I will speak with most any recruiter and take most demo that's placed in front of me; hey, it's my job to be up on new ideas, tools, and "fads." So on February 15 - that would be two weeks ago - I saw the demo.
I can't lie to y'all - for me it was a ho-hum moment. All new recruiting tools are sold as the best thing ever and Jobfox hasn't taken yet distinguished itself as being better than sliced bread despite the Boston Globe writing that Jobfox is "a hub for passive candidates" - yep, passive candidates who have decided to jump into a database.
You're definition of "passive candidate" notwithstanding, Jobfox appears to believe its "internals" are second to none. Passive candidates still have to select themselves into the database and assess they skills and abilities according to Jobfox's "models"; employers do the same when describing the jobs. "Matches" are made based upon these two categories.
For me, externally Jobfox has rasied nothing but eyebrows.
Since my demo I have received two email inquires asking me to demo the site, one additional phone call (none of these emails or call was from the account exec who originally contacted me...through ERE's mail), and early this week, a letter from McGovern that was sent to me at an address that was eight years old when I was performing some consulting for a company whose name I haven't uttered in eight years.
Let's lay this out - two weeks ago I spoke with a rep who knew where to reach me yet two weeks later a letter was sent to a very old address.
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comments
JobFox Experience
posted 2/29/2008 at 12:58 p.m. PT by Eric Sherman
Did you have any specific experience with the Jobfox's matching features as a recruiter? Also, how does receiving a letter/invite to an old address raise a red flag on JobFox's product offering? Thank you, Eric
Received a full-on demo
posted 2/29/2008 at 2:17 p.m. PT by Steve Levy
Eric-
Conducted the demo with real jobs; it wasn't very promising. Not only can "candidates" still stretch the truth when entering skills and experiences but I questioned Jobfox's "categories." Nonetheless, for me the bottom line here is not the matching feature but the notion that this new incarnation is magically tapping into the passive realm.
As I noted, my definition of passive does not include placing your "bio" secretively on Jobfox. If you're looking, you're not passive.
As far as the wrong info (and multiple emails, phone call, extremely old contact), after receiving my demo and a request to drink the KoolAid, if Jobfox wants to claim they're better than CB and Monster (or any ubiquitous board for that matter) because they have qualified passive candidates in the database, I find it ironic that they can't get my info correct. Eight year old information? I haven't received a single mail piece at the address in eight years! I receive mail from so many vendors listed on ERE and no one gets it wrong. Eight years! Can you say "lack of confidence?"
Fair enough
posted 2/29/2008 at 4:44 p.m. PT by Eric Sherman
Hi Steven,
I tend to agree with your point on "looking candidates not being passive candidates" and think that JobFox should consider emphasizing their technology helps in finding quality candidates over quantity. I think that is their unique selling proposition over against reaching "passive" candidates.
Honestly, I am still not seeing the connection with "old contact info" and your "lack of confidence" in JobFox's product offering, in and of itself. But, we can amicably agree to disagree.
Tried Jobfox - found it a bit terrible
posted 3/1/2008 at 10:55 a.m. PT by Kevin Flores
I like the idea of job matching but their interface or algorythm didnt seem to work at all. I have tried realmatch and that worked. I also like Monster but they are a bit expensive. There are lots of services where you can post jobs for free...why pay?
Indeed.com
posted 3/3/2008 at 2:56 p.m. PT by Miles Jennings
I was interested to read your comments about Jobfox. I work for Indeed.com, which is the leading search engine for jobs. If anyone is interested in learning about Indeed as a recruiting solution, please email: mjennings AT indeed.com, or visit www.linkedin.com/in/milesjennings
Thanks!
Indeed...NOT!
posted 3/3/2008 at 3:29 p.m. PT by Steve Levy
Miles, I didn't write the post so YOU could use it as a sales pitch; I wrote it to relay my experiences with their sales and marketing efforts.
Every site has its beauty marks and warts; if our profession only plays the lemming game - following the latest tool/technique without testing it for themselves then we're deep in quicksand. I spoke with Steven O'Toole of Jobfox this morning and it seems they used info bought from ERE; why my old info is still in the system is beyond me...I can't say this anyway but this way - I write in the recruiting space, one would think that Jobfox would get my name and address right since it's so freely available. WHY NOT market to bloggers who have the bully pulpit to say positive (and negative) things about yout produvt/service?
Miles, what has been your experience with Jobfox? I'm interested in hearing from you about it...
Jobfox review
posted 3/6/2008 at 9:41 a.m. PT by Terry Perry
I have experienced a demo with Jobfox and was impressed with the sale pitch. I agree that anytime a person fills out an extnsive questionaire, enters a bio and ask for job matches; they are not longer passive.
What I did not like about the sales pitch and demo -it does not give (in my opinion) adequate attention to related and transferable skills. Such as a HR manager skills in budgeting and operations, if this person is looking to transfer into another field. Although the concept is nice.
Jobfox & Your Demo
posted 4/17/2008 at 10:03 p.m. PT by David McGinley
Kevin,
I am kind of curious about the whole address thing. If it really is an address that you had eight years ago and don't use anymore, why do you still have an email address that is eight years old? It's also curious that you still monitor it from a company that you "haven't uttered in eight years"? Why bother checking it. Obviously it wasn't a good experience with that company. Either that or you work for a competitor of Jobfox. It seems that is the case by the attacks against the CEO, Rob McGovern.
I've had good success with Jobfox. I'd disagree with your opinion that if someone spends a lot of time to fill out a profile that it doesn't mean they are passive. Go to Careerbuilder and Monster and search for a job and see all the crap you have to sort through. Then go back two days later and do the same thing and sort through new different crap. If you have a full time job and want to do that three times a week, good luck with that.
People are much more web savvy now. They realize that with a little work on the front end, you don't have to sort through the junk in the end or go back to the job boards three times a week. It's no different than posting your info on LinkedIn. I'd guess that 90% of the people fill that out to get their information out there are doing it to really network.
I guess nobody on there would be considered "passive" either by your standards, Kevin, because it takes some time to fill out the background info to create a good profile.
At the end of the day, Jobfox helps me because it saves me time not having to sort through a ton of unqualified resumes to get to the good people. Maybe there aren't a ton more "passive" job seekers on there. I only know that when I have an open position, I can quickly find good fits. That saves me time from having to sort through 400 resumes when I post on Monster or CB and scan through all of them to find the 20 people that are actually a fit. I have better things to do with my time.
Sorry you had a bad experience with a demo. Maybe you should email Rob (since he's sent you so many emails) and ask to have a different rep call on you.
Dave
P.S. Try not to be so bitter
Hey McGinley
posted 4/21/2008 at 3:55 a.m. PT by Steve Levy
You're email is so full of errors that the only thing I can do is laugh. There are times when it really pays to edit what you write before you press that key.
I suppose you could try and call me but I'd probably laugh at you too...
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