From tag lines to free ads: how job boards respond to the COVID 19 pandemic

As we enter week four/seven/twelve/?? of the COVID 19 pandemic, you may be wondering how the job board industry is responding to this dramatically altered recruitment environment. A few have garnered lots of press (think ZipRecruiter’s 40% cut in staffing), but most of the news has flown under the radar…until now! Let’s see what our peers are doing – or whatever:

• Changing a tag line: In perhaps the most shocking industry development, CareerBuilder has changed their tag line. The new one is ‘We’re Building for You’ – and no, this is not a pivot to the construction industry. As they say, “The company’s new tagline serves as a brand promise to job seekers and employers that the solutions provided by CareerBuilder have been developed with their goals and success in mind.” Bold. Decisive. Just what I expect from CareerBuilder.
• LinkedIn opens up recruiting tools: For the next three months, LinkedIn says it will provide free job postings for “essential” businesses globally — companies in healthcare, as well as warehousing, supermarket, freight delivery and nonprofits working in support or relief roles — in other words, those providing critical front-line services to keep the economy and society in motion. The company is also creating an “urgent jobs” board to give these openings more priority visibility. Well, this is not as bold as CareerBuilder – but perhaps more useful.
• InfoJobs Brazil offers free ATS: InfoJobs Brazil, a jobs site owned by RedArbor and Adevinta, is offering its applicant tracking system (ATS) to recruiters for free, the company said. According to a company’s LinkedIn post, recruiters can try the PandaPé ATS product for a three-month period. The site also recently allowed recruiters to post listings for health care, home office and delivery free of charge. Smart move.
• TotalJobs offers free video interviewing:  The UK job board Totaljobs is offering clients access to video interviewing software for free. Using the tool, recruiters and hiring managers can set up a video interview across any device in minutes. The virus may be the best thing that ever happened to video interviewing.
• Jobcase adds virtual hiring events: Jobcase has launched new virtual hiring events that provide job seekers as well as hiring managers with a simple method to facilitate the hiring process. This new channel allows employers to interact directly with candidates from any industry, avoiding the need for in-person hiring which has become impossible due to the pandemic. The events also offer public and private chat tools for recruiters to speak with candidates. We’ll see much more of this.
• New talent exchange for laid-off hospitality workers: Eightfold.ai and the Food Industry Association have launched the Eightfold Talent Exchange, a nationwide marketplace connecting HR and business leaders to immediately employ associates whose jobs are impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The platform will act as a bridge between organizations that need to quickly hire and their counterparts with employees who have been furloughed or laid off, allowing business leaders to collaborate across corporate and industry boundaries to fulfill the tremendous swings in labor needs. We’ll need more of these.
• Paradox launches virtual hiring events: Paradox, a conversational AI platform, has also launched Virtual Hiring Events. The product enables employers to create a virtual event, and engage with people directly in a simple, chat-based environment. Events can be offered on-demand or scheduled for a specific day and time, and there are no limits on the number of recruiters (or company users) who can participate in an event — ensuring the event is always staffed with enough people to create a positive candidate experience. Smart.

So that gives you a taste of what folks are doing with regard to the COVID 19 pandemic. What are you doing? Let me know! (But please – skip the tag line announcements.).

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