Job Seeker Version 2.0
Date:
1998 : NewsCheck Magazine November 1998
Tel: 01284
215255
Job Seeker is a comprehensive package which attempts to cover the skills necessary for job search: self assessment: identifying job opportunities: CV and letter writing: interview preparation and practice. The package is marketed as suitable for a wide range of users from school leavers to redundant executives, but the focus is definitely on the adult client and many of the topics included, such as details about the Management Charter Initiative, would be difficult for young people to handle.
There are seven sections which can be used in any order: Getting to know me: Creating my CV: What job?: Winning with interviews: The electronic interviewer: Working for myself and Choosing a Career. Throughout the programme advice and information is given to job seekers is good. I particularly liked the ideas for job search strategy in the "What Job?" section. The two sections on preparing for the interview are particularly helpful in guiding the clients through a list of common questions, explaining the rationale behind the questions and giving suggested responses.
The recommendation to record your own answers with a tape recorder could be very helpful and the format is certainly more useful than the books which aim to help answer tough interview questions. In the section on creating a CV, good examples to relate personality to job descriptions and to show sample Personal Statements are given at different occupational levels. The latest information on how to prepare a CV to be screened electronically is included and a list of useful Internet sites for job hunters.
The section , "Working for Myself" takes users through a process to check out the main issues to be considered prior to setting out alone. Some sections are less helpful. "Getting to know me" aims to help the client with self-assessment exercises to enable them to match themselves against job vacancies and to create an appropriate CV. There is a battery of exercises to identify skills strengths and personality. These activities are unrewarding to complete as the user is presented with lots of text to read on screen and is then required to fill in a printed workbook. Some guidance is given, but had the programme been interactive, questionnaires could have helped people to describe their attributes and feedback could be given. Finding any skills worth talking about is often a difficult task for any adult facing redundancy or emerging from a period of unemployment. If this section could be used interactively, it could be a winner.
At present it needs a workbook which can be purchased separately at a cost of around £1.50 each. A copy license at £25 can be bought by organisations with a high usage. "Choosing a Career" has a databank of 1,500 job titles and produces job suggestions based on the client's choice of job attributes. The lists hold lots of surprises jobs but close study reveals subtle differentiation in each of the attributes chosen which justify the choices. It is a pity that there is no extra information for the client to discover more about unusual job titles, e.g. Bank Note Designer or Exercise Physiologist (sic). A bit of job description could make this a more useful section. The screens are attractive and mainly clear to read, although one or two colour combinations are difficult, green text on a black background. Some screens are busy and the display is slow. There is a huge amount of text to read and it would have been good to have had more opportunity to print information to study at a later date.
Sometimes it is possible to print some of this useful material, e.g. the questions in the Interview section, but at other points it did not seem possible, e.g. to print the advice on writing CVs, lists of addresses. Navigation around the different sections seemed awkward initially but became easier with practice. There were still one or two loops where I made unintended and unwanted detours and the helpful button "Search again" always seemed to sit on the screen even when no searching was possible. If you have to stop in the middle of a long list of interview questions or a self assessment process, it is not possible to return directly to the point where you stopped. As well as working through the programme using the seven sections, there is an excellent index to take the users directly to the information required. One sad omission (for me) is that there is no Scottish information included, e.g. in the list of addresses of Enterprise Companies and Job Centres.
Job Seeker is a huge project with a mine of useful information for the adult job seeker. It could replace a shelf of books in a career information room.
Comment:
Since this review:
- Scotland has been included !
- The appearance of every screen has been changed
- There is a sub-index at the start of each section
- Mouse button bleeps have been added ( can be turned off )
- Video interview simulator included ( 160 questions )
- Many sections have been updated with more web link information
- Far more printable information including individual workbook pages
- Workbooks included as MS Word files
Job information has not yet been added, as this is a huge job on slender resources, ( 1500 job details have to be written ), however, watch this space.
