Monster

SearchMonster FAQs

SearchMonster is our most powerful candidate search tool yet. Put Monster’s semantic search technology to the test to find the most qualified candidates for your open positions. And if you have any questions along the way, this is a great page to reference. Learn how to access and manage your searches, narrow your results and connect with candidates through auto messages and more.

As many as you want! All the searches you run will be conveniently saved on your Dashboard page for easy access in the future. SearchMonster also allows you clone a search (to copy the search criteria), archive the searches you want to hide from view and delete them permanently.

Yes! To receive an email notification when new candidates who match your search are found, turn on the Enable Notifications switch at the bottom of your search criteria from the search results page. You can set the frequency for these notifications on the Settings page from the left panel.

Yes, you can! SearchMonster has two versatile search options. You can use our Semantic Search which intuitively searches for related terms and concepts, or you can select the Boolean option and enter a keyword search string. Either way, you can expect to find the best candidates for the job. Check out Boolean tab in this article for more information.

Yes, just leave the location field blank to search the entire country. This is a wonderful strategy to really extend you candidate pool for remote positions.

Look for your inventory counter. It’s located on the right side of your screen from the SearchMonster dashboard and search results page. It tells you how many candidate views you have remaining compared to the number your account originally started with. When the green icon changes to yellow or red, that’s when it’s time to reach out to your sales representative to replenish your inventory. For more information, check out our article on Inventory Management.

If you have purchased Monster Resume Search there are some things that may prevent you from conducting a search:

Your inventory may be depleted. To see if this is the problem check your available inventory. Here are the instructions:

  1. Click Your Account from the main navigation menu
  2. Choose Inventory Detail
  3. The Resume Views (remaining) field must have available inventory. If none remains please contact you Monster Sales Representative to discuss your inventory needs.

Clearing Cache and Cookies

Clearing cache and cookies correct most issues and is a good first step in troubleshooting.

You may see this message if you improperly log out of your account. For example, if you close your browser without logging out, the system will assume your session is active and will not let you log back in. This message will also appear when another user is logged into your account (on another computer) and is searching for resumes.

Did you log out of resume search last time, or do you ‘x’ out of the browser window instead?

Most resume search access issues can be solved by clearing your cache and cookies. To accomplish this please review our article on the topic.

If clearing your cache and cookies doesn’t work you will need to wait until the system resets your account, or contact a Customer Service Representative at 1-800-MONSTER (1-800-666-7837).

Note: To log out of your Monster account click on the “Sign Out” button found on the upper right-hand corner of the site. You should not use the browser back or forward buttons to navigate through your Monster account.

Radius is calculated from the center point of a ZIP Code. If the outer band of the radius includes the center point of another ZIP Code, then that ZIP Code is included in the search. To show you as many relevant Job Seekers who could reside within the ZIP Code Radius you entered (for example, to include Job Seekers who live near the edge of a neighboring ZIP Code), results from an area that slightly exceeds the indicated ZIP Code Radius may be displayed.

Search Results

You should always include Private candidates in your search. They have a Monster account but do not want to be visible in searches. Even though you won’t see them in your results list, they did opt-in to receive auto message campaigns from recruiters. So, private candidates who match your criteria will receive your auto messages. If they respond, they are giving you access to their resume which will be viewable in your message center – always located at the top of the page in your Monster Account.

Some job seekers are concerned about keeping their personal information private or don’t want their current employer to know they are looking. If you come across a confidential candidate, you’ll notice that the name, address, phone number, and email is not displayed but you still have access to their Monster profile and resume information and can connect with them through Monster.

Your search criteria are on the left side of your search results. You can easily narrow down your candidate list by specifying more criteria and entering the most important skills, keywords, education and experience. You can also adjust your location by narrowing your radius to really zero in on the right candidates closest to you.

You may have specified too many search options. Try starting with a broad search before narrowing them down. To find as many candidates as possible, use a broad, industry standard job title and avoid internal titles. Also, make sure you search for all resumes first. Even if a candidate hasn’t updated their resume recently, they could be open to the right opportunity.

Although we recommend casting a wide net and searching all resumes, you can certainly narrow your results with the Resume Updated filter in your search criteria options. Choose from a variety of timeframes from updated “today” to “within 1 week,” to “within 9 months” and more. Just remember that candidates who haven’t updated their resumes recently may still be open to your opportunity. The ability to sort by resume updated is something we are looking into for a future release.

Your candidates are rated and ranked according to how well they match your search criteria. Candidates with 100% Match (or close to it) are the top candidates returned in your search results. With this functionality, it is easy to identify and focus on your frontrunners from the start.

81% of US employers told us that a standardized application would make their workflow easier and more efficient1. So, we transformed each of our candidate resumes into a standard format to make finding the skills, education and experience easier than ever.

1Monster Research, October 2020

If your using Boolean to search for candidates, check for any typos in your search string that could throw off the search. If you are using our Sematic search engine, try removing some criteria to widen your search or adjust your radius to deepen your candidate pool.

Candidate Actions

Email candidates right from your search results page or set up an Auto Message Campaign and let SearchMonster send the emails (and follow up messages) for you. Check out our Messaging Candidates article to learn more.

If you choose to download a resume, it will be downloaded as a PDF or Word document, depending on the type of resume file that the candidate provided or created on Monster originally.

For additional information, visit our SearchMonster Resources Page.

Still have questions?

We’re here to help. Contact Customer Support now.