Participating Librarians from:
Marin County Library
San Diego County Library
Santa Monica Public Library
Yolo County Public Library
Comments below are in no particular order and are listed in order to provide an idea of the spectrum of opinions from participating librarians.
Additionally, we have given WetFeet the opportunity to respond to the reveiw, so their comments are intersperced, and preceeded by .
Product Description:
The WetFeet Library provides users with career information. This includes access to in-depth company profiles, company interviews, and salary data. In addition, the access to WetFeet’s award winning Insider Guides is available through the WetFeet Library. These useful guides provide extensive career based information. These guides, as well as the career development focused guides will allow users to formulate a career search strategy, build a quality career-specific resume, and prepare for a successful interview.
Critical Review:
Each reviewer should rate the following areas with a score ranging from 1 (no recommendation) to 4 (strong recommendation). Then all scores for all areas shall be added and averaged, giving a composite score. Also include a brief narrative on strengths and weaknesses of each area.
1. Search interface:
Consider the functionality and ease of use of the interface. Is it intuitive or is an excessive amount of training required? Are any crucial features missing from the search interface?
SCORES: 1, 1, 2, 2, Average: 1.5
The material is not indexed, and there is no method for searching. The user is required to browse for material, and the intuitive website makes that fairly simple.
Sample comments follow:
The interface, though clear and navigable, lacks indexing, beyond a basic organization of information in broad categories (company, career, and industry research; articles; and Insider Guides). While these categories work well in providing a general idea of the type of information available, it would be helpful to better understand these categories if they included additional information. For example, what kind of information do the Company Profiles and City Profiles provide? Also, if the site is entitled Career Resource Site why label a category Career Research and not simply “Research”?
It has been agreed to by folks here at WetFeet that editorial text before the various categories would better clarify what is in each of them. Our Managing Editor will definitely be addressing this issue. However, summer is when our Editorial team is hard at work updating ALL of the career and industry Insider Guides (some 40 books), so this project won't be able to start until the fall.
Beyond the basic interface, better indexing in the individual sections of the site would greatly benefit users. For example, the Career Advice articles contain an Ask the Expert category. Each of these addresses something specific, such as “Engineer with MBA Seeks to Change Industries” and “What Kind of Salary Should I Ask For?” It would make it much easier to navigate this information if the content could be browsed by categories such as Job Hunting, Negotiating Salary, etc.
Articles are actually listed under multiple categories when it would be appropriate, with "ASk the Experts" being just one of them. ANd we will be dividing it out into even more categories to make it easier to sort and nagivate through.
Generally, the interface is intuitive; however, tab links to more detailed content moves from top to bottom and does not stand out well. It could be easily overlooked. Text is dense with no visual variation.
For this paragraph above, we unfortunately aren't sure what they are referring to.
Some long lists are not well organized – the lists are arranged alphabetically by the name of the article. For example, the list of articles under Interviewing is rather long, and is a single list that should be broken up by sub-topic. Users must scan the list to find the article they’re looking for.
We definitely agree. Articles will soon be subdivided more to make it easier to navigate.
What can the user get for free? Where does the user sign in? At first, the website appears to be a free access site that doesn’t require any payment or login. That is, until you click on the Guides and then you are prompted to login. The description of the Guides on the home page doesn’t mention a login. There should be a login option on the home page, or at least some text explaining that some of the content requires a special login. Otherwise, it feels misleading.
We apologize for any confusion here. There is a difference between the way the demo site works for authentication, and the way a subscription would. If a Califa member were to subscribe, that institutions security would be set up as either referring url, or with IP authenciation. So if you were coming from an authorized link, you would be able to download guides for free without having to enter a username or password. In order to allow Califa members to use the demo site, we set the security to ask for username/password at the point where you would download the sample guides. So every part of the site would be free to the subscribing institution's patrons/students.
The resource site is easy to navigate and the articles are easy to read and helpful.
2. Quality of information and sources provided:
Consider its functionality, the appropriateness of format, the content of the information, and the adequacy of coverage.
SCORES: 4, 2, 3, 2, Average: 2.75
The material was seen as thorough and useful, yet the lack of indexing was mentioned again as it was seen as difficult to get to the most useful information:
The information provided was well organized and very thorough. While the information was not searchable, links were used to direct users to the appropriate information quickly. Moreover, while the Guides were not searchable, a table of contents and a listing of additional resources was provided. The quality of information was very high and considerate of all career levels within an industry.
Other than the Insider Guides, the quality of content was not impressive. Much of the information is readily available on the web, such as the basic company contact and financial information (dated 2003) found in Company Profiles. Job contact information consists of links to company websites (and a couple of these were broken or directed to pages on the company site that no longer existed, including Monsanto and Pfizer).
Actually, the information available in Company Profiles is not available elsewhere. This data is put together by our writers in the course of their research for The WetFeet Insider Guide series and other content found on our sites. With regard to the financial information, some of which is from 2003, as you may know, it is often very difficult to get current financial data. So right now, many companies have not yet disclosed data for 2005. So the most recent would be 2004. As I believe I've pointed out elsewhere, our Editorial team is hard at work updating ALL of the career and industry Insider Guides (some 40 books). The update of the financial data actually begins in the fall.
The Career Profiles were brief overviews of various careers – like much of the information on this site, “last updated” dates and source information is not provided. Consequently, it is impossible to gauge the currency of information on salaries. The Real People Profiles were dated, but most were “posted” during 2000-2001. How useful it is for job seekers to read about the typical day and job functions of an Art Director in the Internet & New Media Industry from 2001?
We update the career and industry research each year. We have, however, opted for keeping the Real People Profiles from the last 5 or 6 years on the site. Feedback we've gotten from people has overall been that this data has been helpful to them. But all feedback like this is taken seriously and reviewed thoroughly. So this will be reviewed during the coming year.
Compared to the other sections of the site, the Insider Guides overflowed with information – yet again, it would be nice if somehow this content were integrated with other parts of the site. Also, overall content would benefit from more balance. Company Insider Guides features lists of top consulting and financial services firms, and a dozen profiles of specific companies. The Industry Guides focus mostly on the corporate world and don’t provide information on specific types of civil service jobs. Public sector information is lumped in a single guide, “Careers in Nonprofits and Government Agencies.”
Though it would be nice to have Insider Guides on every single company out there, the only specific company guides we have written are on financial services and on consulting companies, since there is a huge market for them. That is, for better or worse, the way the market is. The new guides that we add each year are generally industry guides rather than company focused, and this is where all expansion of guides will be. New guides are added every year.
At first blush, the information read in a handful of articles sound practical and useful. The career profiles are intuitive, although all of this information and more can be found on the OOH (Occupational Outlook Handbook).
A major issue is that the information that this website seeks to provide is already widely available through a number of resources and books. This website does not offer any new information, nor does it deliver the information in a new, exciting way.
We have to disagree, having looked at the Occupational Outlook Handbook which has pretty general information on industries, which is quite unlike the primary research of The WetFeet Guides and additional content. Once again, the WetFeet Research is not actually available elsewhere.
Many of the author bios of the articles and content do not imbue any confidence of their expertise. Many are described as either a former editor or editor of WetFeet. There should be a description telling me the authors’ relevant credentials to show that they know what they’re talking about. To its defense, many authors do appear to have good credentials. Many of the articles do not provide an author bio at all. Librarians have to verify the credibility of any resource before recommending it to a patron.
The writers and editors that we use at WetFeet are generally hired on the basis of their writing and editorial expertise, not on their knowledget of a particular field. For this we interview people at all levels within the industry to get you a real "Insider's Guide".
Information seems geared for college-bound or college students. There are limited selections in both industry clusters and job titles. When available, the information appears sound and current. Citation for methodology in both outlook and compensation would be appropriate. The Career Advice Articles are too general and poorly indexed.
One very useful area is the career advice articles that discusses current job searching and interviewing trends like email resumes and whether to send email thank-you letter or thank-you letters through snail mail. The Insider Guides are relevant and detailed. A review of some of the more general Insider Guides like "Ace Your Interview" and "Job Hunting A to Z: Land the Job" offer specific pieces of information that will lead one through the intricacies of job searching and interviewing. The site also offers insights to areas like office culture, networking, internships and mentoring, all-important areas of career building in today's workplace.
3. Help and User Support:
If documentation is required for successful use of product, is it available, comprehensive, and well written? Is online help adequate and user friendly? Does vendor supply training if it is needed? Is a telephone helpline available?
SCORES: 2, 1, NA, 1 Average: 1.33
The majority of comments focused on the fact that there was a help page with instructions for downloading the Industry Insider Guides but very little other help information, and no “contact us” information. Sample comments follow:
Although download instructions were provided for the Industry Insider Guides, there was no direct link for help or support. In addition, no information was provided as to how to obtain support services.
WetFeet career resource site support service is available M-F from 8am until 5:30pm. Just call 415.293.7330. This is made quiteclear in the support materials sent to subscribing libraries.
Every good website should have a Contact Us link or button on the homepage. There is a link to the WetFeet main home page (which, by the way, is more attractive and intuitive to use), and then you need to scroll to the very bottom to see the small text link to Contact Us.
When clicking on the download instructions, there is a single page that was very long and full of text. The web page for download instructions could use more white space, in addition to having it broken down into several pages, or have an index with hotlinks that take you to the answer.
A major technical issue I came across, and have yet to resolve (even with help from our tech people) is activating the DRM on Adobe Acrobat 7.0. Thus, I am not able to read the guides. When I attempted to activate it, the activation failed. I tried three times, restarted my computer in between, and still nothing. The links on the support pages do not mention Adobe Acrobat 7.0.
It seems we are almost constantly updating the downloading instructions! We are definitely up for updating this! Whenever a new version of Adobe Reader comes out it seems to be completely different (the book is filed under "My Bookshelf" or "My Digital Editions"... all kinds of changes!) The truth is that there are virtually no technical problems with the WetFeet sites at all, and all of our tech calls wind up having to troubleshoot for Adobe Reader. So if you were to have trouble with Adobe Reader's DRM, we could certainly talk you through it. But like it or not, Adobe Reader is still the industry standard for reading ebooks. We are currently looking at other options for viewing the ebooks, but don't foresee switching to anything else for at least another year.
4. Accessibility of Service:
Is access/connection to product reliable and stable? Is response time adequate?
Scores: 3,4,3,3 Average: 3.25
As with most internet services, the response time was adequate, though the larger files took some time to download. There were no other accessibility problems. Sample comments to follow:
Accessibility is quick and reliable. For the most part it is stable, although at times there was difficulty in downloading the Industry Insider Guides. In addition, depending on the Internet connection, download times varied.
Response time was adequate – there were no problems loading pages and the Insider Guide PDF.
Generally speaking, having access online via the Internet is the best and most accessible means of delivering digital information. While e-books have yet to be accepted here as mainstream, the option to download e-books is a nice convenience. There is a lot of information available on the website without needing a login.
5. Cost:
if cost is available, does it seem reasonable in terms of comparable products?
Score: Average: 1
Note: not all participants had pricing information at the time of the review.
The link under review is a partial and inferior component of a readily available, free access (following free registration) site by the same name (www.wetfeet.com). The free parent site includes all of the components of the review site plus job listings and better indexing.
On the general wetfeet.com site, the WetFeet Insider Guides are not available for free, and they never have been. Current price to download all 60 guides from wetfeet.com: over $1500. Current price to download all guides for all patrons of subscribing institutions: Free. This is, of course, a huge difference. And though there is currently some data available that overlaps with what is on the general site (wetfeet.com), registration will no longer be free by the end of the summer. So for being a "partial and inferior component," they actually have it completely wrong. Wetfeet.com only has a small amount of what is currently available to subscribers. This is even before the changes in how to register on wetfeet.com go into effect.
6. Overall Assessment:
SCORES: 1, 2, 2.5, NA Average: 1.83
As the sample comments below testify, this product was seen as useful and comprehensive, yet much of the material is available at no cost elsewhere:
The WetFeet Library resources are wonderful tools for those seeking career guidance and information. The industry profiles and guides are very detailed and full of wonderful and valuable insider information that can assist in career planning and interview preparation.
This product is not recommended, as trialed. The database lacks indexing beyond a basic organization of information, and provides no search capabilities. The Insider Guides may be helpful for providing an introduction to a particular industry and its key players, but it is difficult to give a yes or no without knowing how much these will cost, and how often they will be updated (they appear to be PDF of print books, and not web documents). Other factors in my decision include a lack of cited sources, no search capability, and no available help beyond the download instructions.
All career and industry Insider Guides are updated EVERY year. The new books are coming out right now, with the last ones coming out by the end of summer. Others such as resume writing and interviewing are updated on an as needed basis (every few years).
It would seem that libraries could best use this product as a bookmark in career center of library web site with a brief explanation/instruction for interested patrons to register.
The information presented on the WetFeet Library Career Resource Site is useful, practical, and fairly comprehensive in scope (except in regards to specialties within a given career). The overall look and feel of the website could use improvement, as a touch of flair and some bells and whistles would go a long way. The site was relatively easy to navigate, although there were some long lists. The text was easy to read and the articles were clear and offered useful information
