The Active Jobseeker - does anyone want them?

It seems every time I look, everybody is after the elusive passive job seeker, which is a bit of a contradiction in terms.  I mean, if they are passive then surely they are not a job seeker.  And just because someone is actively looking for a job, does it make them bad?  I don't think so.

OK, so an ad gets placed online, 100's of CV's come in, and recruiters are pissed at having so much crap to filter out.  Well hey, it has always been like this, maybe not quite the same, but kind of same same - if you know what I mean.

I see the problem as the the lack of filtering - a problem for both the quality active job seeker (not an entire contradiction) and the recruiter.  So, what to do?  The ATS is not really up to the job as it should only really have the good quality applicants to process - both internal and external.  Screening questions do not work well for anyone.  AI matching software is still not really up to the job either, due mainly to the amount of unstructured data it has to try and process and make sense of.

Jobster may be a good application to put in front of the (career site) job application process depending on how it develops of course.  But I really see Jobster as being better suited for internal referral schemes as once you have rejected someone from a job, surely most people will go elsewhere or, if you rejected them now, how much effort will you make in trying to retain them for maybe 12 months time?  Job seekers are not like consumers whereby they can keep on buying more of your product/service, or you want them to keep on applying for jobs that you continually reject them for!  Don't get me wrong, Jobster has great functionality for Jobster to keep people coming back to their site, and apply for any of the jobs or join any of the network groups, which will in turn benefit everyone - but it is a bit complicated for the average user.  A bit like eBay probably - takes a bit of time to tune in but when you do, maybe it all clicks.  But as per eBay Express, and Buy-it-Now, some people want the direct route with no faff!  Where it will help the active job seeker, is by hopefully allowing them to engage directly with someone in the company that they want to work for, and that the recruiter will actually take their call rather than let it go into a black hole.  So, a potential 'thumbs up' so far.

But, will a recruiter use Jobster and an ATS?  I can't see them wanting to do so which means that the process needs to be thought through in some detail (which I am sure it has!).

Let us forget about Jobster for a while.  How can we make it easier for the active job seeker to get through whilst stopping the recruiter being inundated with CV's from Mongolia?

How about rather than having a job board, create a recruiter board - find the recruiter that has your job!! It could work a bit like a dating service - not that I've used one :>)

I'm sure Jobster already has this (I didn't find it) but just in case not, here goes.

Using tags, let recruiters create the type of person they are looking for in the key jobs they have.  But maybe restrict the tags that can be added even though this is a bit web 1.0.  So taking retail, they are always looking for store and assistant store managers, buyers and merchandisers.  The profile will not change too much across a particular retailer so using tags, they should be able to get this pretty accurate.

So, the job seeker gets to build up their profile maybe only using the tags that the recruiters have created.  The matching engine then lets the job seeker know which recruiters are most likely to have the kind of job they are looking for and conversely, the recruiter gets notified of any job seekers that have created a profile that should meet their criteria.  Now, it would make sense to get that person into your network and, they should be more likely to join it and hopefully remain in it until you get to hire them.  And of course, once you have a job that suits, you get to market it to them.

It's not radical, Jobster may already have it, CV's by e-mail is kind of the same, but it should reduce the serial applicants getting through as there is not actually a job to apply for.  More thoughts about this in the next few days.