Job boards vs. social networks. #in

The job boards pretty much took the entire job advertising market from print in around 10 years. The social networks could take the market from the job boards in maybe half that time; so it is now the job boards market to lose. Here's a few things they could try to save it.

Become social

Yep, that old chestnut. Actually, I don't think they can or will so we'll pass on that one.

Integrate with the ATS

That's what Linkedin did and within only a matter of weeks, four of the top ATS vendors had all fallen in line (and many smaller ones). Problem is, there is only one Linkedin but 1,000's of job boards so can't see that one working either.

Integrate with Linkedin

Imagine a job seeker on Jobsite looks at a job and once they've applied they get to see who they are connected with in that company. What an idea and of course Linkedin already offer that kind of integration. I wonder how they'd like that? Sock it to 'em job board man.

Create customer Pages on Facebook

Let job seekers 'Like' a customer job section and hey presto, you've helped the customer build up a.... wait for it..... talent pool. 

Have a hackathon

Open up that database baby and let those external developers come up with loads of cool ideas that may just work. Like how to create a Facebook Page from the job board admin area to build that talent pool.

I know it feels a little alien and I know your site may not be quite as good as you'd like but dude, you ain't got enough smart people or money to build it all yourself. Even Facebook and Linkedin with all their gazillions of dollars let other people play with their toys; maybe you could too?!

Become a career portal

Isn't that where Totaljobs were 10 years ago? Where career content editors took up a whole section of the office until cuts were made and job boards had, well, just jobs. I do think just jobs was the right call then but maybe now they need to offer the job seeker a bit more than a lovely long list of jobs.

Finding a job is not easy; maybe candidate experience starts at the job board? Think Amazon Felix, you know you want to. And maybe you could integrate with Linkedin, there's only one Jobsite.

Do some speed dating

How about you do some offline stuff? Like regional events paid for by clients who need people. You could even advertise those events on Facebook or Linkedin for a lot less than it would cost on Google!

No pain no gain

Change is hard so most job boards will hide in their shells pretending that like Google, the social networks won't bother with such a small market called recruitment advertising. Of course most sensible job boards can see how they are having to evolve but it will not be without a lot of pain but for those that do, they will not only survive, but take market share as well.

Meanwhile, the recruitment advertising agencies are also trying to work out what they need to do next but that's a whole different conversation.