The Pains of Getting a Job

Protuo™ Online Digital Portfolio Service

2007-03-22T09:12:00.000-07:00

Protuo™(www.protuo.com), the new career portfolio management service that enables job seekers to create and automatically post online their own digital career portfolios, is free to all U.S. Armed Forces veterans. The fee is ordinarily $9.99 per month, after a $29.99 set-up charge. To receive a password enabling the free service, veterans can contact Protuo at 888.Protuo2. In addition Protuo will personally help interested Veterans create a professional online portfolio and resume.

“Our soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen and women make great sacrifices for our country and it’s the responsibility of us all to do whatever we can to make their re-entry into civilian life as successful as possible,” said Keenan Hogg, Protuo’s president and CEO.

According to VeteransToday.com, a Web site published by veterans for veterans, the unemployment rate for veterans between the ages of 18 and 24 is 18.7, nearly twice that of non-veterans. About 250,000 service people are discharged from the military each year.

Protuo’s easy-to-use templates enable customers to quickly design, assemble and maintain digital portfolios to which they can upload photos, documents, video clips and other materials that illustrate their skills, qualifications and experience. The job-seeking process continues with a survey that matches their education, experience and career goals to existing job opportunities. Using a methodology similar to that of social networking sites such as eHarmony.com, the surveys are evaluated in real-time and results sent immediately to job seekers and employers.

About Protuo
Protuo is a provider of Web-based career management portfolios that maximize employment opportunities and scholastic advancement. Protuo enables its customers to quickly and easily craft a professional-looking Web site that serves as a powerful marketing tool. This provides the career-seeker with an impressive self-branding addition to the business card, resume and cover letter.
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In Reference to How Job Candidates can Escape from the Black Hole of Online Job Search

2007-03-08T21:47:00.000-08:00

Frequently, when it comes to employment, people will take whatever they can get that will pay the bills. We have all heard someone complain about their job, and punctuate that complaint with the phrase, “it pays the bills.” You may even be that person. The point is this; many people are not satisfied with their current jobs because they simply are a square peg in a round hole.

The Protuo proprietary best-fit match feature is free to everyone. The difference between Protuo and other jobsites is that each person that posts a resume with us must complete a brief survey. That person is then coupled with employers based on a survey that they complete for each vacancy. To draw an analogy, our match system is like that of popular online dating sites. We strive to create a harmonious relationship between employer and employee. Our best-fit match technology notifies both the job seeker and the employer through the use of match percentages.

We understand the job seeker wants to be acknowledged. Protuo’s best-fit system not only confirms that an application has been sent, but it also provides feedback on the outcome. Too often candidates are left feeling like they have been sent to The Black Hole of a Corporate Resume Database. Protuo alleviates the feeling of not knowing. Give Protuo a shot www.protuo.com .

http://www.itzbigblog.com/530/how-job-candidates-can-escape-from-the-black-hole-of-online-job-search/trailback

Watch out for Fake Job Boards

2007-03-07T22:11:00.000-08:00

I recently read an article called Does online job-hunting have to be “caveat emptor?”. It discussed how both the jobseeker and the company are not being careful as to who they are posting to and in many cases are being billed by fake online job boards. Well, I believe that this will become a growing trend. As more and more companies begin to post onto online job boards more scams are going to happen. It should be the due diligence of the company to talk to a representative of the organization they are posting to, not just pick a company because the price is right. In the case of the jobseeker, you need to look at a few things, first before you give any company your money make sure they are Verisign compliant. Also, go into their Web site, check that they have customer service, they have Verisign logos, they have staff information, or at least management information, also make sure their is contact information. Yes, really good scammers can recreate all of this, but at least it will eliminate some of the false sites out their.

With that said their are a great deal of legitimate sites on the world wide web. In reality my company is one of them www.protuo.com. So I do believe that it is necessary for a jobseeker to use online job boards. Definitely, I would be crazy to say no. Recent numbers from the DOL show that a growing percentage of positions are being posted and filled through online services then ever before. One thing that my company www.protuo.com stresses in addition to being very selective as to what companies post on our site, so that we can ward off scams, is the usability and ease for our jobseekers to post to the site. We want to make sure that they are not wasting their time. Time is one of the most precious things people have and no one wants to waste it filling in 60 minutes of documentation per vacancy on a job board.

The other thing that Protuo stresses is its patent pending Best-Fit Match technology which allows us to provide real-time response for every application. So no more fake generated "we have received your resume" rather now we give you a comparison of how you actually fit within what the company you applied to really wants. We will let you know if you were over qualified, under qualified or not qualified at all and should look for another position. In real time we provide the same response to your vacancies. So I invite anyone who wants to take a shot at it to come onto www.protuo.com and see for yourself how you fair against what certain companies are looking for.
http://www.itzbigblog.com/521/does-online-job-hunting-have-to-be-caveat-emptor/trackback/

Protuo Woos Most Influential Career Social Media Sites With Help From Buzzlogic

2007-03-07T11:52:00.000-08:00

ATLANTA, March 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Ask any human resources professional and they'll say researching and interacting with blogs and social networking sites is now an integral part of their communications strategy. However, in its vastness and Borgesian complexity, the so-called Blogosphere is an enigma to even the most media-savvy HR and marketing executives. Many agree that determining which sites or blogs to focus on presents an unprecedented challenge.
According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, there are about 12 million blogs with an audience of 57 million readers in the U.S. But media information providers have only just begun to scratch the surface in identifying and describing even a small number of them. And because new blogs are continually emerging and old ones disappearing, listing and, more importantly, quantifying them is like catching lightning in a bottle.
For Protuo, whose unique social networking approach to job seeking and position fulfillment is a perfect fit for its young and technically proficient audience as well as its HR executive clients, it was important for the company to unearth the most influential sites and bloggers. "We know that human resource people spend a lot of time on blogs, visiting MySpace, FaceBook and other social networking sites to identify prospects," said Gerlach. "They also create blogs themselves, writing about their own company and describing job openings. The number of blogs devoted to jobs and employment is astronomical."
Protuo is naturally compatible with the new generation of social media- conscious professionals. The company provides tools for job seekers to easily design and assemble online digital portfolios that can include anything from letters of commendation and performance evaluations to recorded speeches and even video clips. A patent pending algorithmic methodology, similar to that used by social networking Web sites like eHarmony.com, is used to find matches between prospects and companies with open positions. Protuo's success depends in part on a strong word-of-mouth presence and a positive standing among the key influencers of the Blogosphere.
"This social media environment is highly dynamic so you can't take a static snapshot and expect to know who the influencers are," said Robert Schettino, BuzzLogic's chief marketing officer. "You need to be engaged in the space on a continuous basis." BuzzLogic's proprietary software enables it to determine who is influencing specific conversation topics by tracking the origin, flow and trajectory of information in real-time. Individual evaluations are made based on five criteria: relevance, occurrence, attention, popularity and traffic.
"Our approach is essential to any marketing or HR initiative because it enables us to monitor conversations as they take place and use the data to draw social maps of the relevant relationships that evolve," said Schettino. "BuzzLogic's measurement tools allow our clients to track and understand how sites and individuals are driving or spreading conversations so ultimately they can take action and engage them in ways that will effectively get their message out."
With BuzzLogic as an ally, Protuo's social media strategy is straightforward: Identify the key influencers, take time to understand their passions and concerns, and if appropriate, introduce them to Protuo's array of services. Their ultimate goal is equally simple: convince key bloggers to write about Protuo, attracting a larger audience to its Web site. This will benefit Protuo's HR clients because these strategies will insure that more of the best and brightest candidates will be aware of key career opportunities.
"BuzzLogic will help us pinpoint the most influential bloggers and social media publishers; then, once we really understand their interests, we can tailor our messages to their audience," said Gerlach. "We believe that by using BuzzLogic we can increase the number of unique visitors to our Web site by 20 percent or more. If that comes to pass-as 40 percent of those visitors typically become registered users-our conversion numbers will rise significantly."
Although it is too soon for Protuo to report conclusively on its stated goals, the company has already used BuzzLogic-derived intelligence to identify many influential bloggers. A successful outcome now depends on the outreach program designed to reach the career and HR-focused social networks.
Protuo
Copyright © 2007 PR Newswire. All rights reserved.Press Release News Home
Protuo(TM) Woos Most Influential Career Social Media Sites With Help From BuzzLogic
Posted on : Wed, 07 Mar 2007 19:11:01 GMT Author : ProtuoNews Category : PressRelease

Social Networking-Is It The New Trend?

2007-02-13T20:04:00.000-08:00

In the past few years we have seen the emergence of the “Social Network” which, according to Wikepedia is “a social network made of individuals or organizations. It indicates the ways in which they are connected through various social familiarities ranging from casual acquaintance to close familial bonds.”

Recently, the term social networking has referred to a category of Internet applications which use a variety of tools to help to connect friends, business partners or other individuals. Online social networks date back to 1995 with the emergence of Classmates.com, followed shortly after by Company of Friends in 1997, then SixDegrees.com. By 2005, MySpace was getting more page views than Google.

There are many discussions about where social networking is headed next. Social networks today are mainly Web pages where people begin with an address book and expand their network by adding friends. Protuo takes this to a new level by opening the network to employment circles and providing an entire Web site for each individual blogger.

According to Richard MacManaus of Read/WriteWeb, in June 2006, 2 out of every 3 people online visited a social networking site. Since January 2004, the number of people visiting or taking part in one of the top online social networks has grown by over 109 percent. Social networking sites are now approaching the traffic of Google and Yahoo. As seen in the graph below, social networking is now part of the Internet user’s mainstream.

Aware of the growth and potential of Social Networking, Protuo designed its product to not only help aggregate information, but capitalize on this growing trend and take it one step further to help companies and jobseekers connect with each other. Each Web site provides a blog for the individual, a place where a person can inquire about a job or type of work or even a corporation. This is an open forum for the free flow of information. It is important to understand that this is a community, not just a job board. It goes back to the old adage, “Getting a good job is partly dependent on whom you know.” While education, experience and reputation certainly play their roles, Social Networking allows people to strike up relationships and educate themselves to better prepare for their future employment.

Where Is The Divide For Your Personal Life Versus Your Professional Life on The Internet?

2007-02-13T19:40:00.000-08:00

I recently read a blog called “You are What You Write”. It is about how what you write on MySpace or Facebook can affect your chances on getting a job. As a part of a company that provides online career portfolios I am here to tell you that it is extremely important. It is a form of branding that you can use to truly promote yourself or destroy yourself. What you post on Myspace, Facebook or even my site Protuo.com or any of the others with any form of inappropriate behavior can now determine whether you get a job. In a lot of ways this is unfortunate, because there is no way a person independently has control over what is posted about them on the Internet. I believe that the Internet should be used as a tool to help promote, but not as a way to eliminate a person from the proverbial running. The question that begs the most attention is where is the divide between a jobseekers personal life and professional life on the Internet?