2008 Mystery Job Seeker Revealed

CareerXroads Annual Study of What Job Seekers Encounter Online

Media Contact:
Mark Mehler
732.821.6652
mmc@careerxroads.com or 732-821-6652.

Kendall Park, NJ, May 20, 2008 – CareerXroads unveils this year's mystery job seeker along with a review of James' experiences applying for a job online. Since 2002 Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler of CareerXroads have annually created a mystery job seeker who applies to the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For to capture information on how a job seeker is treated in the application process.

In 2008 the mystery job seeker is James Knee Cricket who works in sales and is a Princeton graduate in entrepreneurial studies. He lives on Collodi Lane (Collodi was the original author of Pinocchio) and has worked for Maestro Geppetto. At the bottom of James' resume each company is advised that this is a mystery job seeker and if found they should contact CareerXroads. (Three companies caught on.)

The Experience of a Job Seeker Applying Online

"We strongly encourage recruiters in competitive companies to periodically take on the role of a job seeker and apply for a job through their own corporate website," notes CareerXroads principal Mark Mehler. Some of the key findings this year relate to:

• The time it takes a job seeker to apply (Interesting, three companies on this list do not even allow online applications. Another three will only let a job seeker email a resume.)
• The number of companies that provide some sense of feedback during the application process.
• How easy it is to find a company's Career section. (This year, just over half the companies reviewed have a prominently displayed Careers menu.)
• How easy it is to reach an actual job description.

"Perhaps the most interesting finding this year," says Mehler, "is the negative message many companies send to a job seeker about their respect for the applicant's time. When someone, anyone is expressing an interest in your firm and asked to repeat the same actions over and over and over...to apply for just one job, it increases frustration levels enormously."

For more information about this year's Mystery Job Seeker, read the full report

About CareerXroads

Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler, co-founders of CareerXroads^®, work with corporations to better understand and adopt cutting-edge, recruiting technology solutions for their staffing strategy and process. They are also the personalities behind the CareerXroads Colloquium - a group that brings together recruiting professionals who share a passion for critical analysis and sharing what really works (and what really doesn't) in recruiting. Learn more at www.careerxroads.com CareerXroads is your Staffing Strategy Connection.

###