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I'll put this bluntly: I'm not comfortable recommending
this company.
© David
Alan Carter
All Rights Reserved
Denver-based Executive Search Online claims to
be a leading nationwide service for executives who wish to be
considered at small employers, growth firms and Fortune 1000
companies. Sign up is "free for job seekers," but
supposedly limited to professionals, managers and executives
earning a minimum of $80K+ with at least 10 years experience.
They also claim "free services" for recruiters, which begs one
to wonder how they make their money.
(Sidebar: If your resume isn't
"top shelf" material, skip down to a writing service I
recommend.)
Here's how they say it works:
If you're a job seeker who meets the eligibility
requirements -- earning $80,000+ with at least 10 years
experience -- you can register for free, create a member
profile, and post your resume on the company's database.
Candidates supposedly then receive access to an array of
job-seeking tools, as well as tens of thousands of job
openings. In keeping with these services, profiles and resumes
are made available registered recruiters and employers
throughout the country who are looking to fill specific
positions. Candidates are contacted directly if their
credentials spark an interest. Sounds good on paper.
So I asked a few questions...
To the company's credit, I initially had a number of
questions to which I received an email response within the
hour--and that was after hours. So, kudos for
quick-response customer service. Of course, the answers to my
questions were not exactly reassuring.
When I asked, "Once registered and a profile created (and
resume posted), is the job seeker given access to your database
of job positions... to which he then applies? Or is the job
seeker not privy to this info, and instead,
recruiters/employers approach him if they see a fit?" I was
given the following answer...
"The job seeker gets access to an
array of job seeking tools.... For Free."
The answer was boilerplate straight from the
website. No indication what those "job seeking tools" are, and
vagueness is not reassuring. Despite the fact that they're
"free." When I asked, "What level of privacy--if any--is
afforded the job seeker? More to the point, can his name be
shielded in the database, or is that not workable?" I was given
the following answer...
"We do not shield a candidates
information."
I suppose that's in keeping with the following line on their
Privacy Policy, which reads... "The Company may use the
information it obtains relating to you, including your IP
address, name, mailing address, email address and use of the
Web Site, for its internal business and marketing purposes and
may disclose the information to third parties for such
purposes."
I think that speaks volumes. Give up your email, and expect
to be approached by any number of third-party companies with
something to sell to potentially affluent execs who may be in
the unfamiliar surroundings of a job search.
Three other troubling points:
-
No record with the BBB. There is no
record of this company with the Better Business
Bureau. That means two things. 1) There has been no
formal complaint filed against the company, which is a
good thing. But it also means 2) The company itself
hasn't seen fit to initiate a relationship with the
BBB. The latter is something I find odd, especially
since they claim to have been "in the employment field
for 30 years." In it's partial defense, I see that an
apparent subsidiary by the name of America's Job
Network, Inc. has been a BBB Accredited Business since
2006.
- They appear to have a number of 'subsidiaries.'
Nothing wrong with subsidiaries, per se, unless they are an
attempt to game unsuspecting job seekers into thinking they
are dealing with different, unrelated companies.
- No reports of job hunting success with this
company. After wasting the better part of an evening on
the internet, I have yet to read an account of a single
exec who has been helped by this company or who was
willing to recommend them.
In summary
Legitimate service provider -- or not. I can't tell. While
I'm always open to additional information which might
clarify this company's operations, at this point I would
advise readers to proceed with caution. If you want to explore,
here's a direct link to the company's site: http://executivesearchonline.com/.
Note: If you wish to take a first step with this company, I
would encourage you to provide them with an email address that
is not your primary address, but rather an auxiliary email
account that you can close out at a later date. If you post a
resume, leave off your phone number and mailing address. Your
name and an email contact should suffice for any legitimate
recruitment firm that may have an interest in your
candidacy.
If your executive resume isn't yet in the "Top
Shelf" category, here's someone to consider.
 If you're truly looking for a job in the
$100K salary range, your resume needs to convey an image
commensurate with that compensation. This is
not a job for the run-of-the-mill resume writer.
Erin Kennedy is a nationally published author and
contributor to 8 best-selling career books. Kennedy specializes
in executive branding. Through an in-depth consultative
telephone interview and her unique data mining process, Erin
and her team will assess your career - progression,
accomplishments, objective - and develop a cutting-edge,
value-branded marketing campaign that remains at its heart,
authentically you.
Read my In-Depth Review of
Erin Kennedy. And be prepared for sticker shock: her resume
pricing can run up to $1600. But if you see yourself benefiting
from this top-flight writer, we've secured a locked-in fee
of $899 through the link below -- if you want it. This is for
Kennedy's Executive Resume Package. If you're not
quite a C-level exec but headed in that direction, take note:
Packages for mid-to-senior level professionals with 10+ years
of experience are running at $699. Professionals with 5-10
years experience, $479.
Go to Erin Kennedy's
Exclusive-Executive-Resumes.com
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