I just have a quick question: As someone searching for a new job, is it worthwhile to register with a service such as BlueSteps? https://www.bluesteps.com/Home.aspx
Thank you for your question! To be quite frank, we had never heard of Blue Steps. In order to be able to answer your question, I went on the site to see if this is something I would personally use. Well, it isn’t and unfortunately I cannot recommend it to you either.
From what I understand, Blue Steps offers hiring managers free access to the site and instead charges job seekers membership fees. This is indeed the approach that recruitment firms used many moons ago and now don’t. Nowadays, when you deal with a headhunter, the service is free to you as an applicant, and it is the hiring manager who is invoiced upon hiring. The reason for that is that it is an employee-driven market. The situation might certainly be different in the US or elsewhere in the world, following the economic crisis. In Canada, however, the job market is quite healthy at this point.
The reason I would not recommend that you use Blue Steps is that is a blind investment. What advantage does the site give you? If it gave you access to job postings that were not advertised anywhere else, for example, it might be worth it. Otherwise, what are you paying for? A chance that someone in your area with a suitable position might find you on the site? LinkedIn is one of the most popular sites for connecting professionals with potential employers. Your profile can be easily found there.. and you have nothing to pay!
Another thing that makes me sceptical is the site’s claim that the average salary of their members is $200,000+. A senior executive at that level should not be posting his or her resume on a job board. At that level, you should have made enough of a name for yourself to (a) have a solid network around you should you be looking for re-appointment and (b) be constantly solicited by headhunters. This makes me question the site’s target market. As a headhunter myself, I would not use the site’s services to look for senior-level candidates (free or not). I would have a very hard time understanding why they are paying for services of a job board.
Blue Steps also offers a CV review service; however, such service is now a commodity and you would be much better off going to see a consultant in your area for an in-person consultation.
To summarize, I would stay away from Blue Steps and would focus my efforts on building a very strong LinkedIn presence, as well as networking pro-actively through the site (and other means). You will be better off investing the few hundreds of dollars you will have saved on networking events where you are guaranteed to make invaluable connections. Good luck!
So true - a senior level exec should not be posting at all. And even for mid level candidates, proper consultations with expereinced headhunters are much more productive and fruitful!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I linked to it here: http://clarissasblog.com/2011/09/19/are-desperate-job-seekers-being-bamboozled/ because I want my readers to be aware of this issue.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a great analysis of such websites!
@ Clarissa: thank you for linking to the post in your ultra popular blog.
ReplyDeleteDear Pronexia,
ReplyDeleteI would like to correct a few mis-judgements (and thank you for your analysis, because we always need to refine our messaging).
BlueSteps offers free database access to retained executive search firms who are members of the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC) as part of their membership - not hiring managers. See www.AESC.org for more info.
Information provided by senior executive members of BlueSteps is only exposed to these AESC executive search consultants, all of which adhere to the highest industry standards (they are required to do so).
The average salary is $230,000 because BlueSteps is only for Directors and above. The entrance fee ensures members consider they are right for the service.
Our CV/Resume reviews are conducted by the highest accredited individuals in the industry and a telephone consultation is offered to all those who participate.
We offer career advice, webinars, a search firm directory, a list of AESC member firm opportunities, among many other benefits to members.
In regards to the database, in the last 90 days there have been 4,656 searches by AESC member executive recruiters, with 24,658 executive profile views. Considering AESC search firms ONLY deal with 100k plus (more likely 250k plus), many execs who are contacted on a monthly basis, are making their membership cost back one hundred times over - you are right though, being passive in a database should only be a small part of your job search strategy.
We are a non-profit and charge to cover our maintenance costs. Although not everyone will be contacted, we assure everyone gets value from our additional services, and those who are contacted are presented with serious opportunities (this is retained search, not contigency).
However you are right. Networking is by far the best way to be considered for executive positions, and we have a number of resources available to assist in your online and offline networking strategy.
I hope that helps clarify our service for your readers!
Best,
The BlueSteps Team
(info@bluesteps.com)
This is for a fact not true. Your resume review consists of 1 email in which obviously all is wrong with your resume but after that you're requested to pay additionally. No phone call.
Delete@BlueSteps Team:
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting our blog and taking the time to comment.
In our professional opinion, we really could not recommend BlueSteps to high-level executives in our network. We have no doubt that some might find the service useful. However, top performers in their fields (especially at the $250,000+ salary bracket) should a solid network around them and should be solicited by search firms without having to pay for the process.
If the search firms registered with you work exclusively on retainer (ie: are paid by the hiring manager before filling the mandate), shouldn`t they be the ones eating the cost of gaining access to the database?
Hi Pronexia,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the response also! I think ideally top performers should have solid networks with executive search consultants, but I think we all know that is often not the case!
Our fee goes beyond the database and covers all the other services we provide, which help educate and prepare senior executives in all the tactics you recommend (and more).
Part of the paid AESC membership benefits include access to the BlueSteps database, however, we could not ask our members to assume all the costs due to the many additional benefits we provide to executives.
I understand BlueSteps is an interesting business model due to its exclusivity to the retained executive search industry, but that is why it is in addition to linkedin, not a direct competitor. There are also many other similar services which charge for membership, however I do not want to discuss their benefit to cost here.
Thank you for taking the time to look at our service, and I do understand your concern for the candidate as there are many illegitimate services. You are right to be a champion for due diligence, and we are happy for anyone to make their own decisions regarding bluesteps, just wanted to provide some extra info.
Best,
The BlueSteps Team
(info@bluesteps.com)
Take it from me, a "250000+ executive". The way BlueSteps.com is designed, and the manner in which you collect information, is so 1990s that I won't trust the site on its own merit. Secondly, nowhere do I have clarity on who will get access to my details--actual contact names and companies of headhunters. As such a 300 dollar fee is ridiculous. The "services" you speak of are useless for any executive worth his salt.
DeleteI doubt LinkedIn provides anything super useful either, but at least it's not open network. Other than that, there's oodles of puffery, link sharing, pointless reviews from ex-colleagues there too.
The only thing that works, and has always worked, for senior recruitment is to know the right people at the right time.
"I think ideally top performers should have solid networks with executive search consultants, but I think we all know that is often not the case!"
ReplyDeleteInteresting. In my experience, executives at the level of seniority you are targeting, do always have solid networks around them. Even more so, the executives for whom clients would be willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars
to a search firm.
As one executive who paid the fee I can tell you without a doubt, it is a rip off. I posted my information and am a CEO with a great background and education. I also am not in a hurry and have never been unemployed. so I did it to see how well I could be exposed. I made inquiries to no avail. A definite rip-off, period.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this. Sometimes the obvious is much better confirmed.
DeleteVery interesting and certainly confirms what we thought of this site. Thank you for your comment.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your insight. I almost was going to join BlueSteps and glad I did not. Based on my research it doesn't look like it's worth the money. Especially since I want to keep my job search local (Austin, TX) rather than relocating. Thanks to the CEO who posted above and gave their insight. I am employed and not in a hurry either. You saved me $300+!
ReplyDeleteI do not recommend Blue Steps to anyone employed as a senior executive. I was interested assistance in making a transition but my situation simply prevented me from discussing my intended change within my current industry network. I paid the basic fee and conducted the 2 telephone sessions includes in the membership for career counseling and a resume review. Both were nice conversations but were really intended as a method of selling additional resume, advisory, and branding services. They were not worth $300. I think Blue Steps may be appropriate for a busy professional in a staff porition seeking help in basic resume and document production.
ReplyDeleteThank you for additional insight!
ReplyDeleteThank you for all the information. Very helpful.
ReplyDeleteI think that, even senior executives have solid networks, they may ask for a change in thier field or location or country which needs professional assistance. And this assistance may be worth paying. And another case is that, with your limited network, it is not always the perfect match.
I am a senior executive in the oil services industry in Houston I used Bluesteps successfully. I was contacted by a recruiter who was trying to fill a position that I would never had heard about, despite my network. My thought was, there's no harm in trying it. I'm glad I did.
ReplyDeleteI am an executive in a fairly small and isolated community in a province far from my province of birth (home province). The opportunity to network in person is quite limited. I am looking to relocate to my home province but have not lived there since university over 20 years ago and don't have many contacts left there. I was/am considering joining Bluesteps just because I am so far away - right now, I see it as $300 isn't that much to "lose" if it is a scam and is even less to "invest" if it isn't. In a situation like mine, what would you recommend if it isn't something like Bluesteps? (BTW, I have my LinkedIn profile right up to date, etc.)
ReplyDeleteThanks Pronexia. I almost joined Bluesteps. It's very hard to find a headhunter website that gives you a reliable service?
ReplyDeleteCould you recommend a personalized career assistance website I could use besides LinkedIn? I like more face to face experience.
Thank you for your comment! If you prefer an in-person experience, then I would recommend searching for your local centers that provide career counselling and assistance. Where are you located?
ReplyDeleteThank you for the comment. It saved a few hundred dollars.
ReplyDeleteHello -
ReplyDeleteI recently joined Bluesteps and I must agree with your comments. But it is maybe still a little bit too early for me to judge.
I am a senior executive based in Philadelphia even if my area of responsibility (CFO) is for Latin America.
I must say that I find your blog extremely interesting. Congrats!
Could you please recommend a personalized career assistance website I could use besides LinkedIn? I like more face to face experience.
I was very interested in these two locations: Philadelphia and Miami.
Thanks!
I also fitted their Executive profile perfectly and was keen to improve my resume through their complimentary service (along with a number of other value adds they offer) and get my resume infront of some of the top International agencies so I excitedly subscribed.
ReplyDeleteTheir business appears to be totally US centric with every online service expecting you to have a US address and ZIP code which clearly is a problem when living in Asia. I do get many emails inviting me to attend conferences at 3am my time which is clearly of little use - another example of their US centricity.
So all in all membership has been a total waste of money and time and certainly no lived up to the marketing material BlueSteps pedal.
Interesting debate. If blue-steps can release audited and anonymized information on monthly success is has had, the transparency will increase confidence in its services.
ReplyDeleteSince it is a non-profit, it should not be having any conflict also.
For starters information like, number of active job seekers, additions in the last month. For the new additions the geographic profile, industry profile, expected salary brackets, no of years of experience bracket, aspiring designation bracket etc.
In addition the work done in the last month by Bluesteps as in success stories with profiling on similar lines. This information will help potential customers like myself to judge if Bluesteps is actually relevant for my current needs and dispel the rumors. Best wishes. Look forward to hearing from Bluesteps.
This is an absolute waste of money. I have a top 10 MBA and also more than 15 years of business experience. I registered with this site many years ago and have had absolutely no results from it. The only thing that happened is a mediocre resume writing service called me so they could scam more money off of me.
ReplyDeleteAs for executive search, there is no more need for them. Most firms can find you through LinkedIn and the like. They can source most people directly or should the need arise the executive search firm would find you. This website gives you the illusion that there are jobs that are obtainable but in fact all you are signing up is for career consultants, resume writers and other career training type parasites to take your money. The whole thing capitalises on career insecurities people have. Do not fall for the trick - there is no career objective this site can deliver that you cannot achieve for free.
I implore you not to sign up for this site and use the money on something productive.
Thank you for your comment!
ReplyDeleteThis post seems to have resonated with many people and we are glad that our insight was correct.
Thanks guys, me and my friend was on their signup page and about to enter our credit card information to signup two accounts and had a thought I should check these guys out first - glad I did, saved few hundred pounds, thanks to this blog and the power of the internet, the best democracy in the world. We've just sent a message out to over 1500 people within our networks on linkedin to steer well clear of BlueSteps and already people are responding saying they were no longer considering it after reading your blog!, Well done Pronexia.
ReplyDeleteGreat! Thrilled to be of help.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I wish I had found this site before signing up for BlueSteps. The $300 membership fee gets you a 'free' resume review from their 'professionals.' After the review process was complete (a few weeks after signing up), I received an email with some vague questionable unpersonalized resume suggestions (canned responses), and an offer to have a more in-depth resume polishing for $2,150. What a joke.
ReplyDeleteGreat! Bluestep will not get my $$$
ReplyDeleteThe main issue I have with Blue Steps is that after paying a very hefty fee years ago and being told it was a one time, life time fee. I just went on the site and found that the two only reasons to use the site are now restricted unless I upgrade my membership for an extra 89 USD. I do make well over 200K and have done for at least ten years and I have been headhunted for roles in Asia and Europe and I have never once been contacted by Blue Steps or a headhunter who got my name from them. Their CV service is not a service it is a sales pitch to charge you for a CV service. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS SITE. You should be ashamed Blue Steps to charge restrict services that as a member I have already paid for. Not pleased and will happily spread the word about you company.
ReplyDeleteGlad I read this blog - Just save myself $300. Being based in the UAE and looking to return to London after 10 Years, my network is very thin so trying to use Linkedin.....not too much luck their either.
ReplyDeleteAny other suggestions ?
My advice would be to find people at companies that are of interest to you and to contact them directly one by one. Make sure to set your location on LinkedIn as London. Good luck!
Delete