????Businesses often use a whole battery of tools to "know the competition." Market research and intelligence is an industry in and of itself. So why shouldn't job seekers expect a report on the competition as well?
????CareerBuilder has just launched a job search site that attempts to do just that, allowing users to find out how their credentials stack up to other candidates for a job.
????The site, Headhunter.com, will offer a "job competition report" as a means to differentiate itself from the three dozen or so U.S. senior manager and executive job boards -- and just as important, help lure quality candidates who may be used to seeing market research as part of their day-to-day jobs.
????"If we don't deliver quality management candidates, companies won't use the site," says Ben Jablow, vice president of CareerBuilder's niche sites, who added that the response so far has been positive from both job seekers and employers. Headhunter.com was officially unveiled on Wednesday along with a survey of just under 2,700 hiring managers showing that 23% expect to hire senior level workers in the next six months.
????CareerBuilder's market research showed the senior management job space offered "a lot of growth and future potential," Jablow says. Headhunter aims to offer around 10,000 managerial jobs, more than three times its current level, in the span of a year.
????The competitive report is not unique in the online job board world, but it is unusual, says Peter Weddle, chief executive of a workforce information and publishing company called Weddle's LLC that tracks job boards. "Without a clear market leader, this is a smart move," he says.
????CareerBuilder first launched a slimmer version of the competition report in June 2010 on its main site, saying it provided "an inside peek into the qualifications of other candidates."
????The new one works like this: After a candidate signs in and applies for a job on Headhunter.com, she can click on a link that brings up a four-page job competition report, complete with bar and pie charts showing candidates' years of experience, recent salaries, and a list of the top companies where they have worked. (The most recent employer will not be listed.) The report also shows educational level, alma mater and the number of direct reports -- but only if at least five candidates have applied and their data is available to be pooled.
