Job searching is something we all hate, especially right after college. There are so many websites out there it can be difficult to know the best places to look.
If you’ve heard of SnagAJob, you may be wondering if it’s actually a legit site for finding a job after college, or well, if it’s a good site for anyone regardless of their life status.
What is SnagAJob exactly?
SnagAJob is a job search website which anyone can register for free to apply for work, but those who post job ads must pay a monthly fee. The fee for employers isn’t cheap either, ranging from $89 per month for one job listing to $249 for three listings every month. Their service is exclusively for hourly job positions. Considering the fee is pricey, I’m surprised to hear all the issues that are occuring with this job posting site! (But, more about that later)
Who is using it?
According to the data, over 200,000 employers use SnagAJob.com to look for potential employees, and over 65 million have already registered with the site to browse and apply for jobs. (Okay, but this is probably the number of people who have EVER created a profile on their site, and they have been around going on 16 years. I doubt nearly that many are active users). Mostly, the job postings are lower end retail jobs paying between $10 – $20/hour. (Source: Forbes)
What jobs are offered?
Looking through the jobs posted in my area, I see an abundance of customer service, sales and food service jobs. There are a few in technology and health, but they appear to be lower level like Certified Nursing Assistants or Home Caregiver positions.
New college graduates may not find much actual college level work, but these days it can’t hurt to look for any type of job with the oversaturated market. More and more college grads are accepting and working at lower end jobs right out of college, and even years beyond (which is actually why I ended up self-employed).
On the surface, SnagAJob appears to be a reputable job board helping connect employers and employees for hourly positioned jobs.
But let’s look a bit further into the company…
There are 3 big issues with SnagAJob.com…
#1 -You have to watch out for spam, and you’ll get tons of college recruitment calls. According to their terms of service, SnagAJob says it doesn’t sell your personal information for marketing purposes… but somehow, someway when you sign up and fill out your personal details with this website, you’ll start getting an endless amount of spam to your inbox, plus even aggressive college recruitment phone calls.
This review on SiteJabber about privacy is just one of many complaints:
It seems there is a hidden checkbox somewhere on your profile and account set up that is by default checked “yes” which gives these recruiters the OK to contact you. But this checkbox isn’t visible when setting up your account, and I’m not even sure if it’s visible on your profile. Either way, it’s pretty sneaky of them to do this.
#2- Job postings are often outdated and the positions have already been filled, or the company is no longer looking to hire. Not all job postings are current and still active, which is kind of a bummer if you end up waste your time applying. This seems to be a common occurrence on many job board sites though, either the employers aren’t proactive in keeping their postings up to date or these sites are just really bad at taking them down…
#3 -Not all job posting are for actual jobs. Typically when someone goes on a job board, they’re expecting to find a job which exchanges them money for their time. Often times business “opportunities” will get posted for various online schemes or survey websites.
Pictured above is a “job” posting for Be the Boss Network, which is a huge directory for finding MLM opportunities. MLM programs are not traditional jobs – they require an upfront fee and selling to your friends and family. Often times (not always) they operate more like pyramid schemes than a real business, so be careful with them.
Within my initial search I found a few more MLM opportunities as well as a posting for an online survey website (which isn’t even remotely close to being a real job).
After doing enough research into this topic, I discovered a couple things…
First, SnagAJob and similar popular job board sites are real sites that will connect you to actual jobs, but there are problems that will arise when using them for both job searchers and job posters.
Second, there are always going to be complaints about any business no matter how legitimate it is. People online are complaining about every popular job board site like Indeed, Monster and even Career Builder. Complaints range from job searchers never getting call backs to job posters not getting qualified applicants – but that is to be expected in today’s job market.
The job market is saturated. Blindly applying for jobs online is sort of a crapshoot – it doesn’t matter what service you use, the chances of getting a callback from a company in which you know no one or nothing about is rather slim.. especially if you aren’t a good fit for the position.
Would I recommend SnagAJob?
Honestly considering the issues with spam and unwanted phone calls I think there are better alternatives to SnagAJob, so I wouldn’t recommend you actually start registering with all your information. For college graduates looking for decent paying work, you aren’t going to find a top position there. But times are hard, people are desperate and it can be hard to ignore a good source of job listings.
Regardless of what some may have claimed, there are real positions posted on this site. My recommendation would be, if you’re still interested, to browse the website for job openings, but instead of signing up, go directly to the business and tell them you saw their ad online. Worst case they ask you to apply online – but you are more likely to get hired if you show your face and make a good impression.
More legit job search sites – Indeed, Monster College, College Recruiter, USA Jobs
Hi Wendy,
I’ve never heard of SnagAJob before but after reading your review, I think I will avoid it! I do freelance work and sometimes find it hard to find good jobs to compete for. I typically use Upwork to look for gigs and I also like to do some user tests at UserTesting – they pay decent.
I am interested in your Wealthy Affiliate review – that sounds like the kind of opportunity I am looking for. Thanks again for the heads up on SnagAJob!
Cheers!
Nancy
Hi Wendy,
This is interesting, for me confidentiality of the site users should be paramount and job seekers getting harassed with college recruitment calls is a big no no!
Also things like not keeping jobs up to date is a big no as well. I think in this day and age, given the current job market a lot of college graduates should just consider going in to business for themselves.
With the internet at your fingertips it has never been easier!
It’s such a shame that there are so many problems with SnagAJob. In particular, it is really bad news if you end up getting too many phone calls. A while back I filled out some surveys online and ended up getting loads of phone calls, so I know what that feels like. I had to add them all to my “banned” list on my phone until that list was full and I couldn’t add any more.
It’s also a shame that it ends up with MLM opportunities getting listed because some people will think they are real jobs.
And you have to pay to list yourself on there? What a joke! At least Monster is free. Have you ever used Monster?
HI there Wendy,
I had never actually heard of this particular agency before stumbling across this article..and quite thankfully so! I just could or simply would nt do with a bunch of spammy emails my inbox when looking for some work
I tend to use monsterjobs (UK based) are there any actual job sites that you do actually give the full thumbs up for?
This doesn’t sounds great to me. I know when you finish college, sometimes you just need to get anything to start earning, but as you rightly point out, there are better jhob sites out there.
I have been inundated with similar calls, not from snagajob but from a similar business, a few years back, and it was SOOO annoying!
I would agree to stay away from this.
The article was very informative. I’ve seen a lot of job sites like that. It really makes job hunting difficult trying to navigate through all the MLM clutter. Trying to start your own business from home seems a lot easier and probably more productive. Keep the articles coming and I’ll keep reading them.
I don’t think Snagajob would be a very good place to apply if you have to endure a bunch of spam and jobs that are not available anymore, as you indicated in your article. I think using LinkedIn to find a job would be a better choice. I guess if you need to work immediately, then it would behoove you to try all venues that are available to you.
I agree with your #1 recommendation as the best choice. I have been with WA for almost 1 year and I have found their training to be by far the best on the internet and the price for the training is very cost effective! I like working online better than working a 9 to 5 job.
I like working at night rather than working during the day. This way I can spend time with the family and work when they go to bed. I think WA’s free starter membership is a great opportunity for anyone wanting to start their online training.
Thank you,
Edward Mijarez
I used snagajob before and they seriously have issues. Good thing I used my spam email to sign up for them, so they can spam it all they want. I only check it once in a while anyway.
I definitely agree with the face to face thing. It’s worth the effort to go ask for a job upfront. I also notice that usually malls have plenty of stores with labels “looking to hire” on their window. You should write about that too.
I have not heard of this site before but have used other job search sites and found some of the same issues with those as well. It seems getting your personal info so they can sell it is the main objective of most of these sites. It’s a shame. It is almost worth paying money for some of the higher quality search sites that charge a fee since you get more legitimate leads.