Job boards are the email of the recruiting world
New is always better than old. Don’t believe me? Take an inventory of articles published in the last 12 months that focus on something new that will ‘revolutionize’ recruiting and leave all existing technologies/methods/disciplines in shambles. (This of course also applies to pretty much any industry you can think of, be it software, banking, or bagels). The articles always focus on the ‘new’. Not the old. 9 out of 10 dentists can’t be wrong – right?
Thus the title: job boards are the email of the recruiting world. Here’s why:
- Email is old. So are job boards; they’ve been around since the (gasp!) 1990s. See above comment on the value of new vs. old
- No matter how hard vendors try, email just won’t die. Ditto for job boards – they continue to be one of the top 2 sources of external hires for companies.
- Almost everyone uses email. Same with job boards; almost every employer uses them as part of their recruiting ‘toolbox’.
- Email gets no respect. Need I point out the same for job boards?
- Email remains incredibly effective for communication and marketing. Job boards remain incredibly effective for reaching and landing candidates.
- Email has evolved. So have job boards.
- Email isn’t going away – it fills critical business needs (communication, documentation, marketing) efficiently and cost-effectively. Job boards aren’t going away – they continue to provide a cost-effective way of branding employers, sourcing candidates, and filling open positions.
So remember that job boards are the email of the recruiting world. And new is always better than old. Except, I guess, when it isn’t.
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I agree with the sentiment, Jeff. At the same time email’s importance and usage is changing. 5 years ago it was the main method of communication, now it is usurped by the instant messaging services like Viper, Skype, , Fb messenger, WhatsApp…. Email has become the equivalent of the letter. A lot of what we used to write in emails has moved and emails have moved onto other platforms, like LinkedIn. It is the same with job boards. They are still here but they are not as predominant anymore and are being challenged by faster, more direct and mobile driven plays.
Job boards must evolve to survive, those job boards which simply collect CVs of active candidates are no longer enough for internal recruiters. Job boards need to be creative in attracting candidate pools of passive candidates and invest in faster mobile apps to parse and match candidates and employers to each other.