Job Seekers Getting Things Done with Web 2.0

There has been a lot of talk lately about the phenomenon known as “Web 2.0” – a LOT of talk. While some vocal detractors scoff at the entire notion of this “new Web”, others vigorously defend it and its advantages. I don’t wish to expound on the movement in any great depth, however, nor enter into a debate regarding it. Rather, I seek merely to explain how Web 2.0 sites and applications can be beneficial to the average job seeker.

The term Web 2.0 was coined by O’Reilly Media in 2004 to describe a new generation of web-based services and applications that focus on the collaborative efforts of users rather than the “closed” system of presenting data and services then common to the Web. O’Reilly Media also used the phrase as the title of a series of conferences on the subject of such advances. Since then, the term has taken off with the tech and media crowds, but is still generally ill-defined and poorly understood.

Wikipedia, itself the spawn of the Web 2.0 paradigm, presents a concise, though varied, account of what proponents say that Web 2.0 is:

• The transition of websites from isolated information silos to sources of content and functionality, thus becoming computing platforms serving web applications to end users

• A social phenomenon referring to an approach to creating and distributing Web content itself, characterized by open communication, decentralization of authority, freedom to share and re-use, and “the market as a conversation”

• A more organized and categorized content, with a far more developed deeplinking web architecture

• A shift in economic value of the web, possibly surpassing that of the dot com boom of the late 1990s

• A marketing term to differentiate new web businesses from those of the dot com boom, which due to the bust now seem discredited

• The resurgence of excitement around the possibilities of innovative web applications and services that gained a lot of momentum around mid 2005

Some fairly well-known examples of Web 2.0 include Del.icio.us, Reddit, and Digg, which are “social bookmarking” sites that enable users to locate, submit and then essentially “vote” upon articles or blogs that are of interest to them. The process is the embodiment of Web democracy, with the most popular articles (determined by the votes of users), rising to the top of the home page of these sites for even more users to read and potentially vote upon.

Another example includes the aforementioned Wikipedia, a vast repository of information that covers almost any subject imaginable. All subject matter is open to modification by users, so that information flows into the site from decentralized sources and allows for collaboration in the truest sense. There are myriad other examples of Web 2.0 sites and the ubiquitous blogs that abound on the Web are another good example. Blogs allow for the easy posting of entries by authors or owners, and further allow users to join in an ongoing discussion of the initial post and the comments of other users.

In this way, an online “conversation” ensues. Essentially, the concept of static, rarely-changing content, one of the hallmarks and notable weaknesses of the earlier generation of web sites, has been all but obliterated by the Web 2.0 concept. Add to that the fact that content posted on blogs, social bookmarking sites and other Web 2.0 applications is often available in the form of a site “feed”, and the versatility and usefulness of the “New Web” becomes even more clear. RSS feeds, which can be read with the aid of an RSS-enabled web browser or online feed reader, aggregate the ever-changing content from their sources and present it in the form of headlines, or links, that the user can click on to read the entire blog post, article, etc. Rather than jumping all around the Web to various sites in search of information (or jobs), the user can view a single “My Yahoo!” page or use their RSS-enabled browser to see the relevant content changes that have occurred on ALL their sites of interest. For the reader with a voracious appetite for content, or the aggressive job seeker, this aggregation leads to much greater efficiency and convenience.

In this and other ways, the Web 2.0 paradigm has made inroads into the formerly stodgy world of job boards and employment sites as well. Once dominated by the largest job boards, like Monster, CareerBuilder and HotJobs, the job board industry first saw an influx of niche job boards in the earlier part of the decade and now is undergoing a new transformation as Web 2.0 concepts are being applied to old-line models.

Several companies have already succeeded in applying the fundamental concepts of Web 2.0 to the employment industry. At Jobster.com, they have built their employment model on creating and managing referral programs that reward existing employees for bringing in talented hires to their company. Referral programs have existed for about as long as employment itself, but when coupled with a little technology and the massive audience that is the online job seeking community, a referral program can be an amazingly powerful tool.

Another example of Web 2.0 influence in human resources is the emergence of Market10.com. Following in the general path blazed by MySpace.com and Facebook.com, among others, Market10.com is a professional networking site that is designed to allow more substantive communication between job seekers and potential employers. Rather than resume submissions and interviews, employers and job seekers can have a meaningful dialogue via the Web and much of the uncertainty of the hiring process is alleviated before a formal interview takes place.

When “the market as a conversation” concept is applied to the job seeking community specifically, the implications are far-reaching. The online job seeking process has remained relatively unchanged since the birth of the Internet. Employers and recruiters post their open positions on job boards while millions of job seekers submit resumes to the same destinations and occasionally successful matches are made. The Internet offered a new level of information management to an age-old offline process. With Web 2.0, job seekers and employers alike are realizing the value and the efficiencies that can be found in the sharing of information among a community where opportunities are constantly being sought and offered.

Job seekers can communicate not only with potential employers but also with other job seekers – many of whom may have ideas, leads, or information that could be of value to them in their job search. A network administrator from Galveston, Texas may know of an open position in his brother-in-law’s construction company that would be perfect for the carpenter from Baltimore, Maryland, whose post he just read in an employment forum or blog comment. You get the idea. By introducing themselves into the job seeking community, individual job seekers can tap into the true power of the “conversation”.

While traditional job boards, both large and small, are here to stay, the mechanics of the job search and the hiring process are evolving. Getting hired may involve more than simply submitting a polished resume. An ongoing, pre-hire dialogue may be necessary with a potential employer, likely to the benefit of everyone involved. The knowledge gained and shared will make the process much more efficient and ultimately more successful. The “new” hiring process may require a little more effort and communication from the parties involved, but the results and the rewards are likely to be far greater.

Tags: blogging, job seeker, market as a conversation, new hiring process, social bookmarking, social media, web 2.0

Share This | Posted in Web 2.0 | No Comments