New Career Management Services: Job Seekers Will Pay

Living in Fairfield County Connecticut allows me to interact with some great companies and business leaders from the job search world. Last week alone I had lunch with a couple employees from Indeed.com and I attended a networking group that had a decidedly "career" flavor.

We all know of Indeed's success in the job search world. But at the networking event I met 3 career companies that you probably don't know a lot about. All 3 of these companies derive a bulk of their revenues from job seekers.

Here's a snapshot of two of these interesting companies with services geared to job seekers. I'll talk about the third one in tomorrow's post.

CareerDNA is a new career management service that is currently in Beta testing and will launch shortly. Their new online software integrates self-knowledge and career management with its first of a kind highly interactive, graphical, user-driven online solution. The software takes the user through a “journey” of self-discovery providing an understanding of:

-Personality type;
-Temperament;
-Transferable skills;
-Values and interests --

—then maps these findings to a career path and specific jobs that truly fit the user. It also includes resume building and other job search information and advice. The service will be affordable with prices starting at approx. $49 a month. With career management being more important than ever in today's job market, CareerDNA believes there will be high demand for such services.

Student Futures, Inc. provides career planning for college students and recent grads. Through the use of programs & career coaches from across the country, Student Futures helps college kids find not just a job, but a meaningful career. And its the parents who usually foot the bill. Services start at $1900 for a 3 month program for recent grads to $2900 for an intensive 6 month program for college seniors. Putting these fees into perspective, ...if you are paying $100k for college, it makes sense to spend a few thousand dollars to help your kid get a good career they'll be happy in.

Here's a breakdown of their services;

-A detailed, up front assessment of a student's status, career needs and desires.

-Regularly scheduled, personal one-on-one coaching sessions.

-Regularly scheduled "assignments" as a follow up to coaching sessions.

-Guidance on effective use of resume and job-search software.

-Personality and career-match testing.

-Individual "positioning" and "packaging" of the student and his/her background and experiences, with specific employment markets in mind. This includes internship planning and networking, job search coaching, resume preparation, website posting and interview techniques.

-Strategies for leveraging a college's Career Services and its alumni network as well as maximizing other career planning resources.

-'Real-world' information and contacts for generating internship experiences, compensation negotiations, city live-ability, apartment rental, on-going networking, etc.

-Periodic reports and feedback on the student's progress whenever requested. It's a valuable, ongoing procedure for parents/sponsors to have input into a student's career planning.