Help for Job Seekers

Job Seekers

Job Seeker Help

Contents:

1. Home Page

Welcome to eBullpen. This is the Internet’s Newest way to bring job seekers and employers together using personality as the key. We do not use resumes to make introductions or connections, but rather experience factors and a personality trait indicator based upon the “Big 5” Personality assessment. The animation represents the eBullpen community.

If you are a job seeker, looking for work, or an employer looking to fill an open position, find the areas of the website by clicking on the employer (blue-colored) links, or the job seeker (orange) links and set off down one of those paths. Feel free to navigate the top level buttons, as they contain useful knowledge for. Then, choose and 'Job Seeker' or 'Employer' buttons to choose your path from those pages.

Once you have chosen your path, the content will become more specific to employers or job seekers. Make sure that if you do sign up with us, using your credit card, you are signing up correctly as an employer or job seeker, because the paths are very different.

Finally, please read our terms and conditions of use and of sale, and our privacy policy. If you continue to navigate our site, it is assumed that you have read and accept them. In case of any conflict between any part of the site and those Terms and Conditions of Use and Sale, the Terms and Conditions will prevail.

Job Seeker’s Start Page

Welcome to eBullpen and the Job Seeker’s start page of our website. If you are actually an employer, you need to get back to our homepage by clicking on the bull in the top left corner of your screen, or go directly to the Employer's side of the site, by clicking on the blue "Employers" link towards the top left of the page, or by clicking here.
eBullpen is a new way for employers and job seekers to find one another in an online environment, and, by adding the dimension of personality to the search, help improve the speed and quality of hiring decisions.

eBullpen uses a personality survey, based on the widely recognized and researched “Big 5” model of personality, to get job seekers correctly defined in our database, our “Bullpen”. Employers can search that database by creating a job profile to define the kind of person they are looking for. The search engine is capable of allowing them to change the relative weights of various factors to help refine and refresh the search as often as they like within a subscription period, after the initial search. What this means for job seekers, is that every time a job profile is created, you get searched. Every time a refinement is made to the profile, you get searched. You may not get found as a close match, but every entry in the bullpen gets a "glance" every time something changes.

An important word about what eBullpen is not: It is not somewhere for job seekers to search jobs, or to post their resume. Nor is it a site for employers to post jobs that are searchable. This is a person-to-person connection service, which makes no use of resumes to connect job seekers and employers. Like other sites, this one does not guarantee that job seekers will find a job, or that employers will find workers. It is simply another way to connect people who have a common purpose of filling a job opening.

Subscriptions cost $10 for 90 days for Job Seekers, with options for extended listing, up to a year. We are a pay site because we want our database of job seekers to contain active or passive, but current job seekers who are really vested in finding work or a new career.

As you move around this Job Seeker start page, you will see a number of links to take you to other sources of information about our system and business. Please feel free to click any link to see what lies behind it. Some links skip down more than one level, so if you click the “Personality Survey” link, you will be on a sub-level of “How it Works”. The links are intuitive, with “Membership”, for example, explaining the various subscriptions you can buy from us, and how to become a member. Our FAQ section is particularly useful in explaining what we do.

If you are ready to go ahead and sign up to try eBullpen, please click on “create account”, which will take you through the process of registration. You will need a valid credit card to complete the process.

Back to Job Seeker's Start Page Back to Top

Create Account – Registration Step 1.

This is the path down which you travel in order to register with eBullpen as a Job Seeker, and get listed in the system to be searched and found by Employers.

The first page is simply your contact information, and your future login information. The address information you use should match the information on the credit card you are going to use. An important word about usernames: once you are registered with us, our system will always call you by your real name, HOWEVER employers will not see your real name. What identifies you will be your Username, if you choose one, or default to your email I.D. (the text before the "@" in your email). The “Select Username” option allows you to choose a name by which to be known by others, if your E-mail address gives away your gender or where you currently work. If you choose a username, this will be how others see you on the site, until you get into a one to one conversation with an Employer, who has identified him or herself to you, when you may wish to identify yourself more fully. Either your username or ENTIRE registered E-mail address can be used for logging into the site. The most important thing to remember is your password, which will work with either your E-mail address or your username as login. If you forget your password, click the "forgot your password?" link in the login area, and your old password will be cancelled and a new, temporary one E-mailed to you. You should change your password, once you have logged back in again in the 'Profile' page of your account home.

Also in Step one, you will choose your Job Preferences, including whether you want to work full or part time, and which Industry you want to be searched within, your preferred working zip code, and the distance you would be prepared to commute. Choose carefully, but don’t worry too much, as any of these items can be changed at will later, after you are subscribed.

A word or two about the choices: If you click the willing to relocate box, it takes you out of the zip code proximity search, so you will match for more candidate searches, but they may be very far from you. Consider this option carefully, clicking it gives you no rights whatever to relocation expenses. Nor does it get you searched by employers who are looking to re-locate somebody. You would need to talk to the employer about that, and if the employer is not in your neighborhood, when you start talking to him or her, you should probably say so early on. In addition, when you enter salary, you can enter it in whichever format is most comfortable for you. The system standardizes all responses to be in the same scale (hourly).

Back to Account Registration Back to Top

Create Account – Registration Step 2.

In step 2, you will take the Job Seeker Personality Survey (45 questions). Read each statement and click the corresponding circle to how much the statement describes you. Most left is not like you at all, to the most right, which totally describes you. Answer each question as you are today, not as you wish to be. If you need to take the test another time, click the “Skip Test” button and do it later. You should take it only if you have time to take it, and are in a relatively settled mood. If you are not in the mood, give it some time. The system will allow you to take the test after you subscribe, but you obviously won’t be searchable by employers until you do. Try to answer the survey questions as naturally as you can. Take the time to read each question, but don’t over-analyze. The good news about personality surveys is that THERE ARE NO RIGHT OR WRONG ANSWERS.

Create Account – Registration Step 3.

In Step 3, you will choose your subscription, enter a promotional code if you have one (you must hit apply to give the code effect and discount your purchase), and acknowledge that you have read and accept our terms and conditions. You will also enter your credit card information, including the little CVV2 number that suggests that you have the actual card in your possession. Even if you have a promotion code for a free subscription, you will need a credit card to validate your account. Fill it out and Hit “Submit Order”.

Registration Confirmation

You will receive a confirmation of registration, which includes a button to print yourself a receipt. It is recommended that you do so. You will also get an E-mail receipt from us.

Also on the confirmation, you will see the raw scores of the results of your survey, which is an array of red bars and a number, placing you on a scale of 1-100 for each named trait. Don’t worry at all about the number. It is just the place on that scale that you occupy. For a fuller explanation of the survey results, you can view your free feedback report, either as an HTML web page (set your printer to 'Landscape' to print the HTML version) or as a downloadable and save-able PDF file. (set your printer to portrait to print the PDF version). You don’t lose one option by choosing the other. Both are always available to you when you are logged in. You will need the Adobe Acrobat reader to view the PDF version. It is available for free at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html .

After reviewing your personality summary, if you do not agree with the results, you can take the survey one more time, and you should do so when you are in the right frame of mind. You can re-take the survey from the confirmation page when you first see your results, or later from your account home page the link will be there, but it will be a one-time use.. On the re-take, the survey is fully reset (your previous answers are gone), and the questions are shuffled, when you click that link.

Your eBullpen – Home Page/Control Console

From your eBullpen Home Page, you can change your profile, which means you can adjust the industry you are interested in, the compensation you are looking for, distance you would be prepared to commute, and pretty much everything but the personality profile. Be aware that each time you make a change, then that is how you will be saved in the Bullpen from that point on. It allows you full control of what type of position you want to be searched for.
However, exercise sense in not representing yourself as something you are not even close to being. You probably won’t get the job. You set where you want to be, but expect to have to justify where that is.

From the subscriptions link in your home page, you can change your personal information, credit card information, or your password.

On the left hand side of your home page is the activity area. That should start to be populated by employers showing enough interest in you to invite you to an online interview. If something new happens, you are alerted by the relevant icon flashing at you.

Online Interview Room

This is how you are contacted. If you are a high percentage match on the employer’s side of the system, and he clicks your username, he will see your work preferences, and he can invite you to join him for an online interview. New invitations will appear on your 'My eBullpen' home page on the left side when you log in. It is like an instant message window, but a completely private one between you and the employer. You will see the employer's username or email I.D. and if you click on their name, you will see the employer’s company and location. Assume you are a good match for the preferences you set in your profile panel, AND your personality traits are likely ones the employer is looking for in their candidate search. When there are new messages, you see a flashing beacon on your home page, next to the employer's name.

If you click the flashing link, the interview room opens up for you, and you can see the contents of the employer’s invitation. If this is incomplete, you are entitled to ask for more information, or simply terminate the interview, which either of you can do at any time, if you do not wish to talk to this employer or company. However, be aware that terminating the interview is permanent. If you just wish to close the interview, simply go back to your home page..

If you are interested in talking to the employer, please reply to the interview invitation in the space provided, and a dialogue can begin. Some interviews can be live, others may be on a time-lapse basis, because you and the employer may not both be online at the same time. Your private interview can be returned to whenever you want, and is secure in the system until one of you terminates it, or until either your or the employer's subscription ends. Note: Important: if you are in a "live" interview situation (both you and the employer are logged in at the same time and are in an online interview together), you should use the refresh button provided in the interview header each time you send text, or want to see if there's a reply to your text.

When you are offline and a new message arrives from an employer, an e-mail is sent out to the receiving party. You should configure your SPAM filters to allow e-mails from support@ebullpen.com.

At this stage of being in the online interview, you are responsible for the interaction and exchange of information. What you choose to send to an employer is entirely at your discretion, but it is strongly advised that you have enough information from the employer to verify the legitimacy of their business and the job offer before sending them your resume or contact information. Employers are encouraged to disclose as much information regarding their position as possible to job seekers, and you have the option of asking for details. NEVER provide personal information such as credit card numbers, or social security numbers in an online interview. All messages are SSL encrypted, but eBullpen does not actively monitor the interview room. We do collect a message log of dialogues between employers and job seekers, for security protection only. Think of this as the security camera in a convenience store. Most of the time the information it records is not required.. However, use common sense. Most employers will want to see your resume and/or meet you before any job offers are extended, and a social security number is only required AFTER being hired when filling out employment record forms for income tax withholding. Report anything that looks like a pyramid scheme, to us via the “contact us” link, or anything that is not appropriate to an interview situation. Similarly, conduct yourself as if this was a live and real interview. You may be dressed in your pajamas, but act and be appropriate to the situation. Unprofessional responses will almost certainly not help with a serious employer.

Some employers will require very specific qualifications for a particular job, which are non-negotiable. It is fine for the employer to ask for these in the initial invitation to interview to save you (and the employer) time, if you don't have them.

It is possible to have more than one interview going on at once. However, we would not suggest you conduct several "live" at the same time. The system will keep the interview available from your active interview list until one of you terminates the interview, or one of your subscriptions lapses. However, if you do not check your E-mail regularly and often (the one you used in your registration), you may log in to find an invitation that has expired, because the employer has terminated it. Employers tend to be on a deadline when they are hiring, and you may have been the perfect match for that job, but if you left it a week or two to show up for the online interview, the opportunity may have expired since.

The purpose of eBullpen is to connect employers and job seekers, with the common purpose of filling a job opening. Your objective will be to get invited to a real interview and take your resume along, but don’t be surprised if the employer asks for your resume before that happens. Old traditions die hard, and this is OK. However, do not try to post your resume in the interview room. The system will resist that, and your resume will not look good split up into little tiny pieces that won’t print well. If the employer asks for your resume and you want to pass it along (same with your personality profile), please do so outside of the Site, via E-mail, regular mail, or fax.

Interview Terminated:

Sometimes, Interviews are going to be terminated at the employer end. That's a fact of life. They have been talking to a bunch of people, and have narrowed things down. They may have the courtesy to send you an explanation before they do it, but sometimes they won't. You should try not to take it personally, if that happens, and hopefully there will be enough activity that you do not mind too much. At least you know that the particular opportunity is over. Better that than never hearing anything.

You also have the option to terminate an interview at any time, but don't mistake that "Terminate Interview" button for ending a session of the interview. You will be asked if you are sure, but once you say yes, that interview is terminated, and the employer is e-mailed that you are no longer interested in the opportunity.

Watercooler - Chat Area

Another feature provided on your home page is our Watercooler chat area. You will find other job seekers there and can talk to them about whatever you wish, with an employment thread in it. There is a public area and a private area, where you can send a message to a particular other user. You should conduct yourself properly and appropriately in the watercooler area, without using foul language or causing offense to anybody. The chat area is not constantly moderated or monitored, but a moderator may review exchanges and eject or permanently ban any user for inappropriate behavior, which might include but is not limited to foul language, unwanted advances for personal meeting, unwanted or persistent requests for personal information of any user, slander, or posting of any messages that contain expressions of violence, sexual acts, criminal acts, discrimination or intolerance for any person or group. Opinion exchanges are encouraged, and professionalism is required. We log and archive exchanges including private chat, for security purposes only, and never disclose any of the content to anyone unless required by law. The Watercooler Chat is a provided free of charge to its paid job seeker members, it is not a paid membership privilege. It is not part of your paid subscription, but is provided by eBullpen free for networking purposes. As such, user access may be terminated. If you experience inappropriate behavior, please report the behavior to chat@ebullpen.com and tell us why, and we will use that to locate the alleged wrongdoing in the logs.

We hope you enjoy using our system. It should cut down the amount of resumes employers have to read to get the right hiring result, and give you the opportunity of putting your resume in the hands of a breathing human. eBullpen is about getting people talking and being more in control of what happens. Please treat this as a serious part of the hiring process.

Employers will.

Good luck from all of us at eBullpen!