Job Board Doctor Blog

It’s always about the job candidate. Really.

the job candidateThe most common mistake I see job board startups make is completely understandable. They spend all of their time and effort thinking about the employer. Why? Because that’s (usually) where the money is.

They’re wrong.

If you don’t have the job candidate, you don’t have a job board. It’s as simple as that.

Maybe this seems obvious to you. But to many people entering the online recruiting business, it isn’t. They are concerned about revenue. Cash flow. Growth. Those are all very important things – but if you don’t focus on candidates, you won’t have to worry about revenue – because you won’t have any.

Think about it. Whether you are a traditional job board, an aggregator, or a new-fangled revolutionary recruiting site, you are still relying on candidates – for traffic, for clicks, for applies, for hires.  Candidate action (or lack thereof) drives everything that matters. If you don’t have candidates, you’re going to have a very hard time luring employers into using your services. If you don’t have candidates, you won’t be selling any pay per click, job postings, matching, resume search, or whatever else you have on your menu.

So if candidates are so fundamental to the success of any online recruiting site, what can you do to ensure that you attract and retain them?

Simple. Provide something valuable. No bait and switch, no annoying interstitials or ‘fake’ jobs, no bouncing from one site to another – sure, these techniques can work in the short run, but in the long run they simple alienate candidates. What happens if you alienate your candidates? Yep. They leave….and (ahem) you don’t have a business anymore.

Provide value in the form of job postings, sophisticated but easy to use search and/or matching tools, relevant and useful content, community, and other services. If you do this, your candidates will use your site, and – not surprisingly – employers will pay to connect with your candidates.

So go ahead – print out this post. Cut out the headline. Tape it to your monitor, tablet, or phone. Remember the job candidate. You’ll be glad you did.

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This Post Has 5 Comments

  1. You are spot on Job Board Doc! The one add on i have from our many experiences is simply this, having thousands and thousands of Job Seeker profiles is one key, the other they must stay active and become validated for the role you seek or you really “Risk your Brand” as well as the Client/Customer. So value to some is quantity, others quality……how do we help connect the right dots.

  3. […] The simplest and most straightforward way to make your job board valuable to candidates is to provide relevant job postings and useful content to aid them in their job search. Other tools and resources to help candidates and draw them to your job site include a user-friendly but sophisticated search tool to help match them with relevant jobs and desirable employers. Some job boards also provide a community forum or blog for job seekers to commiserate and aid one another in their search. The bottom line — you can’t run a successful job board without candidates. If you want your job site to succeed, follow the example of the best job boards out there by making candidates a high priority. The more candidates you can draw in and retain, the better able you’ll be to help your employers fill their positions with qualified workers. And the happier your employers are, the more likely you’ll be to bring in revenue and experience real growth.Sources:http://www.jobboarddoctor.com/2014/06/24/its-always-about-the-candidate-really/ […]

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