Blog Feed: Job board blog | Job Board Doctor

One of my goals at Job Board Doctor is to provide resources for job boards. My first attempt was the listing of job board software (which has been updated many times!). I also hope that my blog posts serve this function – at least some of t

What’s happening in the online recruiting world

Published on 2013-05-07 07:30:11

I got caught up in surveys and what not (What? You haven’t seen the 2013 Job Board Trends survey?) and fell a bit behind on the news. So here is the latest and greatest in the far-flung world of online recruiting: LinkedIn acquires mobile news

What the 2013 Job Board Trends Surveys tell us

Published on 2013-04-30 07:30:46

The results are in from the latest Job Board Trends and Online Recruiting surveys – and they’re interesting. This year 319 job boards, 79 HR and recruiting professionals, and 108 job seekers participated – that’s a lot of re

Upcoming excitement with the Job Board Doctor

Published on 2013-04-24 07:30:54

I wanted to let you know about some exciting things happening here in Job Board Doctor World: Next week I will begin releasing the results of this year’s Job Board Industry Trends survey. There was great response – over 300 job board resp

Godzilla vs. Mothra: competitive innovation from LinkedIn and CareerBuilder?

Published on 2013-04-16 07:30:04

It seems that Monster is continuing its long, slow fade as the ‘big dog’ in the job board world (funny how long-term lack of leadership can do that to you). But there are plenty of services vying for the leadership role: Indeed, CareerBui

Simplicity versus complexity – why the former is always better

Published on 2013-04-09 07:30:52

Have you tried applying for a job lately? If the employer is of any size, you will probably be directed into an applicant tracking system (ATS), where you will fill out many pages of questions. It can be a time-consuming process – and this is

Buy or build: what are you gonna do with your job board?

Published on 2013-04-02 07:30:47

One of the most common questions I get from startups is whether they should ‘buy or build’ the software for their job board. It’s a question that wasn’t that common 10 years ago – simply because the options for job board

The latest and great news in the job board and online recruiting world: Monster, TheLadders, Gild, and more

Published on 2013-03-19 07:30:41

Things have been happening in our neck of the industry, and it’s about time I ran them down. And yes, theoretically it’s almost spring, although you’d never know it from the snowfall we had today! So with further ado, the news that

Is it time for job boards to get a new name (and is this a dumb question)?

Published on 2013-03-12 07:30:16

Last May I wrote a post about the concept of a ‘job board’, in which I asked the eternal questions, “Is LinkedIn a job board?” and “Is Indeed a job board?” It was one of the more popular posts of the year, with 1

The biggest (little-known) benefit of job boards for any employer

Published on 2013-03-05 07:30:08

Job boards have become prisoners of their moniker. After all, a ‘job board’ is just an online bulletin board for ‘posting’ your electronic ‘job ad’, right? Wrong. Job boards (and yes, I think I’m going to wr

Thinking about social stuff and job search

Published on 2013-02-26 07:30:17

So perhaps you saw that LinkedIn has updated/upgraded its job search functionality? They sent me an email inviting me to give it a whirl, so I did – and it got me to thinking about social stuff and job search. First, LinkedIn: the job search is

It’s not too late – take a few minutes for the 2013 Job Board Industry Trends Survey

Published on 2013-02-19 07:30:03

The 2013 Job Board Industry Trends is still open – have you participated yet? You can easily finish the survey in 7 minutes or less. I’ve also created specific versions of the questions for European and UK boards, as well as the rest of

What’s interesting, new, and cool: recruitment sites and services for you and me

Published on 2013-02-12 07:30:44

It’s been a while since I looked at the newest crop of recruitment and job board sites, so I thought that we could take a trip down StartUpLane and see what we discover: TalentSprocket: It bills itself as ‘the first machine learning syst

Take the 2013 Job Board Industry Trends survey!

Published on 2013-02-05 07:30:11

A lot has happened since the 2012 Job Board survey - Indeed, JobFox, and JobCircle were sold, Facebook (sorta) launched their own job offering, and Monster didn’t sell itself. So it’s time to take the temperature of the industry again &#

Brand-new News from the Job Board World – LinkedIn, Social Resume, and more

Published on 2013-01-29 07:30:38

Hey, it’s a new year, which means – well, I don’t know! But some stuff did happen in the past 30-40 days, so let’s take a look at how the industry is faring: Quora and LinkedIn integrate: In a StackOverflow-like move, LinkedIn

How to grow: many paths to job board nirvana

Published on 2013-01-22 07:30:42

Growing any business is an inevitable – and continual – challenge. Somewhere along the line, after the start-up obstacles but before world domination, you are faced with a very simple problem: how can you make this thing bigger, faster, a

What is mobile-friendly – and why should you care?

Published on 2013-01-15 07:30:28

What if you had a service – say, a job board/candidate acquisition/employer service – and no one knew about it? How long do you think you’d stay in business? Countless job boards (and other web-based businesses) disappeared during t

The eternal truths of online recruiting – and what they mean for job boards

Published on 2013-01-08 07:30:46

Maybe it come from having been in the industry for a while, but some things just keep recurring: Bill Warren, John Sumser, Joel Cheesman, and job matching sites, to name a few. Seriously, though – although much has changed since the mid 90s, so

10 mind-blowing, earth-shattering things that happened in online recruiting in 2012

Published on 2012-12-18 07:30:05

Hey, it’s the end of the year (almost) and time to take a look at what happened in 2012. Did anything? Well, actually, yes – quite a bit. Apart from an election, a (slowly) recovering economy, and a snazzy new James Bond film, it did seem

Facebook’s aggregator, Monster layoffs, and other job board industry news

Published on 2012-12-11 07:30:27

A brief history of job boards (infographic)

Published on 2012-12-04 08:00:33

This isn’t complete by any means, but thanks to John Sumser, Eric Shannon, Wikipedia, Chris Russell, and others, it covers the basics (I hope!). Amazing how far we’ve come in 22 years!

Building revenue through subscriptions: advice for job boards

Published on 2012-11-27 08:00:14

Pop quiz: which of the following will increase profitability the most? A) Individual job postings and/or resume access B) Annual or semi-annual job posting/resume access subscriptions I’m betting that most of you answered (B). So why do the vas

Facebook gives us a half-baked job board turkey…and it’s not even Thanksgiving yet

Published on 2012-11-20 07:20:37

Facebook launched its long-rumored job board offering last week. It was a bit rocky: “ It’s buggy and kind of janky looking.” – FB user Mike Chapman (and thank you, Mike, for introducing me to a new, useful word!) “The entir

Job board evolution is happening before our eyes

Published on 2012-11-13 08:00:43

For years I’ve been writing about what I see as the evolution of job boards – away from the traditional ‘job postings and resume’ model, and toward something more social, interactive, flexible, and useful to both candidates an

It’s that time, so vote!

Published on 2012-11-06 07:45:37

The Job Board Doctor blog was just an idea in my mind during the last Presidential election – but this time around it’s going strong, so I’ll keep the message nice and simple: Please vote. If you’ve already voted, thank you. I

The news that is for the online recruiting and job board world

Published on 2012-10-30 08:00:15

‘Frankenstorm’ is washing ashore, an election is in the offing – yet things keep happening in our industry, too. That’s good, I guess – I wouldn’t want anyone (especially myself) getting bored. So here is my round up of what’s happened over the past month and a half: iCIMS Acquires Jobmagic: The SaaS talent acquisition software provider [...]

Is LinkedIn the future of job boards? Maybe…or maybe not

Published on 2012-10-23 08:00:49

The folks at LinkedIn have been busy lately, rolling out new features, connecting with their users at the LI conference, and busily expanding their empire in all directions. Some pundits are proclaiming that LinkedIn is really the next step in recruiting – aka, job boards 2.0 (or more). Well? Is LinkedIn the future of job [...]

What went down: HR Tech, Indeed, JobFox, and more

Published on 2012-10-16 08:00:55

It’s been a busy couple of weeks – first we discovered that Recruit bought Indeed, then Doostang bought JobFox, and then many of the heavyweights in the online recruiting world rolled into Chicago for HR Tech. Geez! What’s next? Rather than trying to construct a well-reasoned and thought-out post, I’ve decided instead to get down [...]

What’s ahead: why I’m attending HR Tech next week

Published on 2012-10-02 08:00:37

Being a full time consultant is wonderful – I have the opportunity to work with hundreds of interesting clients, tackle unusual and cutting edge projects, and yes, get paid for it. But there is a drawback – although I’m in contact with dozens of people every week via phone, email, Skype, and Twitter, I don’t [...]

Coming soon: A Webinar on Mobile recruiting and Job Boards – what you should know

Published on 2012-10-01 10:39:59

Hey everyone – I will be hosting a webinar on October 10th at 2 pm EDT / 1 pm CDT. Click here to register.This event, which comes courtesy of RealMatch, examines the current state of mobile recruiting and its implications for job boards. Some of the key topics include: Why does mobile matter for job [...]

How to NOT make money with a job board

Published on 2012-09-25 08:00:43

It’s been a while since I took a look at how you can screw up your job board, so I thought it was time to revisit the subject. After all, if you’re going to spend time on your site, why not make money instead of losing it? Most job boards generate revenue from employers (yes, [...]

Why don’t employment sites have these features? Curious minds want to know

Published on 2012-09-18 08:00:13

As noted in previous posts, I’ve been thinking lately about what makes a job board good – or not. Below are a few questions to that effect – and yes, some employment sites have these features, but most do not. Maybe there absent features you’ve wondered about? Voice input for search: Hey, if you’re like [...]

The latest and greatest in the job board world

Published on 2012-09-11 08:00:07

The online recruiting sector continues to change and grow (and sorry, Nick, I don’t think it ‘sucks wind‘). Monster is still up for sale, start ups are sprouting like last spring’s vegetable garden, and I’m heading to HR Tech in a few weeks. So what better than a quick round up of the latest news? [...]

Chicago-bound – will I see you there?

Published on 2012-09-10 15:17:26

Hey folks – I will be at the HR Tech show in Chicago on Monday, October 8 (yes, as a lowly consultant, I can only afford to give up a day to this). Will I see you? Drop me a line if you’d like to grab a cup of coffee. I’m planning on attending a [...]

The perfect job board: some random thoughts

Published on 2012-09-05 08:00:10

Talk to job seekers about looking for jobs, and you get an earful. Talk to employers about finding candidates, and you get another earful. Both sides are looking for each other, and both sides have problems doing so. Problems are almost always expressed in the negative: “No one ever responded to my application.” “The candidates [...]

Why LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, and Careerbuilder want your customers – and what to do about it

Published on 2012-08-29 08:00:59

Running a niche job site is akin to operating a successful retail store – what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. You always have (and always will have) competitors who are bigger and better known than you. Some are competing on price, some on volume, and some on flashy advertising and relentless PR. Then [...]

A thousand flowers bloom: new job sites, everywhere you look

Published on 2012-08-21 08:00:03

It’s hard to believe that we are in the dog days of summer, at least judging from the number of new job sites I’m seeing. Granted, some of these have been around in alpha or beta for a while, some have been flying under the radar, and some are simply new to me – but [...]

Your job board is not only a web site – get used to it

Published on 2012-08-13 08:00:43

Back in the olden days, a person built a web site, did various things to attract visitors (ads, blimps, billboards, TV – you name it), and then monetized those visitors. The web was all about driving traffic to a web site. No category of sites were better at this activity than job boards. Remember those [...]

Rumors, innuendo, and (yes) job board news

Published on 2012-07-30 08:15:03

So much for the doldrums of summer. You’d think that record heat, drought, and the impending Olympics would result in a boring news slump for the job board world. You’d be wrong. Let’s see what’s heating up the tubes of the internet, shall we? LinkedIn fumbles: Social job board LinkedIn managed to expose at least [...]

Do I have to write about the Facebook job board? Well, yes, I do

Published on 2012-07-24 08:00:19

Given the name of my business, I guess it is my destiny to write about the news reports that Facebook may launch a job board. Why is Facebook considering such a move? Let’s lay out the pluses: Money. Everyone knows that job boards print money, right? Audience. Remember, everyone (including your mother and your unborn children) [...]

You bought what??? A guide to job board acquisitions and other curiosities

Published on 2012-07-03 08:00:10

On Friday Dice Holdings announced the purchase of FINS.com, the financial job board that powers WSJ.com and Marketwatch.com. The acquisition got me thinking: why do job boards buy other job boards? Why do they sometimes decide not to buy, but instead create their own? And what, if anything, does the Dice purchase mean for the job board [...]

What would happen if Monster vanished? A speculation

Published on 2012-06-26 08:00:42

These are exciting times for the online recruiting industry – acquisitions (Jobs2Web, Bullhorn), IPOs (LinkedIn), and flame-outs (BranchOut). The majority of job boards I talk with are experiencing very strong business (and revenues), despite a frustratingly slow recovery. But there’s been a fly in the ointment (well, more than one, but I’ll leave those for another time). [...]

Is LinkedIn a threat to job boards? If so, how?

Published on 2012-06-19 08:00:28

A few weeks back I posed the question “What is a job board?”. In the process of trying to answer that question, I mentioned LinkedIn as a prime example of something that looks like a job board, acts like a job board, but claims not to be a job board. The folks at LinkedIn aren’t [...]

Flameouts, IPOs, no acquisitions, and other job board industry news

Published on 2012-06-12 08:00:29

Another month flown by, another round of activity in the job board world, including a possible flameout by BranchOut, a lost Monster suitor, and the possibility of an aggregator IPO. Interested? Read on!: Evenbase launches JobsiteWhite: Evenbase, the newly named U.K. company which encompasses Jobsite.co.uk, Broadbean, and Jobrapido, announced a ‘white label’ version of its [...]

Good ideas: how job seekers would make job boards better

Published on 2012-06-05 08:00:15

I recently had the privilege of hosting #HFChat – the HireFriday Tweet-fest organized by @HRMargo and @CyndyTrivella. HireFriday is all about helping job seekers find work. Recruiters, HR professionals, and the occasional job board doctor pose and answer common questions about the job hunt. It’s a wonderful event for all involved. My subject – surprisingly [...]

What is a job board? And, is this question even worth answering?

Published on 2012-05-30 07:30:08

Almost every week I see another blog post or story about a trend, product, or development that will doom job boards. Let’s be honest – writing about the death of any institution, especially one used by millions of people worldwide, is a great way to gather eyeballs and readers. But as I was considering my [...]

You have dozens of job board questions – I have (a few) answers

Published on 2012-05-22 08:00:52

A few weeks back I was lucky enough to host a webinar (sponsored by RealMatch). I talked about the various and sundry challenges facing job boards in the coming years. Judging from the number of attendees AND the number of questions, it was a smashing success – so thank you! I had a limited amount [...]

Spidering jobs – a necessity, luxury, or neither?

Published on 2012-05-15 08:00:43

Getting jobs from an employer and onto a job board has been a challenge from the earliest days of the industry. Initially, the only way to do so was manually – the employer filled out a web form and submitted the job ad to the job board. Needless to say, this method (which, of course, [...]

Buying and selling – job board news that fits

Published on 2012-05-08 08:00:27

You can’t say it’s been dull this past month. As the mercury has risen, so has the buying fever in our industry. Revenues seem to be rising as well, which will create even more acquisitions, I suspect. So, without further ado, here’s what happened: LinkedIn adds new tools for more engagement and (natch) revenue: LinkedIn [...]

BranchOut, the job board – social network mashup for Facebook – my take

Published on 2012-04-24 08:00:52

BranchOut was one of the earliest ‘job hunting’ apps available on Facebook, and it has parlayed its early mover advantage into significant signups (25 million users and counting) and investments from venture capitalists (they picked up another $25 million last week – yow!). It has portrayed itself as ‘LinkedIn for the Facebook crowd’ – a [...]

What about candidate quality? The latest HR/Recruiting survey results

Published on 2012-04-19 08:10:32

In a recent presentation with Dr. Charles Handler, I discovered that although both he and I focused on the ‘quality of candidates’ – as does anyone involved in recruiting – we weren’t able to find much data on exactly which recruiting techniques delivered the best quality candidates, according to HR and recruiting professionals. As I was [...]

Webinar: The Recruiting World Has Changed. Will Your Job Board Survive?

Published on 2012-04-17 08:00:04

Hey folks – I will be conducting a webinar on May 2nd at 11 AM EDT, and I’d like you to attend! I’ll be talking about the many challenges facing job boards these days – and what you can do to ensure that your job board will not only survive, but thrive. This webinar is [...]

What’s in a name? Job boards and their (negative) reputation

Published on 2012-04-10 08:00:58

Almost every week I see a blog post or tweet claiming that job boards are dead or dying. We’re talking about the top source for hiring outside of employee referrals here. A tool that almost every employer uses to locate some or all of their job candidates. A fixture on the recruiting scene for over 15 [...]

SimplyHired layoffs, Ladders app, and more job board news of the moment

Published on 2012-04-05 08:00:45

It’s time to dig into the past month or so and see what interesting, unusual, and mind-blowing things have happened of note in the online recruiting and job board world. Let’s see, now…. Jobvite and JobTarget team up: Clients can now use JobTarget’s OnePost to send jobs to appropriate JobTarget job boards and social media venues, [...]

Results are in – the 2012 Job Board industry survey

Published on 2012-04-02 08:00:15

As I mentioned last week, the results are in from the 2012 Job Board Industry Survey. With over 190 responses from every category of site, including aggregators, general sites, niche boards, and networks, I believe that there is useful information for all. If you participated, you should have received an email from me with the [...]

What you think: early peeks into the Job Board Industry survey

Published on 2012-03-27 08:00:53

The data is still rolling in (and I’m a bit behind), but after 190 (yes, that’s right – 190) responses, I believe we have some very good information about the state of the job board industry in 2012. The full details will be ready soon (perhaps next week), but here are some tidbits that you [...]

Selling the candidate: how recruiters, job boards, and (gasp!) social recruiting make money

Published on 2012-03-20 08:00:50

I don’t know if it’s inevitable that age and experience brings cynicism, but the ongoing discussion about social recruiting certainly brings out the skeptic in me. Social recruitment is about the ‘conversation’, the ‘engagement’, the ‘ongoing discussion’. Umm, no. Social recruiting is about landing a candidate. And somewhere along the line, landing the candidate involves [...]

Take the 2012 Job Board Industry Survey!

Published on 2012-03-13 08:00:57

What a difference 7 months make! The last industry survey preceded Monster’s stock crash, LinkedIn’s revenue jump, and a big increase in matching and assessment sites. Things changed – and we need new data! So I’ve revamped the survey, added some new questions, refined others based on your feedback, and still kept it at 5 [...]

Is Monster on the block? and other news from the job board world

Published on 2012-03-08 08:00:27

Man, time flies when you’re blogging. It’s been a while since the last news roundup, and a few things have happened. Like: Monster’s for sale? Or not?: Well, I don’t know. But rumor (and Sal Iannuzzi) has it that the big board is not, as they say, ‘maximizing shareholder value’. In other words, the stock [...]

More mobile apps for job search: Android apps for job boards

Published on 2012-03-06 08:00:28

A few months back I examined 7 Android apps for job search – in fact, I even liked a few! As mobile apps continue to spread throughout the job search universe, I thought it would be useful to take a 2nd look at both new and updated entrants. (Note: I don’t have an iPhone – if [...]

Coming soon – How to improve candidate quality – a webinar

Published on 2012-03-02 10:50:02

I will be joining Dr. Charles Handler in a few weeks for a webinar on “Improving Candidate Quality”, on Wednesday, March 14th, at 11 am EDT. This webinar is sponsored by JobG8. We’ll be talking about why candidate quality is important, how it affects employer retention, and several techniques you can use to improve quality. [...]

Predictive assessments and data analytics- the next frontier in the job board revolution

Published on 2012-02-28 08:00:52

(Note: today’s guest post is by Dr. Charles Handler, of RocketHire. His firm focuses on employee testing and assessment.) Job boards have served a very important function over the past fifteen years. Try to remember what your job searches were like before you had the ability to find out about available jobs anywhere on the [...]

Rumblings in the hiring ecosystem: what the Source of Hire data tells us

Published on 2012-02-21 08:00:16

Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler have been conducting the landmark CareerXRoads Source of Hire survey for over a decade. In my mind, that’s useful data. They’ve just come out with the 2012 edition, and it’s absolutely worth a look. The top four sources of hire include referrals (28%), job boards (20.1%), career sites (9.8%), and recruiters (9.1%). [...]

New! Amazing! Different! Checking out the latest job board startups and variations

Published on 2012-02-14 08:00:53

It’s been a while since I looked at new, interesting, and (occasionally) odd startups in the online recruiting sector. However, just because I haven’t been looking doesn’t mean there’s been any shortage of start-ups. Sometimes it seems like I see a new one every day! So without further ado, let’s take a look: Exquisite Jobs: [...]

Not another bleeding job board! …or… How to differentiate yourself from your competitors

Published on 2012-02-07 08:00:45

Depending on who you talk to, the phase of the moon, and the price of corn in Iowa, there are roughly 50,000 to 100,000 job boards out there. Yes, really. Why so many? There are a lot of reasons (low barriers to entry, continued demand, margins), but what this really means is that if you [...]

Are job boards tanking? The problem with very little data

Published on 2012-01-31 08:00:56

If you read this blog, then you have at least a passing interest in job boards – so it’s likely that you saw the news last week that Monster is laying off 400 employees and missed its quarterly earnings/revenue targets. Now, this is the type of news that many pundits of various stripes will take [...]

Talking about the future of job search

Published on 2012-01-25 13:15:12

I recently did a Q&A with the folks at Cachinko about the future of job search. You may find it interesting – check it out here!

I’m better than you, and I’ll prove it: the rise of skills testing sites

Published on 2012-01-24 08:00:24

If you hire people, at some point you will have to hire for a position about which you know absolutely nothing. Perhaps you’re hiring a chief technology officer, but your background is marketing and sales. Or you’re hiring a new accountant, and you only understand coding. What do you do? Perhaps you turn to friends [...]

The month that was: job boards, online recruiting, and more

Published on 2012-01-17 08:00:22

Ok, it’s been a bit more than a month since the last news round up – I blame it on the holiday season. But now I’m working off those Christmas cookies, so here’s all the news that’s fit to print, more or less: Chris Russell sells out: Well, at least he hopes so. Chris has put [...]

Growth is good – even when it hurts sometimes

Published on 2012-01-10 08:00:57

The last 3 years have been full of advice for companies were struggling to survive. But what about companies that are growing? It’s been a while since I’ve written about the challenges of growth – so it’s about time. Despite the flat overall employment market, some areas are experiencing growth and even shortages (think healthcare, [...]

Even more mind-blowing, earth-shattering things – the expanded audio version

Published on 2012-01-06 07:48:15

I was fortunate enough last week to talk with Peter Clayton of Total Picture Radio about my post a few weeks ago. We talked about the non-death of job boards, Monster, LinkedIn, matching, .jobs, and a bunch of other things. I think you will enjoy the conversation. Click here to listen (click on the Podcast [...]

What are the drivers of change in the job board industry?

Published on 2012-01-04 08:00:32

I’m a very lucky guy. How so? I have the privilege of working with dozens of job boards and recruiting software companies. I’m not locked into a single site or sector – but I am continually focused on the job board industry at both the micro and macro level. I don’t see everything, of course – [...]

Money money money – what was most popular on Job Board Doctor in 2011

Published on 2011-12-28 14:31:43

Once a week (more or less), I sit down and write about the job board and online recruiting industry. Some of these posts are more popular than others (and honestly, some are complete duds). As it’s almost the end of the year, I though you might find it interesting to see which posts my readers [...]

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