Canadian e-recruiter giant Workopolis.com is using a new feature found in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8, to help millions of jobseekers visiting the online jobsite find work faster.
Workopolis, which has been testing the new browser since last year, is using the Web Slice feature on IE8 to enable jobseeking visitors to the site get continuous updates on positions or companies they are eyeing, according to Roy Bernhard, the jobsite’s managing director for information systems.
Workopolis is also working on extending the same services to employers so that they can monitor available jobseekers with specific talents, Bernhard said. Workopolis is one of Canada’s premier online job hunting destinations. The site receives an estimated 3.3 million unique visitors that generate more than 100 million page-views each month.
“In this climate of economic uncertainly, we believe this service will be extremely useful for users who need immediate updates on opening positions but could be constrained by time to routinely check the Websites of their preferred companies,” he said.
When IE8 was finally released by Microsoft on Thursday, Web Slice, along with the mini mashup Accelerators were among the notable new features of the browser. Microsoft hopes the improved features of IE8 will shore up the dwindling market share of the browser.
Internet Explorer’s market share is reported to have gone up by as much as 30 per cent following IE8’s release.
Web Slice offers an alternative to getting information from a Website with out requiring a searcher to log onto the source site.
The application appears as an icon on the upper portion of the Workopolis site. Web Slice delivers changing information from Webpages of all companies listed with Workopolis.
When you visit the Workopolis site, the Web Slice icon on the Favourites bar turns green. Click its down arrow and you’ll see a list of all Web Slices on the page. Select one, and a listing for the Web Slice appears on your Favourites bar. User can specify which companies they get updates from.
When content on your chosen site or Web Slice changes the title alerts you by turning bold. Click the Web Slice, and a drop-down box displays the content. You can click through to go to the Webpage that hosts the slice or just view the drop-down.
Web Slice enables users to identify faster any recently posted position said, Bernhard.
“To be able to pinpoint a job opening within 15 minutes of posting can be a tremendous advantage especially in a very tight market,” he said.
The feature eases the burden on users, according to Elliot Katz, senior product manager, for Windows Client, with Microsoft Canada.
“Previously jobseekers did all the online searching by logging onto various company sites one company at a time. With Web Slice, it’s your browser that doing the work,” he said.
Another notable Internet Explorer 8’s feature is Accelerator, a mini-mashup that delivers information from another Website directly to your current browser page.
When you visit a site and highlight an address appearing on that site and the chose a maps Accelerator, a map of the address will appear on the screen as a pop-up. You can interact with the flyaway or pop-up map just as if you were on the map site itself. This eliminates the need to cut-and-paste the address of a businesses from one site to that of a map application.
Preston Galla, writer for ComputerWorld US, however says many of the currently available Accelerators are written by Microsoft to take advantage of its services, such as Live Maps, Live Searcg and Windows Live Space. Other non-Microsoft Accelerators include those from Amazon, eBay, Facebook and Yahoo.
On initial tests, Galla said, Live Maps Accelerator had troubles finding addresses when they were on separate lines on a Webpage – for example, when the street address was on one line and the city was beneath it.
He also found that in one PC he used, Accelerator and Web Slice won’t appear because the machine had Google Gears installed. Microsoft said it is working on this problem.
(With files from Preston Galla)