Smriti Mishra , a 26 year old executive had been job hunting for several months without any luck. She had tried every trick in the book including visiting placement consultants. Finally she gave the Internet a try.
Mishra logged on to Naukri.com and subscribed to their Resume Development and Resume Flash services. As part of these services, her resume was re-written by a group of professionally trained resume writers and then posted to 1,000 consultants in India.
"Within days I started getting calls from across the country. Around 15 different consultants called me and each had 2-3 jobs that met my profile. I was spoilt for choice," says Mishra, who is enjoying her new job in yet another multinational company.
Mishra is one of a large number of job seekers who are fast realising that job sites not only help you find jobs but also provide you with a host of additional services.
Leading players such as Monster.com, Jobsahead.com, Naukri.com, Jobstreet.com and JobsDB.com offer services such as posting one's resume to different consultants, e-mail and SMS alerts and even re-writing CVs.
"In today's highly competitive world, employers receive thousands of resumes from job seekers. The time they spend on each resume is extremely short. Therefore, it is critical to have a presentable, professionally written resume that grabs the employer's eye," says a Delhi-based headhunter. And this is where job sites come into play.
Nearly all the job sites have professionals who are trained in the art of writing and re-writing resumes so that it is customised to your industry and experience level and personalised to reflect the candidates achievements.
However, all this comes at a price. Some companies charge a fixed price while in case of others the fee is based on the level of experience.
For instance, Naukri.com charges Rs 1,250 for resume development. On the other hand, Jobsahead.com charges Rs 750 for people with up to three years of experience and Rs 1,500 for people with between three and 10 years of experience. Jobseekers with over 10 years experience are charged Rs 1,950.
Says Alok Mittal, vice chairman, Jobsahead.com, "Every six months we discuss resume formats with companies. On the basis of these formats we train our resume writers." Jobsahead.com which is now a part of Monster.com, gets nearly 800 orders every month for its different services.
And if, like Mishra, you want a wider reach and would like consultants from across the country and abroad to have your curriculum vitae, you will pay anywhere between Rs 750 and Rs 1,750.
Naukri.com charges Rs 850 to mail CVs to 1,000 consultants across India and Jobsahead.com charges Rs 1,500 for 1,250 consultants in India and 100 in the Middle East.
Similarly, JobsDB.com charges Rs 840 to mail CVs to 1,000 consultants across the country and Jobstreet.com charges Rs 1,750 to mail resumes to over 1,000 consultants in Malaysia, the Middle East and India.
Monster.com charges Rs 999 to send resumes to 1,400 consultants in India.
However, do not expect to get calls from all the consultants. This is because the resume is sent to all the consultants irrespective of whether they have clients looking for your kind of profile or not.
So, whether you are a marketing person or an IT engineer, the CVs are sent to the same bunch of consultants. The trick is in the numbers.
Says Mittal, "Since a resume is sent to such a large number of consultants, a fair number will get back. A job seeker is likely to get approximately 15-20 responses through this service."
Adds, a Delhi-based headhunter, "The cost of the service is just a fraction of what it would cost you in terms of time, hassle, postage and laser printing, if you were to send your resume on your own to this many recruiters."
And specialised services do not stop at resume re-writing and posting it across the country to consultants. Job sites are trying to distinguish themselves by offering various other services.
So where Jobstreet.com offers SMS alerts and Priority Applicant service, Naukri.com offers Jobmail and Resume Display service.
Under Jobstreet's Priority Applicant service, when recruiters search the database, and your resume is one amongst the hundreds that are matching the criteria, your resume appears on the top, and is highlighted and labelled as a 'Priority.' Price: Rs 675 for three months and Rs 975 for six months.
Jobstreet also alerts you via SMS about interviews and job openings. For 100 messages the fee is Rs 300.
Naukri.com's Jobmail service is meant for jobseekers who are unable to surf jobsites due to time constraints. Under this service, Naukri e-mails subscribers a set of jobs that match their qualifications and requirements.
Naukri has developed software that picks out a shortlist of jobs on the basis of keywords provided by jobseekers. These search keywords include educational qualifications (such as B.com, MBA, M.Tech, B.Tech etc), field of expertise (such as marketing, finance, etc.), years of experience and industry (such as power, telecom, FMCG et cetera.)
Once this first short-list has been generated, Naukri does a manual scan to further short-list only those jobs which are relevant to jobseekers and e-mails them. On an average one receives 10 openings per week.
This service is beneficial to those who are afraid to float their CV on the Internet out of concern for confidentiality. Price: Rs 550 for three months and Rs 750 for six months.
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