I agree that the search facility is a good one and does offer some benefits.

But…

If you look at it from the user’s perspective, they probably don’t want to have to do so much refinement of their search straight up.

Maybe a solution is to make the initial search relevant to the keyword for the first couple of pages and then allow for a broader search later in the results. If users wish to once they are more familiar, they can then refine the search from the beginning.

The search starts broad but can be refined so that your end result is very precise.

When advertisers post a job they are given the opportunity to add a number of tags to the job covering all aspects of the role.

For example a Media role may be available that requires Advertising and PR knowledge. It can then be placed under all three categories, Media, PR and advertising.

As a result the advertiser’s job can be viewed by a larger cross section of candidates and the job seekers are offered a wider variety of roles.

If a candidate wants to refine the search all they need to do is click on the categories on the navigation bar down the left hide side of the screen.

Therefore when “Account Manager” was searched for, “Recruitment Consultant” came up, as this is what it was tagged as by the advertiser.

You can then refine the search with one easy click, by Profession, Role, Industry, Salary, ect.

This technology is a new and different to the way other job boards design their searches, but in my view it is more thorough.

Even if you were to assume that Telstra’s inclusion into Hitwise would double the reported traffic to some of the lower ranked sites, we’re still not even talking of a shadow of impact to the three top ranked sites.

If Telstra is excluded from Hitwise figures, they’re excluded from all the sites figures – not just those of the bottom ranked sites.

One would expect the ‘missing’ Telstra traffic to SEEK, MyCareer and CareerOne to be much greater than the ‘missing’ traffic to JJJ or X, and therefore their market percentages would be even smaller.

Perhaps this is why certain job boards are refusing to participate in the Neilsen NetRatings measurement which is the industry standard.

December 07 market share: (Hitwise Australia)
1 http://www.seek.com.au 23.91%
2 http://www.mycareer.com.au 7.51%
3 http://www.careerone.com.au 7.11%
14 http://www.jobsjobsjobs.com.au 0.69%
33 http://www.jobx.com.au 0.33%

Week ending 12/01/08 (Hitwise Australia)
1 http://www.seek.com.au 26.00%
2 http://www.mycareer.com.au 8.09%
3 http://www.careerone.com.au 7.49%
19 http://www.jobsjobsjobs.com.au 0.57%
40 http://www.jobx.com.au 0.25%

Both Jobx and JJJ have lost ground in early Jan 08, let’s see if they can live up their bold claims and pull some magic out of the hat.

The quality of their search, as you have correctly pointed out here, is just one of the many issues that JobX now faces. The layout of their results is also subject of much negative discussion. It almost seems all JobX has done is implement an out of the box search technology and applied it without any real understanding of what jobhunters want or like.

For those that may not be aware JobX has made a number of claims, some we are still waiting to see happen. Here is a snippet of the dangerous territory (comments) that JobX has made:

Seriously, seriously better search! – I think they have not understood what it takes to have a good search. Your article points out one of the many things wrong with their search. I would have to hand the better search mantle to either SEEK or MyCareer.

And how can we forget this one;

More eyeballs than SEEK! – Still waiting on this. There is no doubt that JobX is launched, no matter what they say (the Beta has been removed from their website).

So what about 2008? I think JobX has a lot achieve and prove this year, and with them offering 2 job ads for the price of one you cannot help wondering if things are getting a little desperate over there?

But let’s not get carried away here with just JobX and its claims, we should keep in mind that search is an extremely complicated subject and technology. Monetisation of Search can be a challenge for any classified type business. Just ask the boys at Google.