JobFox, the job-board spawn of CareerBuilder, is rapidly sinking under the weight of mismanagement, financial distress, a class action lawsuit, claims of fraud, and complaints from customers and vendors.

JobFox was started by Rob McGovern, who also founded CareerBuilder. Like TheLadders, JobFox tried to take refuge in the resume-writing business, but quickly realized that was a sink hole.

Now the bottom has fallen out. Things are so bad that McGovern has published a video explaining that JobFox is not a scam.

Where have we heard those last words before?

Back in 2009, I sent McGovern an e-mail asking an important question. He didn’t answer it then, and he didn’t answer it in the video.

I hear Marc Cenedella over at TheLadders has some pretty good executive job openings, and he writes a pretty mean resume for top executives.

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8 Comments
  1. Hey Nick,

    Congrats on the PBS press! I found it by following a link on Google News.

    Click my name to visit the link.

  2. Hey, Charles — Thanks! You’re the first to point this out. I had no idea til I saw your comment. This is all totally unrelated to today’s posting about JobFox…

    I’ve never been on Google News homepage before. Score one! The NewsHour segment that I wrote this in connection to should air next week.

  3. Ironic — McGovern pulling a Nixon.

    (If anyone didn’t catch the allusion, the 1972 presidential election was between Richard Nixon and George McGovern.)

  4. @Brian: How’d I miss that?? Score 10 bonus points.

  5. Rob McGovern has recently updated his twitter profile to read:

    Serial entrepreneur who founded Careerbuilder.com, Jobfox, and Cobrain. Avid cyclist, airplane pilot, and interested in world affairs. Lives in Washington DC.

    Apparently he still pilots his own plane so things aren’t so bad for him. He won’t answer any inquiries about Jobfox but his twitter @robertjmcgovern clearly shows he’s arrogant enough to prove he doesn’t care.

  6. I have applied to 8 positions in the last few months or so and was able to get 7 interviews. The reason for applying to jobs was really just to check out the market but actually it is funny that “Job Fox” did a free resume critique on my resume and I was told in a system generated email that my resume is not up to par or some thing like that! I ended up applying to few jobs just to test out my resume etc and result was what I said above.

    In my personal opinion if you put an effort to customize the resume for the job you are applying, you do get a call. Only issue I am struggling with is what should be an ideal length ? Mine is around 3 pages right now.

  7. @H Chaudhry:

    Re resume length, my initial reaction is, “an ideal length for whom?”

    You can look at a dozen different blogs on the subject and get a dozen different opinions.

    The real issue is whether what you’re doing is working for you. If you are getting the interviews, then presumably you’re doing something right. Your resume appears to be the right length for those employers, and that’s what matters.

  8. WOW – Doostang purchased Jobfox assets, which means they are liable for the outstanding invoices and claims set forth against Jobfox (Since Jobfox and Rob McGovern) did not file bankruptcy, they claims were NOT discharged, which leaves DOOSTANG LIABLE.

    Lawsuit is being prepared, updates to follow.