up in no time. But, monster has lots more to do because of the high numbers of people who need jobs who do have computer skills and have been unemployed for longer periods of time. In an article from Fortune Magazine April 13, 2009: “You have to take a long-term view and expect that it may take you a full year to land the job you want,” says Nancy Keene director of the Dallas office of executive recruiters Stanton Chase.
Monster.com has taken note of the older workers still out of work, hardest hit by layoffs and encourages them to get into classes, to take on job retraining management skills and an update on their expectations for the current marketplace.