We are listening and it is happening. But creating a revolution is not easy.

Because if you try to make a real difference instead of a Jobster difference, investors aren't listening as acutely. They just like the slik marketing babble better than providing real results for real people. And in all honesty? It does make it even more difficult to convince real users since they have had so many poor experiences up until now.

I'm pretty confident that itzBig will make a difference. And I'm sure we will be doing it on our side of the ocean in Europe. Good user experiences are possible, and not even difficult. It's not about volume, it's just about relevancy and respect.

Hold your breath for just a couple of months and be positively surprised.

Nicely put...!  Innovation for innovation sake is pointless.  Case in point .... legacy job boards have failed to truly engage users (job seekers) with exceedingly relevant job search results, and opened the door for job search engines.  Excepting Just-Posted.com [http://www.Just-Posted.com], they, too, are failing to engage users.  

Hey Marc - I totally hear you!  It's difficult to be passionate about something and want to make it work when people don't necessarily want to fund you for that work.  There has to be a balance between making a buck and caring about your customers though.

Jeff - Interesting, though I have to point out that there is also an employer aspect to building a robust and useful job board.  Employers suffer just as much as job seekers in terms of search relevance and finding great candidates.

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Hey Zoe, it sounds like you are saying that there would be a "solution" that woud satisfy both the job seeker and the employer?  This seems like it would be at odds... its like employers complaining that there is not more loyalty from employees anymore!!!  Silly, because there is NO loyalty in either direction.  So, along these lines, could there be a tool that serves both the seeker and the employer?  Not sure - <a href="http://www.JibberJobber.com">JibberJobber</a> is very seeker (active or passive) centric... not much regard to the employer.  ATS systems aren't geared towards empowering the seeker at all, etc etc.  Thoughts?

Jason - <a href="http://www.JibberJobber.com/blog">Blog</a>

Jason - I actually don't agree.  While tools set up explicitly for job seekers - and here I am speaking directly about "job boards" - are helpful, if there isn't some employer element they again exist in a vacuum (do job seekers really get accurate and meaningful information about employers?).  Employers also need some incentive for posting information about their companies on the site and they are facing the same difficulties in matching awesome candidates to great openings.  So why can't you create a tools that is beneficial to both?

ATS's are a whole different story.  They were never meant for job seekers.  They are a back end application meant to help employers track stats on applicants, hence the catchy title - Applicant Tracking System.  The sad fact is that ATS's aren't even good for employers!  

Hey Zoe,

First off, keep up your good work on the blog--despite, or perhaps even more so in light of, your recent posts about focus-related challenges.  Those pics of the belly look great!

Now -- I wholeheartedly agree that a valuable job search tool would benefit both sides of the equation -- employers and potential employees.  I know this well as someone trying to start up an employment site (www.freakjob.com).  It won't work until both employers and job seekers find value in the service.

But, contrary to the traditional view that it's strictly the employers who are able to provide benefits to the employees and vice versa, I think the web opens up new sources of value for both parties.  Namely, the voice of the "community," as many people are calling that amorphous cloud of individuals who leave traces of information everywhere they go on the internet.

Why, for instance, would I take the word of a potential employer in evaluating the quality of that company's corporate culture?  Most companies' descriptions of their culture fall into some impossible-to-decipher middle ground of so-called "cool."  But very few companies truly are cool to work for.  So where do I turn?  To the people, of course.  The people who work there, have worked there, or have an inside edge on the company.  I just need to find them and get them to talk.

The same goes for the employer.  If I'm an employer who wants to attract the very best people (those who carefully research my company and are highly motivated to work for me is one good criterion) and if I want to know how I'm doing in attracting those people, where would I turn if not to the people "out there," who know of my company and are willing to shout from the rooftops just how great we are?!

Democratize the information and the best will rise to the top.  At least that's what I'm hoping for.

Hey thanks Jonathan!

I do agree with you that there is a lot of value that both job seekers and employees can be providing to the web.  It's never a one way street.

That said, there is a certain amount of caution that I take when thinking about individuals commenting in a community setting about themselves and their organizations, especially in light of the fact that information is only as good as it source.  So while I whole heartedly support the value of a deep and rich community experience that is fostered by trust and open communication, you also have to be aware of the motivations of people in that community.  For example, is it true that only the disgruntled are motivated to comment?  What about the tens of people that are truly happy in their current space - will they be motivated to comment?  What's in it for them and how do you foster and develop those relationships?

There's small examples of success here and there, but you have to be keen on developing these relationships, providing recipricol benefits and also being wise to what's truth and what's fiction in these settings.