by Marci Reynolds, CEO of J2B Marketing
Online Job Search, Social Media Educator For NEJS
Careerbrander.com is a new web destination for job seekers to manage their career transition, personal marketing and online identity management. Consider the company a new breed of outplacement service, delivered 100% online and purchased by individual job seekers, for a very low monthly fee.
What are Outplacement Services?
When we think of outplacement or career transition services, we usually think of services paid for by an employer and offered at the time of a layoff or job termination. These services are provided by vendors such as Lee Hecht Harrison, Monster or Right Management and include skills assessment, career coaching, job skills training, networking and resume writing. They are usually delivered in person, either one on one or in group settings.
Between 60-70% of companies involved in a layoff offer some type of outplacement service, which range in length from one month up to six months. (Sources: The Working Kind Blog, The Hewitt Report, Personnel Today)
What options does a job seeker have if they were not offered traditional outplacement services or if their services have expired?
A new Boston based company called Careerbrander.com, is trying to fill that void with a new, online product.
Per their website, “CareerBrander.com provides individuals in career transition the best personal branding tools and content available on the Internet. Take control of your career identity. Build resumes, order business cards and establish a personal website in minutes. Learn how the Internet’s social networks, resume keywords, online identity, and job sites impact your job search.”
I had the opportunity to interview Career Brander’s founder and CEO, Ian Levine, to learn more..
1) Ian, what inspired you to launch the Career Brander website service?
Ian LevineMy background is in document management technologies and I saw a way to help job seekers by bringing efficiency to a portion of the career transition process. I committed to create an online service that would accomplish 3 things: 1) make job seekers’ lives easier, 2) save them time and 3) educate them about Internet job search. At first I sold the service only to corporations as an outplacement service. Then this past summer, I opened up the application and service as a direct to consumer offering under the Career Brander name.
2) In a few sentences, what does Career Brander do and why should I sign up?
Career Brander serves as a single web destination to manage materials associated with career transition, personal marketing and online identity management. The service is focused on convenience and our interface is specifically designed for non-technical individuals.
Our site provides a robust resume builder, an instant personal website generation system, professionally printed business cards, financial calculators, and lot’s of proprietary job search content & links. We educate job seekers on applicant tracking systems, keywords, jobsite search engines as well as topics like how Linked In or other social media can be applied to job search.
A job seeker can accomplish a lot more through our site than most job boards. The return on investment for our service is extremely high. I am confident that people that use our service are better educated about modern day job search and organized to find work faster.
3) How much does it cost?
Well, we elected not to use the Internet’s “Free” pricing model. You know, advertise free websites, free business cards and then charge you $20 or $120 in processing fees or premium services.
Career Brander charges $99 at sign up. This is an unlimited license for the first 90 days. We then charge $9.95 per month. It’s a month to month commitment. To date, we have issued hundreds of licenses and we have not had a single client stop service. I think that speaks to the value of the portal. It’s significantly cheaper than buying the services independently, but much more convenient.
We also offer a 14 day free trial , so job seekers can learn more about the services before they sign up.
4) Anything else we should know?
We are constantly adding new content, features and software based on client feedback. We have a great product roadmap for the next 12 months. We are currently looking at some truly cutting edge technology to assist with targeting and networking.
Lastly, as a service to NEJS and J2B Marketing Blog readers, we’ve created a discount code, “J2B” which will save job seekers $40 on the initial set up cost.
For more information, please visit www.careerbrander.com.
Copyright 2009, Marci Reynolds, Used With Permission
About J2B Marketing
J2B Marketing is a “Job Seeker 2 Business”™ Internet Marketing and Copywriting Services Firm based in Greater Boston, Massachusetts and offering services virtually across the United States. From LinkedIn profile makeovers to launching Twitter strategies, J2B harnesses the latest internet and marketing communication tools available to help Job Seekers get back to work faster. The firm is led by Marci Reynolds, previously VP North America Sales Operations at Monster.com. Learn more at www.j2bmarketing.com.
