Monster, Avue step in to aid agencies with jobs to fill

While the government continues to try to fix the technical failures in the recently-launched USAJobs website, rivals Monster.com and Avue Technologies are offering free job-listing services to federal agencies.

Federal officials say USAJobs appears to be getting better. In the nine days since it launched, from Oct. 11 to Oct. 19, the USAJobs website successfully accepted more than 180,000 job applications, Angela Bailey, associate director of the Office of Personnel Management, which operates USAJobs, said in a statement released on Oct. 20.

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OPM also has added three serves to improve search functionality and job posting, Bailey added.

“We will continue to work around the clock to assure USAJobs 3.0 provides the best customer service to our millions of applicants and dozens of federal agencies,” Bailey said in the statement.

Meanwhile, Monster and Avue, which each operate online job search board, said they are offering free job posting services for federal government agencies at this time in an effort to assist in federal hiring while the USAJobs website is reported to be experiencing problems.

Both Monster and Avue are considered competitors, or potential competitors, to USAJobs because both offer public job search and listing services. Under the current model, OPM owns and operates USAJobs and charges fees to federal agencies for providing those services.

Monster previously hosted USAJobs under a contract with OPM. Avue also hosts some job listings and performs application management for some federal agencies, in competition with OPM's USAStaffing application management service. Beginning 18 months ago, OPM began developing its own version of USAJobs.gov and brought it live on Oct. 11 on its own servers.

Monster officials said the company would offer free job postings to federal agencies for the next 30 days. The job postings could allow applicants to locate job listings and then apply directly to agencies or through USAJobs. Monster characterized the decision as a voluntary one intended to assist the federal government and job applicants at a time when USAJobs is said to be experiencing record-high volume and technical problems.

“Following the recent transition away from a Monster-powered site, reported issues with the new USAJobs site may be impacting the government’s ability to hire at a time when accelerating hiring is a national priority,” Monster said in a statement on Oct. 20. “By providing free postings to federal agencies, Monster is doing what it can at this time to help both federal agencies and job seekers.”

Avue also had previously announced it is offering free job listing services not just to federal agencies but to all employers.

"We are convinced the times require that information on every job should be made available to everyone and we can think of no better way to do that than to allow every employer, including federal agencies, to post on Avue Central for free.' We believe the more sites where applicants can go to find job information, the better,” Avue said in its statement.