(March 14, 2008) The number of opportunities for direct communication with focused pools of talent (specialized job boards) grows at exponential rates. It's reasonable to predict continued and consistent growth in this area. The ultimate number of job boards around the planet is likely to be in the hundreds of thousands.
There are more than 50,000 today.
Several recent trends and events have changed the tone and character of the job board environment:
- The new management team at Monster...most of the old faces have disappeared
- The sale of Regional Help Wanted for $100M
- The emergence of well heeled regional and niche services (Jobing.com, JobDig.com, Dice.com etc)
- The explosion in job-board-in-a-box alternatives (Boxwood, Adicio, JobThread, JobCoin, Jobamatic, Beyond)
- The emergence of strong job board ecosystems in nations around the globe
- The craigslist phenomenon is beginning to lose its price stranglehold
- The industry has a trade association, a gossip column, and an online community
- An accelerating level of acquisition
It's common to hear internet researchers pooh-poohing job boards. We hear talk of "pay and pray" or "post and hope" job posting. That's because they typically don't understand the full range of the sourcing process. It's not surprising; gifted specialists often lose sight of the larger picture.
There will be a role for job boards (and a growing role at that) for many years to come. They provide an easy gateway to candidates in a variety of functions. It's nearly always more cost effective to use a job board than any of the other alternatives.
That's how the system level of sourcing should work, by the way. The technique you use should be dictated by the requirement you are trying to fill. There are no universal solutions to the candidate development question.
Sourcing strategy (which methods to use under which circumstances) should precede the decision to use a specific method. Sometimes, job boards work well. Other times, it's best to outsource the problem. Other times, Internet Research is the best way.
The explosion in the number of job boards is due, in large part, to the fact that they work. With what must be at least 100,000 employees in the job board business, they are going to be around for a long time to come. During this inflection point there will be a significant amount of partnership and alliance development .
John Sumser .-. ©2008 Two Color Hat, Inc. Santa Rosa, CA
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