How Relevant Are Job Boards in 2014?

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Jobs Board banner on a cork notice board with blank white note card Human Resources software developer PeopleMatter has developed a webinar called “Naughty or Nice? Top 10 Workforce Trends and Whether They’ll Be Good or Bad for Your Brand in 2014.” Among other topics it discusses whether job boards will be relevant in 2014.

In an article about the webinar, the Society for Human Resources Management reported, “The question is not whether job boards are still relevant, but are they relevant for their users?” said Ryan Glushkoff, director of product marketing at PeopleMatter.

The article added this information, “There are niche boards and boards that aggregate jobs (think Indeed, Monster and CareerBuilder). Indeed sees 30 percent of all job-search traffic, according to recent data from comscore.com.”

“Social media is [also] getting an increasing share of recruiting dollars because platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are able to make connections in a candidate’s natural habitat,” said Glushkoff. Plus, since these networks know you, the connections made between employee and candidate have high relevance.”

This is considered a “naughty trend for 2014″ by PeopleMatter because “as an employer, you might be wondering how you can surf this wave of change in the job industry—and the answer is not much.”

Glushkoff advised companies to use “unique URLs for each job posting and measure the performance of each URL on each job board. You should be measuring which job boards are generating you the best return—some will be better than others, and those are the ones you need to focus on.”

In a separate interview, Jobvite Chief Marketing Officer Kimberley Kasper said job boards would continue to be a declining trend in 2014. “Social recruiting and the referral method is the only way recruiters can hire better people faster who will stay longer and, ultimately, be better cultural fits,” the article said.

She added: “There’s also something to be said about the candidate experience. All too many job seekers feel like their resume is sent to a black hole when they apply through a job board … and that’s because it is. Hundreds of applications are submitted for a single job opening, and recruiters simply don’t have the time of day to sift through them and respond individually. It’s not a good use of the recruiter’s time, and, ultimately, it’s a waste of the candidate’s time, too. Job boards have their role, but they are a hiring solution of the past.”

The Boston Globe highlighted the story of one young job seeker who had used job boards and company websites but still wasn’t having success in finding employment. So Gregg Chiarello reached out to an old college friend, the article said, who suggested he apply for a job at the Cambridge biotechnology company where the friend worked. The personal connection helped Chiarello get his first “real job” last November.

The Globe article offered this advice instead of using job boards.

  1. Get help from your alma mater – including alumni groups on LinkedIn
  2. Use LinkedIn effectively – take advantage of its free classes
  3. Make the move – relocation might be your best shot at a career
  4. Freelance – could lead to either full-time work or a full-time career
  5. Try temping – gives you income while job hunting and investigating prospective employers
  6. Volunteer – not in your job search area but just in general because it will make you feel better
  7. Build your Web presence – will help prospective employers know more about you but keep it professional
  8. Join professional organizations and attend networking events – to supplement your online efforts on LinkedIn
  9. Conduct informational interviews – key here is to keep any interviews to 15 minutes max
  10. Pump up your resume – make sure it effectively conveys your message
  11. Customize your cover letters – outline the job requirements and how you meet them
  12. Prepare for interviews – go in knowing what you can about the company
  13. Live and learn – shoot for challenging companies where you can learn
  14. Stay positive and be patient – the basic Rome wasn’t built in a day advice to persevere in the face of rejection

By Keith Griffin