Written by When someone types in the keywords “online jobs” into Google, the greater part of the results are likely to be boards specialising in listing vacancies. Undoubtedly this is a significant and expanding area of Internet business, that has to a great extent displaced newspaper job adverts and recruitment agencies as a means of allowing jobseekers to find jobs. However, not all the posts to be found on such boards may be what they appear, and many indeed appear to have a rather vague existence. For anyone tired of going after such positions, there exists a different definition of online jobs available, jobs which really are “online” because you can work from home doing Internet business by means of your home Internet connection.
The online jobs websites are for the most part owned by recruitment agencies, which have moved into Internet business as a new medium. They may make it look as if there is a higher number of vacancies than there really is. A lot of positions get posted on the website of more than one agency. They are readily identifiable, since the job descriptions resemble each other even if they are couched in different styles varying according to whoever wrote them. If you see the job on one website, and put your name forward for it, there is little point in sending off for it a second time via a different board.
Then there are some strange positions that are repeatedly re-advertised. I have applied for positions listed on these online jobs boards, and I did not hear anything further. Now, if they were overwhelmed by the number of resumes received, so that they lacked sufficient time to send replies to everyone, fair enough. But if that was so, it is a fair assumption that from the countless candidates who submitted their CVs, one or more might be found who was suitable for the vacancy. However such is not the case, because the vacancy is spotted being re-listed on the jobs sites, often time and time again. Hence the question before us is, what on earth is occurring in such cases?
Is it really credible that at the height of a joblessness crisis, with dozens of applications for each job, employers cannot find someone who is suited for the job?
On the contrary, I suspect that a lot of these jobs exist on the jobs boards only. A recruitment consultant told me that many businesses as well as agencies use such ads to harvest CVs. Thus if in the future they may have an employment opportunity, they have wide knowledge of the kind of potential applicants that are available out there in the marketplace, and can assess how little they can get away in paying.
Some online jobs sites allow you to set up jobs bulletins by email, whereby you will be emailed with details of jobs that correspond to your requirements. Quite often the jobs are completely irrelevant to what you are looking for, and their relation to what you specified is tenuous at least. From a certain board supposedly specialising in positions local to my area, I am frequently sent messages about jobs in the Channel Islands! If I could work from home in a form of Internet business connecting to the office, that would be possible, but not if I need to sell my house and go to live there.
So, what of that other form of online jobs that I mentioned? Most of these are in a self-employed capacity, however they undoubtedly give people a real chance to earn a livelihood, and rather than going after positions with a rather shadowy existence it is valuable to consider investing in attainable Internet business opportunities in association with reputable companies, and work from home to acquire the basic training and develop a profitable business. But for those who put their faith in the online jobs websites, I hope they are successful in telling apart actually existing posts from posts of more questionable provenance.
