So we got curious and decided to do a little experiment. We had a very simple question we needed answered, "What site is better when it comes to jobs: CareerBuilder, Monster or Craigslist?"
In my personal experience I've always found CareerBuilder to be the best when it comes to job searching. My colleagues and I are completely split when it comes to personal preference. What a perfect setting to truly find the best site for jobs. We did a little experiment and took things into careful consideration to find a conclusion.
The experiment? We took a basic customer service resume, shot 10 replies to 10 different job postings, in 3 different regions, on all 3 sites, 3 times, in 3 days. Now we would have went higher with the number, but when narrowed down by region there weren't that many jobs. (Ouch!)
We also made a few exceptions. CareerBuilder and Monster have an auto-reply system. We are not counting these as actual replies. We are also excluding any auto-replies from outlook express. We need to have an actual response to our replies by either telephone or email, real contact.
Here is the results of our experiment, we hope this can help you in making a choice in your job search.
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CAREERBUILDER.COM
Day 1
Recruiter / Agency replies: 1 out of 10
Sales / Marketing replies: 1 out of 10
Direct company reply: 0 out of 10
Spam replies: 1 out of 10
Total replies: 3 out of 10
Day 2
Recruiter / Agency replies: 3 out of 10
Sales / Marketing replies: 1 out of 10
Direct company reply: 0 out of 10
Spam replies: 2 out of 10
Total replies: 6 out of 10
Day 3
Recruiter / Agency replies: 0 out of 10
Sales / Marketing replies: 2 out of 10
Direct company reply: 0 out of 10
Spam replies: 2 out of 10
Total replies: 4 out of 10
Notes
CareerBuilder had a very wide selection of jobs, but only a few of them were legitimate postings. The site seems to be over-saturated with insurance jobs in the "Financial Industry" (More about that later).
The site is also inhabited by recruiters from job agencies. I've always been a huge supporter of job agencies for bridging that gap between the unemployed and the employee-less, but there is nothing like a company reaching for your hand and pulling you directly into the arms of security, or at least we'd like to think so.
There was a couple spam postings for scams. We did get caught into applying at some of them, but hey you really can't avoid it as they are masked well.
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MONSTER.COM
Day 1
Recruiter / Agency replies: 0 out of 10
Sales / Marketing replies: 5 out of 10
Direct company reply: 0 out of 10
Spam replies: 2 out of 10
Total replies: 7 out of 10
Day 2
Recruiter / Agency replies: 0 out of 10
Sales / Marketing replies: 4 out of 10
Direct company reply: 0 out of 10
Spam replies: 2 out of 10
Total replies: 6 out of 10
Day 3
Recruiter / Agency replies: 0 out of 10
Sales / Marketing replies: 1 out of 10
Direct company reply: 0 out of 10
Spam replies: 1 out of 10
Total replies: 2 out of 10
Notes
Wow, a big difference from CareerBuilder. It seems we have found no hope with Monster, and I mean NO HOPE. Not one recruiter or company contacted us. Is this website dead? We couldn't even find that many listings for customer service positions that were legitimate. I'm sure there are recruiters on this site, but it seems CareerBuilder is where the party is at so far.
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CRAIGSLIST.ORG
Day 1
Recruiter / Agency replies: 0 out of 10
Sales / Marketing replies: 3 out of 10
Direct company reply: 2 out of 10
Spam replies: 4 out of 10
Total replies: 9 out of 10
Day 2
Recruiter / Agency replies: 0 out of 10
Sales / Marketing replies: 2 out of 10
Direct company reply: 4 out of 10
Spam replies: 2 out of 10
Total replies: 8 out of 10
Day 3
Recruiter / Agency replies: 0 out of 10
Sales / Marketing replies: 0 out of 10
Direct company reply: 5 out of 10
Spam replies: 1 out of 10
Total replies: 6 out of 10
Notes
Now before you get stir crazy, I'd like to ad this is a dangerous site. First of all there is no real regulation or ways to track anyone since mostly everything is anonymous. However, we did receive more replies from the companies directly than the other two sites.
When I said dangerous, I meant scams. There are so many scams on Craigslist, you start to think the site is a scam in itself. Read my article Interview With The Vampire for more details about these creatures of the night.
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Conclusion
Well it looks like we have a winner, or do we? I guess it depends on what you consider. It really boils down to CareerBuilder and Craigslist. If you feel more comfortable with a job agency, I'd recommend CareerBuilder. If you'd like to find a company directly, go for Craigslist.
One thing I must point out: Job agencies have leads to larger companies, where as the smaller companies go to Craigslist. Personally, this experiment has opened my eyes to a lot of things, Craigslist being one of them.
Our recommendation would be Craigslist as the best website to find a job hands down. Like I said before it really depends on what your looking for. We chose the job category that's most popular, Customer Service. If this experiment was done in another field, another time, maybe it would be different. In fact, it would be.
One thing I must point out: Job agencies have leads to larger companies, where as the smaller companies go to Craigslist. Personally, this experiment has opened my eyes to a lot of things, Craigslist being one of them.
Our recommendation would be Craigslist as the best website to find a job hands down. Like I said before it really depends on what your looking for. We chose the job category that's most popular, Customer Service. If this experiment was done in another field, another time, maybe it would be different. In fact, it would be.
With so many things to consider, we'll leave the ultimate decision to you.