There are literally thousands of job boards around the world, covering every profession, niche, and location. With so many to choose from, how do you decide?
Allow me to help. As a bit of background, I’ve been both a producer and consumer of job board services since 1997. I now work as a consultant for job boards, helping them serve their customers more effectively. I look at hundreds of sites each year – and I have some suggestions on how to pick the one that’s right for you.
1) Who are you trying to hire?
This is the first question you should answer. Are you hiring for a wide variety of jobs at the same time? Lower-skilled, entry level positions or highly skilled positions? Whatever the answer, be as specific as possible in describing your target candidate. Do they have to live in a specific location? Should they have certain certifications or degrees? Is previous experience important? Your answers will guide you as you evaluate different job boards.
2) Match the candidate to the site
The ideal job board should have a deep pool of job seekers, with a variety of experience and work history, in your chosen field and in your specific region. So it would be suitable to choose a job board site that is based in your country and that has a large percentage of users in your target job sector.
3) Ask questions
Just because a job board claims to be the ‘perfect site’ doesn’t mean that they are! Ask for site demographics and traffic information, maybe do a few searches in their CV database. Sometimes it’s even worthwhile to ask your own employees where they go to find jobs.
4) Be a smart consumer
The default product most job boards sell is job postings. That may be just what you need but it is always advisable to ask what else is on offer, so that you get more for your money. Perhaps you’re better off with a targeted email, or a sponsored job alert. Maybe they offer online or external career fairs. You won’t know until you ask!
The bottom line? If you follow these 4 steps, you greatly increase your odds of finding the exact candidate you need – and you will probably save money in the process. One final piece of advice – job boards aren’t the only recruiting tool you should use. Make sure to use employee referrals, promote the job on your career site, and spread the word among colleagues. In combination with your presence on the right job board, you’ll find your perfect candidate.
About the author:
Jeff Dickey-Chasins is the JobBoardDoctor, a veteran of the job board, publishing, and e-learning industries. He provides consulting services for job boards and online recruiting companies. Jeff was the original marketing director for Dice.com, growing it from $7 million to $65+ million in three years. He has worked with 450+ job boards and HR-related sites and startups over the past 20 years, in almost every sector, including finance, technology, education, health care, sales and marketing, energy, and specific geographic regions. He has published research, e-books, and blog posts on almost every aspect of the industry.
Author: Dorota Beaurin
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