Comments on: visualcv ceo: monster missed the point

By: ROI

ROI — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 15:52:00 +0000

Jeffery Clark –

How is your post any less self serving than the original article that we are commenting about haha!!!

By: VisualCV claimt overwinning | Algemene vacaturesites | Recruitment Matters - Alles over online recruitment

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 10:03:18 +0000

[...] interessant interview met de CEO van VisualCV, Jeff Hunter op Cheezhead. Waarin Hunter de overwinning van VisualCV op Monster claimt. Dit naar aanleiding van de nieuwe [...]

By: Tonu

Tonu — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 05:10:44 +0000

Cheezhead,

This guy is advertising himself. You can’t hate Monster that much.

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 01:43:57 +0000

Does anyone have an update on the latest Monster security breach?

By: SoCalCruiter

SoCalCruiter — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:27:02 +0000

Bobby – You might want to at least take a look at their VisualCV.com site before commenting. VisualCVs may not be for everyone, but don’t confuse them with video resumes (which universally suck). Most of the VCVs I see don’t have anything to do with video. A VisualCV is *not* a video resume. They have a bunch of examples on their site at http://www.visualcv.com/examples.

By: Jeffrey Clark, CEO of Beaker.com for Life Sciences Professionals

Jeffrey Clark, CEO of Beaker.com for Life Sciences Professionals — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:00:30 +0000

I agree, its a pretty self serving post…and I was surprised to see such a post on Cheezhead.

Still, I cannot deny that I agree with the latter part of the discussion. Job boards must evolve to add more value to job seekers and, especially, passive candidates than they have in the past if they want to stay relevant. Monster’s latest iteration of their platform was an attempt at just that. Though they missed the mark in their ‘career management’ and other attempts at user-valued functionality, their performance underscores that the model must improve to sustain its position.

Like a few others, we are trying to drive that innovation through our own platform at Beaker.

By: IndustryInsider

IndustryInsider — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:57:11 +0000

Wow, was that cheaper for them rather than the 500,000 impressions they were going to buy?
Joel, pls find a competing company to “VisualCV’ and ask their CEO’s opinion if they ‘Missed the point’
Crazy. You have zero credibility.

By: Kristi C

Kristi C — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:24:23 +0000

Vanessa, thanks for covering what Jeff Hunter had to say about Monster’s latest initiative. VisualCV is not just for execs, and it’s not a ‘Kawasaki vanity project’ – there is no such thing. The company was founded by two guys who have a real and vested interest in helping job seekers, many of whom do work in office-related, management or executive positions, find employment by presenting a more well-rounded presentation of themselves and their skills, than a flat piece of paper can provide. And the truth is, what Monster, CareerBuilder, HotJobs and countless other job board sites and VisualCV competitors have is nothing but a flat piece of paper online.

Times are tough right now, or has anyone else noticed? VisualCV’s are free to anyone who wants to create one for themselves. If nothing else, they are an additional tool for a job-seeker to use, free of charge. They are hosting a Job Fair online, with 30+ companies who have 200+ open positions on February 3rd. Anyone with a VisualCV is invited to register and interview. This is a real, ongoing effort to help people find work, and companies find a better way to hire folks.

VisualCV differs from Facebook, LinkedIn and other professional and social networks because it puts the FOCUS and the spotlight on the person’s resume. LinkedIn is not a resume – it is my network of people I have worked with in the past, would recommend to others, or would want to work with now. Facebook is a toy – friends from real-life and those I have met online, bop me on the head or do goofy things there. It doesnt’ *feel* professional at all. My VisualCV resume, linked here, is about ME and doesn’t display anything like ads, testimonials, connections, etc. unless I choose to add them there. I can send it privately, or make a public link. All my information (and mine needs work to be better – not the finest example of one) is there on ONE page, saving someone time from having to Google me and look up info at numerous different sources.

How can this be bad? It’s not. I think it is a great idea and does represent the future of how businesses should interact with applicants. Maybe some folks are just not ready to change. I for one, think the way the hiring, recruiting and job application system works now, has a lot of flaws for both candidates and employers. I am hoping VisualCV can make a difference in the way people find work and get hired, and as a consultant for them, I try to help them do that when needed.

By: Bobby

Bobby — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:18:48 +0000

Jeez.. How much is VisualCV paying for the space on Cheezhead? Yes, the new Monster site has all sorts of problems, but its a heck of a lot better than it used to be. They didn’t hit it out of the park, but more like got to second base. Better than a strike out. Regarding video resumes, I wish the few proponents of them would STOP trying to convince the rest of us that they are viable alternatives to current, standard, good ol’ fashioned resumes. If video resumes had been “the next big thing”, they would have broken through in 2007. Recruiters don’t have time to watch inane videos of candidates. Candidates with the time to make a quality video production are suspect. The legal issues around discrimination and video resumes are ever-present. I wish the whole video resume thing would just finally die. Its slow death and attempts to resurrect it are so tiring and pointless in today’s world.

By: burnrate

burnrate — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 17:35:13 +0000

*YAWN* I’m sorry, did you say something?

I guess one shouldn’t be so flip about Jeff Hunter and VisualCV. Their success to date catering to exec search firms only underscores the niche application of the VisualCV offering, at least in its current iteration, but I see this company getting subsumed by a tsunami of better executed and more broadly marketable offerings. It also seems that much more deeply pocketed players can best them at this game fairly easily; how is VisCV fundamentally different from LinkedIn or even FaceBook in what meaningful way? What makes them think those guys won’t get there quicker and better if your platform shows traction? Monster succeeds because of many things (operating capital, massive marketing spend, global reach) but most of all because their platform is efficient and broadly applicable to all levels of the workforce and all matter of clients. It scales easily, and if they wanted to go after the Evangelist/VC/iBanker market…well I think they’d be able to pretty easily. Maybe it’s not exactly…profitable?

Monster bashers forget that Monster is not a niche play. It’s a hegemony in motion. I’ve found SVPs on there and clerks, but only one of these will ever use VisualCV, and that’s a longshot. Can you imagine Joe the Long Haul Trucker using VisualCV? Ever? But he’ll use Monster, and many companies will pay to find him there. The same is true for accountants, marketing, sales, retail, allied health and all the others that simply wouldn’t ever use the word “CV.” Monster is a strong tool that works and I think most of what they’ve done will serve their corporate and seeker markets well, though it’s probably more incrementalist an improvement than it is the game-changer they’d hope (and hyped) it to be.

And Marcel should be ashamed of himself. This has “Kawasaki vanity project” and written all over it…