Monster – the 500 Pound Gorilla of Job Search Sites

With an Alexa rating of 127, Monster is the third most popular job posting site, behind Yahoo HotJobs (Alexa rating of 1) and Craig's List (Alexa rating of 26).

However, the Alexa ratings for Yahoo HotJobs and Craig's List are based on their popularity as a general site that features many things other than jobs, so it's unfair to compare them to the Alexa rating of Monster, which is a pure jobs site.

As a pure jobs site, Monster is number one in traffic and is the name that most comes to mind when people think about online jobs. Monster has over a million job listings, 200,000 member companies and claims to have over 60 million resumes, so it really is a "monster" job postings site! It also has hundreds and hundreds of pages of job and career advice.

You can search for jobs without signing up, but in order to apply for jobs, post a resume, or use the networking tools, you have to sign up for an account (it's free).

Monster also has an excellent networking and message board section where you can connect with people in the same industry and chat with them online. Members can even give rated feedback on each other (sort of like eBay). This can be a great place to find about job openings in companies where other people in the network work.

There is also a special section for diversity job searches, for temporary holiday jobs, a comprehensive company research section with links to employers web site postings, and a comprehensive section for online learning resources.

All in all, Monster contains a massive amount of information and remains the number one online job search site.

As a hiring manager, I consider Monster to be a pretty cost effective way to post a job. It currently charges $395 for an employer to post a job for 60 days. This compares favorably with other major job posting sites and with the major newspaper online help wanted ads.

PROS

• Jobs, jobs and more jobs
• The best online networking tool
• Great company research section
• Extensive list of career and other job related articles
• You can see how many employers looked at your resume, as well as how many jobs you applied for

Cons

• Can Contain Many Listings From Headhunters and Temp Agencies
• The sheer amount of data can be overwhelming
• Because it's so popular, you're competing with a large number of other job seekers when you post your resume.
• You have to register (it's free) before you can post your resume
• You have to post a resume in order to apply for a job