Monster

Site's statement

Jobboard Finder’s opinion

Summary: Monster is one of the oldest job boards around, since it was created in 1994. Depending on the country, the website has different particularities and exposure. In Malaysia, the generalist job board gets 231 440 visits per month and keeps its 6 222 Facebook and 658 Twitter followers updated. The job board has an interesting blog and it makes a clear stand on women in the workforce with a blog section and job section just for them. Job offers are easy to access (but not always updated). Since Asian countries have a high level of vulnerable employment, it’s no surprise to see a number of clearly marked “contract jobs”.

Design: The following Monster websites all look very similar: The Philippines, India, the Gulf, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. Being in the Asian region, the “Monster” logo is in small letters. At the top of the page, an employer button makes it simple for a recruiter to find useful information. To access the jobs, you can click on a recommended job or the “search” button next to the search engine in two parts (keywords and experience). Oh, and the advertised companies are really hiring. Each job offer in the listing includes the title, company name, location, experience needed, a summary, keyskills, the publication date and a small logo. They can be filtered by the location, the industry, the function, the type, the experience, the salary and the freshness of the offer (with the number of jobs in brackets). When you open an offer, you can see that same information plus the nationality (sometimes), a description and an “about company” section. Similar jobs appear on the side, similar searches appear at the bottom. You can even look up all the jobs from the same recruiter and follow companies/recruiters.

The job board objective:  Monster Malaysia really strives to appeal to everyone.

Recruiter observations: When creating an account, the website needs to validate it (which takes 2-3 days), so it is probably best not to create an account since it is not necessary to post an advert. If you do create an account, they ask for your experience in hiring and at which level. As for the adverts, you cannot use the same posting for different openings and there is very little branding.

Jobseeker observations: When you create an account, some information needs to be filled out straight away and you need a CV. If you apply to a job offer, they compare your information and their requirements. Even if they do not match, you can still apply. Monster also suggests some recruiters to follow on your dashboard.

The job offers: Banking and IT/Computing are the two most popular industries. However, half the job offers are months old. 1 662 job offers are on the website. We noticed a pretty big drop in job offers over the last few months, and Monster noticed it too!

Reactivity: Automatic emails.

Special features: The monsters (with names and personalities); the blog (in many different parts and location specific); the monster employment index; following companies; the “rate this job” option; the “Right resume” (not free); the “resume highlighter” (not free); questionnaire about your company (which literally no one has answered); professional networking features; walkins.

Verdict: The Malaysian Monster is surprisingly easy to use. It doesn’t have the best visibility and the adverts need to be updated more, but if you are interested in the labour market, check out their Monster employment index on online hiring (which has dropped over the past 6 months).

Written by Ali Neill

As the job board tester and blog editor for the Jobboard Finder, Ali works on job boards from all around the world and keeps a close eye on the recruitment trends thanks to a number of sources, including the website's social media pages.