A reader of Cheezhead who is also an active job seeker on Jobfox was recently sent this ad for a new service the job site is promoting:
In her email, the job seeker asked, “What’s with this ‘Jobfox Certification’ offer? In a crowded market it would seem they are luring in desperate job seekers by promising they will get 70% more profile views than those not certified. Problem is that it costs money (up to $199.00 for a full subscription) and there isn’t any real explanation of what it is. Maybe you can shed some light?”
Barry Lawrence, Jobfox’s PR Director, had this to say in response: “This is a pilot program that we are testing on a limited subset of our job seekers. This is not something we have opened to the larger population – only a test to see how job seekers will respond to paying for such a premium service. This is only a test and it may fizzle out. I’ll keep you posted if it grows beyond that.”
So it looks like a skill certification offer that Jobfox is promoting to keep job seekers loyal to their site. If they shell out the cash, they’ll supposedly get more visibility. I’m not sure if these certifications were crafted by the Jobfox team or if the actual tests are outsourced to a company that provides legitimate certifications for software and the like. I am guessing that we’ll hear from Lawrence again if the program was a success.
Popularity: 8% [?]
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Ugh. I don’t get the logic.
You do this when you are ubiquitous in a particular marketplace or industry. Cisco, for example offers certification for training received for a number of levels of skill or products. It is a setting a standard.
JF’s attempt would seem to appeal to active job hunters (why else would I want to be certified?). This is a service offering and, for those who have lost their jobs, seems to be ill-timed.
Get large companies (who are still hiring) to ratify your certification, and then you might get some heads turning.
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Seems like someone is worried about their traffic? Maybe mor worried about their revenues?
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:39 pm
I’ve never even heard of them. Now I know why.
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:43 pm
This looks extremely ropey. If it is a pilot, how can they say that certified users get “70% more profile views”?
Where can that figure come from if it’s a “limited” pilot?
If we give them the benefit of the doubt and agree that it’s not just made up, then that makes it misdescribed. Which probably makes it a breach of trading standards.
What’s also very unclear in the advert is what the criteria are to be eligible for a certification in an area, how long it takes, and so on. It looks so dodgy, I can’t imagine what they were thinking. Perhaps they should have gone the whole hog and WRITTEN IT ALL IN CAPITAL LETTERS and just sent it out as good old fashionned spam!
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Barry,
If you are “testing on a limited subset of our job seekers”, then why is it that everyone I know who is signed on with Jobfox is getting the popup offer when they login? Is this a Jobfox certification or are you saying there are over 900 job certifications to pay for? I smell a rat.
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:41 pm
At profile creation Jobfox is also offering:
Resume Tune-up ($25.00)
Resume Tune-up + Jobfox Profile Tune-up ($49.00)
Resume Writing Service + Jobfox Profile Tune-up ($299.00) <— !!!
All resume writing is done by Jobfox “certified resume writers”, no less.
Like William said, if this is a service offering it is a bit ill-timed. It’s also unfair to the masses of unemployed people signing up on job boards who think it will bring them the $5,000 more in starting salary Jobfox claims it will.
November 4th, 2008 at 12:44 am
As one of few JF customers I can tell you that all of the comments made so far are pretty much true. The company is not doing well, and maybe will never be doing well enough to be taken seriously by anyone other than those who run it. However, I can tell you for sure that there is very little traffic that goes to the site I have asked my rep and the sales manager to provide traffic data because we have not been getting any qualified candidates, and they both skirt the issue. My rep finally broke down and told me that they don’t disclose the data because its not good. So the above mentioned tactic is just another way the company is trying to stay afloat. Even though I didn’t get into the contract with this shady company, I can’t wait until the contract ends.
November 4th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Gimmicks to buff up seeker resumes with certifications, profile tune-ups and writing a resume for a candidate are a turn-off, especially when they cost money.
I like Jobfox. I think their product is generally very good. However, it appears as though Jobfox needs to re-evaluate the current market where seekers simply want to fill out their profile and hope for good matches. If I were unemployed the last think I would do is pay $50 and I definitely wouldn’t pay $299. The Intro program that Jobfox created and furiously marketed was, in my opinion, a great way to attract seekers. However, I noticed that several jobs were 5 Star matches but with the same company and same contact information for introductions for different positions. Jobfox didn’t consider that if a seeker had already asked for an intro with a company -even if it were for a different job- that they would be in essence throwing away one of their 8 possible introductions. I think that may have flooded companies with a lot of the same seekers. I also got emails for new Intro opportunities but when I logged in the star rating was very low and certainly not worth submitting. I also get emails each week with my Intros update but am very disappointed that all of my 5 Star rated Intro requests require several email follow-ups and I have spent one of my eight 5-Star Intros for nothing.
I think the confusing and time consuming profile creation causes seekers to bail out and those that don’t aren’t given the matches they deserve because they miss something along the way. Their system needs to be tweeked to make it more appealing and less confusing.
I know Jobfox can do that but they need to do it soon.
December 1st, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Once agian by my name you can see I try to see both sides.
I like JobFox too. I think there is a place for a product like JF in the market. It might be a stand alone one as it is today or an add on to a more established site like CB,HJ or Monster.
I find it hard to believe that anyone in the HR or Rec space has “never” heard of Jobfox. They speand millions sending emails and mail to invite you to lunch seminars.
As a candidate I would never speand extra money to be certified. I would just send my LinkedIn profile and as a hiring manager I would see who recod them on LinkedIn.
I asked a few trusted sources and JobFox IS in trouble. I heard that 15 – 20 heads got cut today alone.
The issue with JF is not the product. The product is fine. It is with the leadership. If you remember when CB bought HeadHunter – the CB team over and then the board brought back the HH team. Why do you think that happened?
I know many reps, managers and ops people who have left JF over the past 6 months. They were all stars before JF and are stars after JF but the did not fit while they were there………..
December 4th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Elance.com offers ‘certification’ for service providers along these same lines for rates starting at $10 or so. The cert tests consist of ridiculously outdated multiple choice quizzes provided by a third party testing service from some dark corner of the internet.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Jobfox partnered with the same company and either is shooting for higher margins or got a worse deal, since there is no way they get 10% of elance’s paid traffic.