What is the value of job seeker registration?

Is job seeker registration good or bad? And if you require registration, how much is too much? And…how much value should you attach to these registered users?

Personally, I think a little friction is a good thing (as does Seth Godin, apparently).  If a job seeker wants to land a job, why shouldn’t he (or she) give up something? After all, your site is delivering something of value, correct?

“But you lose job seekers every time you require registration,” I know some of you are saying. Yes. Absolutely. However, ask yourself – did you want those job seekers anyway? You want seekers who are willing to put a little skin in the game to get what they want – a job.

Nevertheless…you should not go overboard. I’m a big fan of progressive registration – start out asking for a name, email, and password. Then ask for a bit more information each time the job seeker reengages. This requires a ‘smart’ job board – one that realizes which data has already been collected, and which is yet to be collected. A bit of a technical challenge, but certainly doable – any lead-nurturing system worth its salt employs this feature.

Avoid a one-sided relationship – if the job seeker is giving up information, you should be providing services in return. Job alerts, research, free trials of career services – you have lots of options. Don’t just take – give.

Let’s return to the topic of this post, though – what exactly is the value of these registered job seekers?

Depending on your job board revenue model, you can:

• Market products and services to your registrants
• Send targeted emails from employers to these seekers
• ‘Upgrade’ these seekers to other job board services, such as job alerts
• Survey your registrants to provide data for employers, PR, and internal analysis
• Test new products

So, yes – it’s worthwhile to register your job seekers, and these registrants have real value for your job board. If you’re not doing this already, get started. And if you are, make sure that you give more than you get, and that you leverage the registrant audience you have.

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