AIG : Sending jobseekers round in circles

A basic flaw in the system lets down jobseekers who are commendably pointed to opportunities in their local or chosen region.

The Site

AIG, American International Group, is a leading US-based insurer with representation in 130 countries worldwide. The Careers option on its main website leads to an interactive map from which jobseekers can select one of 12 regions.

Choosing UK/Ireland or Africa takes users to the site of AIG subsidiary AIU (American International Underwriters). Its recruitment section, in About AIU, has a short message directing all enquiries to the Careers website at AIG. The link provided opens the AIG interactive region chooser in a new window. The same happens with the AIU option on the careers welcome pages for Middle East and Southeast Asia.

The Takeaway

AIG has the right idea for an international group, pointing jobseekers to opportunities in their local or chosen region. It even provides an additional ‘Explore US AIG Job Listings’ link for Americans who will instinctively think of the .com site as the US site. But its AIU subsidiary has exposed a basic flaw in such a set-up.

With no online careers or recruitment provision of its own, AIU directs people wanting to do more than submit a resumé ‘blind’ by e-mail to the main group site, which has no central careers information. AIU compounds this by making it more likely that people will want more information. Its own About AIU section amounts to a two-paragraph introduction and short descriptions of what its divisions do.

At the very least AIG needs to break the loop that currently has a large proportion of jobseekers locked into a fruitless quest. It should then look to persuade or instruct AIU to make it crystal clear that all enquiries must go through the e-mail addresses provided – and give more home-grown information to encourage anyone that there is much point in bothering.

First published on 14 April, 2005