A simple concept…  You think you found the perfect job online, you’re going to apply, and wait for a Recruiter to call. Right? Not so simple.

Job seekers beware of job postings from third party sites.  They’re being referred to in the industry as “job jackers”.  If you remember one thing from this post, remember - GO DIRECT.  Yes, direct to the company.  Read on to find out why.

With the explosive growth and use of search engines, social, and professional networking sites job seekers can quickly find themselves on a job aggregator site.  A couple of popular examples – SimplyHired and Indeed.

What’s important for everyone to know is the source of the job – where it was pulled from (RSS feed) – and who is publishing or sponsoring it.  A quick example below, check out the 2 sponsored jobs highlighted in blue.  One of these 2 companies does not have a relationship with the hiring organization – and deploys tactics to TRY and re-sell their database to the employer stating they have strong talent interested in their opportunities.

While that’s bad business, guess what’s worse? Your Resume may never get to the employer for the job you are applying for, especially if they don’t have a relationship with the site sponsoring or feeding jobs to the aggregator sites.

And, for the candidate experience, it’s intrusive.  I clicked on the Regional Sales Director job (the last job in the list above) and it takes me to minneapolisrecruiter.com – with the exact same posting.  I click apply online, it then takes me to a site called Financial Job Bank, which is operated by Beyond.com.  I even got another pop up window for online degree programs.  I now decide to complete the application to see where it takes me.  After requiring a lot of information, it takes me to sell me another online degree.

After finally completing the profile and submitting a Resume, I come to a “thank you for creating a profile”.  It’s now asking me to search for a job, through their job network…  8 clicks into it.

Aggregator sites are working to address the issues, however, with adding over 1 million jobs weekly, it’s no small task.

Remember:  Look at the source of a job if you use an aggregator site.  If you see a job posted anywhere – for any company – consider going right to the employers web site and applying directly if you’re not sure.

If you don’t, beware, you may never get that call from the recruiter you were expecting.