Steps to Applying for a Job: Evaluation of Web Sites - Case Study Example

WEB SITE EVALUATION The Research Process Topic: Steps to applying for a job URL: http://careers.chevron.com/ Name of the site: Chevron Careers Home Search Strategy I began my web search with Google, the world's largest and most popular web search engine using the key word phrase “how to find careers in the oil industry in Africa”. Successful searching involves two key steps. The first is limiting the query by making it very specific through the use of keywords and keyword phrases. The second is analyzing the results and finding the information you are looking for on the web. The first three results were from job websites and oil-marine specific job placement companies, but in scanning the results the fourth entry caught my eye: “How to Find a Job in Angola | eHow.com”. I checked the first link, which was titled “Oil and Gas Jobs in Africa | InfoOil Careers” and read the information given on the website. I noticed a few jobs in Angola on the page but the site did not have the type of career counseling information I was seeking and also had a paid membership structure, so I went back to the SERPs to consult other results. The next link I clicked led me back to the same site, only to a different page, so I decided to click on an ad in the sidebar. This link led me to a website that was only related to the Sudan, so it was not appropriate for my search. Since Angola is my home country, I was interested to find links referencing it. I saw a link titled, “How to Find a Job in Angola,“ and despite the fact that the article did not have any oil industry specifics in the title, I clicked on the link to visit the page, and used the information I found there to refine my search to the next level. Web site address: (http://www.ehow.com/how_6643730_job-angola.html) eHow Purpose: How to Find a Job in Angola Author: Joanne Cichetti Search Strategy The article at eHow suggested that most job vacancies in Angola are in the oil and gas industry, which is also the target of my search. Some of the information provided was not relevant, such as obtaining a Visa to work in the country, as I am already a citizen there. The author suggested visiting the sites “Find a Job in Africa, Snag a Job and Job of Mine” so I decided to make that the next part of my search. She also suggested sending my resume directly to Chevron, for it “owns Cabinda Gulf Oil Company Limited in Angola, and is the largest foreign oil industry employer of the country.” I decided to make these the next steps in my search for a job on the internet. Summary of credibility, reliability, currency and usability of the site: I found eHow to be a highly credible site and an industry leader in providing informative articles on many topics. I found the writers at eHow to be delivering reliable information. The currency of the site was not relevant. The usability of the site was excellent, and I found the information needed. Web site address: (http://www.findajobinafrica.com/findajobinafrica/) Find a Job in Africa Purpose: Employment opportunities in Africa. Author: Samran Technologies Search Strategy I next searched for “Find a job in Africa”. Though I was worried this was too general of a keyword phrase and might return articles or job sites I wasn’t looking for, the very first listing was findajobinafrica.com. I assumed that it must be a well established and respected site being recommended both by eHow and the top of the Google rankings. This site operates as a search engine of job listings, and I searched for “Chevron” here, returning jobs from all across Africa. I searched again for “Chevron Angola” and found 22 matching records. However, most of them were not with the Chevron company itself, so I moved on to my next query on Google. Summary of credibility, reliability, currency and usability of the site: I found this site to be of questionable credibility because there was no way for me to verify the companies on site were who they said they were, and not agents or brokers looking for a commission. The reliability of the site was unknown in that it had many listings but no guaranteed replies. The currency of the site was not listed. The usability of the site was excellent with quick sub-searches and easy menu navigation. Web site address: (http://www.snagajob.com/) Snag a Job Purpose: Hourly employment in the USA. Author: none Search Strategy I searched Google for “Snag a Job” and went to the snagajob.com website. This site is specializing in Fortune 500 job placements, but it does not first appear to be directed to Africa. Most of the job listings are in America and the site includes a search by zip code for US addresses. I quickly decide not to waste my time on this and move on to another search that brings me closer to what I am looking for in a job. Summary of credibility, reliability, currency and usability of the site: I found the same credibility problems in SnagAJob that I found on other job sites, questions as to the identity of the companies being used by agents to draw candidates for positions and not the companies themselves. The reliability of the site was unknown because I did not use it. The currency of the site was US dollars. The usability was good, possibly one of the best I have seen, with a simple and basic design that was easy for me to read compared to cluttered and over-loaded sites with advertising. Web site address: (http://www.jobofmine.com/) Job of Mine Purpose: Hourly employment in the USA. Author: none Search Strategy I then searched for “Job of Mine” still following the eHow instructions, and navigated to jobofmine.com. I could quickly see from the home page that this site was more oriented towards international job seekers. While many of the top jobs listed were “nanny” and “English teacher in China”, I decided to search further to find out if there were any good positions in the oil and gas industry in Angola. I browsed to a list of all countries and chose “Angola”. From there I could see jobs by city, salary, and industry sector, but unfortunately only one job was listed for the entire country of Angola. So I was forced to return to my web search. Summary of credibility, reliability, currency and usability of the site: The credibility of this site was the worst I visited, and many of the listings seemed like possible spam posts. The credibility was also not strong for similar reasons of design and appearance. The site currency is US dollars. I found this site was not well designed and seemed cheaply made with many spam posts that were not of interest to me in my job search at all. Web site address: (http://careers.chevron.com/) Chevron Careers Home Purpose: Company Information & Publicity. Author: company Search Strategy I decided then to be completely specific and search for “careers at Chevron” on Google. I navigated to a special sub-domain that Chevron had set up on their own site for job seekers. There was little information found on the main “Careers” page, so I continued to research on the site by clicking “Find a Job”. From that page, I could see a list of countries and flags with “Angola” at the top. I clicked on that link and went to the “Chevron in Angola” page. On that page was an abundance of information about company policies, hiring requirements, scholarships, and Chevron’s relationship with the Cabinda Gulf Oil Company Limited (CABGOC) in Angola. Towards the bottom of the page, I found a section with a link and text reading: “If you are an Angolan national and you are interested in combining your talents and ambition with those of our high-performing team, you are encouraged to search our open positions and apply online.” I went directly to the job search page and reached a custom search page: http://www.chevron.an.apply2jobs.com/ProfExt/index.cfm?fuseaction=mExternal.showSearchInterface From the custom search page I was able to enter keyword queries to search for job positions directly on the Chevron site, and also filter results in Luanda and Malongo, as well as by employment sector. I searched for “engineer” but found no listings. I searched again by discipline, “logistics and training” and again no results. I then right-clicked, and selected all of the disciplines, in order to return a total list of all of the job listings in Angola. I found a total number of five openings from that search, including one titled: Superintendente de Operações da Área – BBLT & Kuito 02664068  Malongo  Not in list  Angola  I clicked on the link to the job listing, and from there, I was able to create my profile on the Chevron site and apply for the position directly. Summary of credibility, reliability, currency and usability of the site: This site had the most credibility for me as it was the actual website of the company Chevron and run by them directly. In terms of reliability, I had a lot of problems with the search facility at first, and I could not figure out how to find jobs. I wasn’t getting any results at all, then I discovered to select many sectors at once using right click and began to return strong search results from the Chevron database itself. The currency was not relevant to this site. The usability was not good for me on this site, but I was willing to spend the time to work through learning the interface because I trusted the site and wanted to apply to Chevron directly. Sending my resume through this site would allow me to reach Chevron human resources directly, so I did spend time building my profile as well. I feel it could have been easier to upload my resume and apply to jobs directly, and I had trouble navigating easily from section to section or understanding the design. In this case, I could not move on and check other sites, because I had to contact this company. Hopefully, the time I spent learning to work this site will land me a job with the company. Read More