Monster.com gets me going sometimes, I tell you! In many of my past blog posts (on other blogs) I have ranted about what their value really is to job candidates and more importantly, what it really is not. Today, while surfing around the net just to see how our blog was ranking in search engines on some keyword terms, I came across a service that I had seen in the past but never looked further into. I decided to “learn more” today. It is a Monster product called “InterviewSmart (R) Online”.
Essentially, for $29.95 you get 6 months of unlimited access to system of online multimedia (interview advice and the like) which I am sure consists of lots of regurgitated content and a variety of educating video clips. Monster.com actually has come up with lots of these types of services over the years in an effort to increase a fallen revenue model. I applaud their efforts at maximizing their traffic into dollars, but find it incredible what people pay for these days on the Internet, quite frankly.
For starters, content about job search including interview tips, resume help and so forth is in huge abundance on the Internet. I mean, you could find volumes upon volumes of content and certainly on YouTube.com you could find large amounts of videos on these topics as well.
Heck, our blog was created to provide this type of help to those job seekers in need of educating themselves on landing their next job. Over the last year, we have reached out to reputable writers who now contribute valuable information to our job advice blog. We also have created job advice videos, and are working on creating more videos because we realize the importance of these videos. The reality is that people would rather watch a video clip than read a blog post in many cases and we understand that and will continue to work at getting this information to people in that multimedia format as we progress forward.
Anyway, I just cant figure out why people pay for this type of information sometimes. Especially information that is easily attainable. A long time ago a friend told me… people will pay for information if it is in front of them. Even though it is easy attainable, they are lazy and want that information “now”. So, they will pay for it. While, I agree that this individual was right, I still find it incredible and somewhat annoying. Perhaps we should duplicate a similar pay-for-information system and open up a revenue model?
Actually, this is no untraveled territory internally. However, with the economy the way it is, and the trouble some people are in, we just didn’t see it prudent. We found it to be more rewarding at this time to continue to do our part and get information to people in a non-pay format.
Now, for those Monster.com supporters who are going to justify the expertise of their content and the millions of dollars spent on creating it and how perfect the content really is, I simply sigh, as it is you who actually annoy me more 🙂
Let me conclude by stating that this post is not meant to indicate that there is no information or assistance with landing your next job that has a monetary value. Quite the contrary. There are lots of services worth your hard earned money. I just don’t think regurgitated content is worth the money. One on one, quality, professional and experienced help and coaching, with proven results is plain and simple, a horse of different color.