Frequently Asked Questions
What is Career Navigator?
In a nutshell, Career Navigator is like a personal Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) for job hunters. Just as a salesperson would use a CRM system to keep track of their sales leads, Career Navigator helps you keep track of your job search and networking contacts.
Who uses Career Navigator?
Anyone trying to manage or organize a job search. From being a student until retirement, Career Navigator helps you manage your contacts and relationships just like an expensive CRM package manages prospects for a salesperson. Whether you are actively looking for a job, passively in the market, happily employed or especially unhappily employed, Career Navigator is an essential tool for your career management.
What if I already use Monster, headhunters and other resources?
Career Navigator is a tool, just like job boards and headhunters are tools. The bottom line is, no one cares more about getting you your next job than you do. It was designed by a software professional while unemployed to help manage (and complement) all of the other tools that he used, including job boards, recruiters, professional networking meetings, etc. Career Navigator should become one of the most critical tools you use.
How is this different than LinkedIn, FaceBook, MySpace, etc?
Career Navigator is way different than those other sites, and if anything, complementary. This is not a social networking website where you can connect with gazillions of other people and immediately have this huge incredible network. Instead, Career Navigator helps you manage and organize the information you collect, track your relationships (using the log entries), action items, processes of job applications, etc. The value of those sites is directly related to the number of people that sign up -- that is why LinkedIn boasts of over 5M users -- each new user is supposed to add more value to you. The value of Career Navigator has nothing to do with other people using the system or not -- Career Navigator's value is that it offers YOU a powerful set of tools for your career management -- even if no one else uses the system!
What is the best way to use Career Navigator?
Think about how a salesperson uses a CRM system -- with the idea of "getting that next sale." They need to know the who, what, when, where, and how of their customer relationships. Just as a salesperson uses their CRM to know what's going on, and what they need to do next, Career Navigator is your personal tool to help you keep track of who you talk to, who you want to talk to, what the discussions are about, what the next steps are and any pertinent information that you need to make sure that you can manage the relationship. Don't forget, getting that next job is actually a sales process. You are the salesperson ... and the product!
How long should I use Career Navigator?
How long should the salesperson use their CRM software? As long as they want to make one more sale. Career Navigator is a tool you will use throughout your professional career. Do you want to lose track of that headhunter that was so helpful three years ago? What about the e-mail address of that HR manager from the company you really wanted to work for? Career Navigator is the place to keep this information, whether you are passive or active in your job hunt. I didn't plan on getting laid off, and having had all of my contacts at my fingertips would have been priceless.
What's in the future for Career Navigator?
We realize that the power of Career Navigator lies in providing valuable tools for the job seeker. Having this accessible through the Internet means that you get all the online benefits, including the ability to use this tool when you are away from your computer (like, at your mother-in-law's house). Also, you will become a part of a community which has the benefit of collecting ideas and suggesting improvements. We've already gotten a number of ideas from various users and career professionals that will be implemented in Career Navigator over the next few months.
How do I sign up, and what next?
Click here to create your account. You will then have a free account with the option to upgrade to a Premium account. Premium users get a number of additional benefits, including price protection (if the fees increase, you are locked into the price in effect when you upgraded) and immediate access to new features.
What if I don’t get an e-mail sent to me after I register?
You may have typed your e-mail address wrong when you registered (really!). Just login with the name and password that you set up the account with, click on My Account and you’ll see that you can edit your e-mail address.
Career Navigator will become one of the most important tools you have, preparing you for the inevitable career changes that everyone experiences!
