Pro's and Con's of
Hiring Companies' Web-sites
Having realistic expectations from hiring companies' web-sites will help you get the most from these job lead sources.
Pro's
Most national companies and many other businesses have web-sites on which they post their job openings. These hiring companies provide a way for you to contact them regarding those postings. Other company web-sites won't post openings but will offer a way to submit your candidacy. Some companies may have you fill out an on-line job
application.
While others may ask you to email
your resume
to a human resources contact or point you to their telephone job line. (You can often find a company’s job line number in their white pages listings.) Company web-sites are a great place to get general information about the company. The information can be bare bones or very comprehensive. You may be able to determine the names of the company's officers or information that includes the benefits the company's employees enjoy. At the very least you should be able to determine what product or services the company offers.
Con's
Not every company has a web-site. You would expect publicly traded companies to have web-sites. But with other companies it will depend upon the industry or type of business. It's true that more and more companies are jumping onto the internet. But companies without web sites could also be hiring new employees. Companies that have web-sites don’t always post their job openings there. Those with bare bones type web-sites may simply provide a contact page on which you can submit your candidacy. You won't know whether there are openings and if so what those openings are. Since there's no way to customize your approach to an actual opening you will have a limited ability to
influence hiring actions.
Companies (both large and small) that do post openings don’t always keep those postings up-to-date. Depending on internal processes as well as the web-master's efficiency postings could be months old. (Look to see if a posting date is available.) The list of posted positions may not include every opening available. Some companies leave the decision up to the hiring authority as to whether or not a position should be posted. Follow-up can be challenging. The name of the person who will review the information you send will rarely be available. The name of the hiring authority will be even harder to get. And most importantly you don’t know when or if your resume or qualifications will be forwarded to the hiring authority.
Summary
Hiring Companies' web sites or job lines can be a great
job lead source
if you’ve always wanted to work for a particular company; are looking for work close to home; or are looking for a position in a fairly narrow niche. Especially if you don’t mind the extra effort follow-up may require. There is no doubt they’re great places to start your research on a particular company. But since the effectiveness of the hiring companies' recruiting efforts from these sites is hit or miss they should be just one of many job lead sources you use.
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