Hawai'i Tech
Web is ticket back to Hawai'i for many job seekers
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
Sherrie Suzuki, her sheepskin hot off the press, embarked on a job search, that dreaded chore that has always confronted college graduates. But there are advantages to being born in the 20th century, after all.
Greg Taylor • The Honolulu Advertiser
"I was in California trying to find a job in Hawai'i, so the Internet was my only choice," the new UCLA alumna said. "If I'd look in a paper, by the time it got to me, it would be old and the job would be gone."
Stacy Hasegawa Sato, president of CareerGiant.com, said the Web is best suited for career searches by those who want technical, administrative or professional jobs.
Her degree is in American literature but, as many lit grads know, sometimes you have to start a little wide of the mark. So Suzuki used a pretty wide-toothed comb to sort through the listings at various job Web pages, including JobsHawaii.com; HawaiisJobs.com, the job service linked to The Advertiser's site; and others with a Hawai'i focus. She settled on a listing off JobsHawaii that led to an administrative assistant's post at Ad Walls, the agency that posts billboards in parking garages. Not her field, perhaps, but it got her on the plane home again, a goal familiar to many Hawai'i expatriates.
Nationally, help-wanted Web sites still collect only about 12 percent of the job-posting revenues in an advertising market still dominated by newspapers, according to industry analysts. And the number of those sites has been winnowed by online competition. Monster.com still leads the pack and has brokered a deal to buy its closest competitor, HotJobs.com. Headhunters.net and Careerbuilder.com follow the leaders. The roster of also-rans in the national race has shortened to include Dice.com, Techies.com, and Boardroom.com.
About two years ago, JobsHawaii and another local player, CareerGiant.com, jumped into what executives spotted as a void left open by the national sites. People who are seeking jobs in Hawai'i often have a very narrow scope and are not as well served by the large clearinghouses like Monster.com, said Peter Yamaguchi, president of JobsHawaii.com.
"When we first started the site, there were no other sources focusing on our niche," Yamaguchi said.
| Where to go for Island job listings | |
| Here are a few job-seeking Web sites with a Hawai'i focus: | |
| • | CareerGiant.com |
| • | JobsHawaii.com |
| • | HawaiisJobs.com |
| • | HonoluluHelpWanted.com |
| • | TechJobsHawaii.org |
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|
"In 1999, the job market was a little better, and employers were looking for more alternative ways ... when we first started, there was a lot of hype," Sato said. "It's gone down a little now.
"It's because of the tech industry we counted on to take off in Hawai'i, and it hasn't quite happened."
Sato said the Web is best suited for career searches by those who want technical, administrative or professional jobs. It doesn't have quite the range of newspaper advertisements, which are still the first choice for blue-collar job hunters.
But sometimes casting a smaller net is exactly what an employer wants to do, said Gary Lau, Ad Walls' operations director. Lau found his own job through JobsHawaii and now is in the position of fielding resumes generated by Web advertisements and hiring people like Suzuki. About three-quarters of the applicants who come through the Web are local residents who are happy to remain here, he said; it's hardly worth the larger fee for Monster.com when the larger net merely drags in a sea of candidates uninterested in an expensive move to Hawai'i.
"We can give a fuller job description, without abbreviation," Lau said. "And we can also put down what the benefits are and the requirements. When you have a longer job description, your candidates screen themselves out."
In general, the sites invite job seekers to post a resume, which then can be sent to employers with a click, if the employers allow e-mail applications. The applicant's information is saved in an account protected by a user name and password.
The sites make their money through advertisements and publication fees paid by the employers. One exception: TechJobsHawaii.org, a free, online adjunct of the state government's High Technology Development Corp.
There are various packages and deals available, but CareerGiant, for example, charges a basic rate of $150 for one 30-day job posting. If the initially posted position is filled, the client can substitute another listing for the remainder of that advertising period, Sato said.
Yamaguchi said the Web is starting to reach the broader population of prospective employees, but Lau said there is one limiting factor: The applicant has to be at least somewhat Internet savvy.
Lau appreciates this particular limitation.
"Because our company uses computers so heavily, by default when we get an application from the Web, they're almost prequalified. We're dealing with someone who knows how to use the Internet," he said. "They're comfortable with the computer."
