I have often maintained that the giant job boards are an important step in one’s job search, but they have far less effectiveness than you would think. In fact, for manager and executive jobs, Monster.com has about a .7% effectiveness rate. That means you have less than 1 chance in 100 of getting a job through Monster. Someone recently pointed out some interesting facts about CareerBuilder that would support this same theme.

If you read between the lines on CareerBuilder’s mission statement, it clearly stresses their emphasis on driving profits. They do that by selling top placement for candidates. For example, “For $100, the Platinum resume “upgrade” will make your resume 58% more visible. Or for $150 you can get the Titanium upgrade, which will further “increase your relevancy score within our database, and therefore move your resume up in the listings. You can bold titles, gold bar highlighting and other items to make your resume stand out. In fact, according to a study by CareerXroads.com, companies that contract with CareerBuilder find about 2% of their hires through that job board. Just 2%.

Job boards should be a part of your job search but you shouldn’t wait by the phone waiting for it to ring. You should also check out niche job boards since they are cheaper to the employer and more targeted. See http://www.gotthejob.com/resume_writing_service_career_resources.html for some great examples by industry. The moral of this story is to be aggressive through networking, recruiters and direct contact with employers to get that new position.