Microsoft's recently acquired stake in Careerbuilder has brought renewed interest to online job sites, like Monster.com, which some now see as a takeover candidate. But despite the initial promise that online job boards would make the process of hiring and finding a job much more efficient, many have felt that they've never really lived up to the hype. The flood of useless resumes that companies receive often means that posting a job to a major site is more trouble than it's worth. The industry is now starting to iron out its kinks, but in a way that's not to the benefit of the major sites, like Careerbuilder and Monster.com. While their traffic sags, business is booming at niche sites (via alarm:clock), like GovernmentJobs.com, which only lists public sector jobs. The benefits to to employee and employer are clear, as these sites allow for a more targeted search. So while companies like Microsoft (and maybe Google) look to get into this space, this trend emphasizes the fact that they should build platforms for third parties to do job search, rather than simply trying to buy the market leaders.