|
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, $499.
Go to Erin Kennedy's Exclusive-Executive-Resumes.com
 Back To Top
| 
.jpg "Visit... Executive Search Online.com")