To Job Board or Not to Job Board...that is the Question.

There has been a lot of chatter over the years about job boards; their use, quality of candidates, quality of postings, etc. I have always felt that the job board should simply be one of many tools utilized by recruiters to source candidates and that any recruiter who limits the size of their tool box limits the size of their success. So I ask:

To the 3rd party recruiter, do you feel you have not performed the service expected by your client by placing a candidate derived from a job board, even though your client decided the candidate was the best fit and is happy with their performance?

To the hiring managers and corporate recruiters, do you feel a fee is justified to a recruiter who sources your next hire from a job board?

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Permalink Reply by Denise Morales on February 3, 2010 at 9:48am

@Christopher, I am a corporate recruiter who started my career in the staffing industry. In response to your inquiry, it does not matter where the candidate came from. If our company decides to hire a 3rd party recruiter and they find the right candidate then absolutely the fee is justified! Even if the candidate came from a job board.

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Permalink Reply by Christopher L. Poreda on February 3, 2010 at 10:01am

Thanks for the reply Denise...

Denise Morales said:

@Christopher, I am a corporate recruiter who started my career in the staffing industry. In response to your inquiry, it does not matter where the candidate came from. If our company decides to hire a 3rd party recruiter and they find the right candidate then absolutely the fee is justified! Even if the candidate came from a job board.

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on February 3, 2010 at 11:04am

Think of the internet as just one big job board. Whether it's a Boolean search, digging through Linkedin, advertising in trade publications with a link to the website or job boards. Clients that i work with are interested in one thing. A candidate who fits what they need and can do the job. Where they come from or how we find them has never been an issue.

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Permalink Reply by Christopher L. Poreda on February 3, 2010 at 11:08am

Thanks Sandra...I'm really interested in hearing from the other side of the fence...if there is one.

Sandra McCartt said:

Think of the internet as just one big job board. Whether it's a Boolean search, digging through Linkedin, advertising in trade publications with a link to the website or job boards. Clients that i work with are interested in one thing. A candidate who fits what they need and can do the job. Where they come from or how we find them has never been an issue.

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Permalink Reply by Julie Hankins on February 3, 2010 at 11:37am

As a 3rd party recruiter, I find that the candidate pool today on the major boards is not what I am really seeking for the majority of my clients. I actually have not used a board for close to a year now, finding candidates through searches and various "social media" sites and digging in, finding referrals etc... getting back to basics really.

I get asked when pitching to a new client if we do use the job boards, and they show a bias against them. Most of the HR recruiters have full access and what they are hiring us for is our ability to uncover those candidates that are not easily available on a board. We don't use job boards, but I am not opposed to it. Our consideration is that the fee is pretty steep when you counter that with the placement ratio. I have found candidates on the boards in the past, but very few and far between to justify the cost to our firm.

I remember the first time I used a job board, I think is was 1999 or so when they were just becoming the "hot new thing to do" and I placed someone in a role in the middle of Texas - I did feel that I didn't earn that fee at all!! It was an opportunistic hire - and so I didn't even source anyone else for the role! Can't complain, sometimes you take the easy ones!

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Permalink Reply by Salvatore Petrara, CPC on February 3, 2010 at 11:42am

Christopher;
I have not used job boards for quite sometime and it has been quite liberating.
Yes I have made placements in the past utilizing job boards and approximately10%-20% of my placements came from the job boards.
1. Do recruiters deserve a fee if they place someone from a board? Yes they do. A lot of work goes into identifying talent wherever it comes from.
2. Is the fee justified from a corporate perspective? Yes it is, since corporate has access to these job boards and should mine this data as they should mine their own.

The one positive aspect of a job board is to identify what corporations are utilizing certain technologies, albeit COTS or open source. This enables the recruiter to source from these organizations.

The negative aspects (of the job boards) are the fake profiles/resumes that are on them. Too often have I found these fake resumes and often they are plagiarized from real resumes posted on the job board(s). The compliance departments within these job boards are not quick to act and at times are apathetic to the posting of fraudulent resumes/profiles.

Another aspect is redundant submittals. How often have we heard, “we already received this resume from another source”, only to call the candidate and discover that the resume was sent in blind since it was the low hanging fruit on a job board.
Yes there are times when the candidate is wrong in this case but more often they are duped by this practice of a blind submittal.

My belief is that job boards had their 15 minutes of fame. To rely solely on the boards is an effort in futility!
Yes a tool to be utilized, as an experience recruiter should never rely on one tool to generate talent.

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Permalink Reply by Christopher L. Poreda on February 3, 2010 at 11:56am

Thanks Sal...I think your last paragraph says it all. In my experience every source; cold call, referral, job board, social network, etc. has it's limitations and frustrations. Case in point - as much as a job board candidate may be out there for all to see, usually they are ready to make a decision (and the good ones will have multiple offers). Purely recruited candidates are more likely to get cold feet at the close or use the offer to propose a counter. I can go on and on. I just find it curious when a recruiter denounces a job board simply because it's a job board. I don't believe they've had their 15 minutes of fame...they just need to evolve to the changing market and perceptions. Again, just one tool in a big box.

Sal Petrara, CPC said:

Christopher;
I have not used job boards for quite sometime and it has been quite liberating.
Yes I have made placements in the past utilizing job boards and approximately10%-20% of my placements came from the job boards.
1. Do recruiters deserve a fee if they place someone from a board? Yes they do. A lot of work goes into identifying talent wherever it comes from.
2. Is the fee justified from a corporate perspective? Yes it is, since corporate has access to these job boards and should mine this data as they should mine their own.

The one positive aspect of a job board is to identify what corporations are utilizing certain technologies, albeit COTS or open source. This enables the recruiter to source from these organizations.

The negative aspects (of the job boards) are the fake profiles/resumes that are on them. Too often have I found these fake resumes and often they are plagiarized from real resumes posted on the job board(s). The compliance departments within these job boards are not quick to act and at times are apathetic to the posting of fraudulent resumes/profiles.

Another aspect is redundant submittals. How often have we heard, “we already received this resume from another source”, only to call the candidate and discover that the resume was sent in blind since it was the low hanging fruit on a job board.
Yes there are times when the candidate is wrong in this case but more often they are duped by this practice of a blind submittal.

My belief is that job boards had their 15 minutes of fame. To rely solely on the boards is an effort in futility!
Yes a tool to be utilized, as an experience recruiter should never rely on one tool to generate talent.

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Permalink Reply by Slouch on February 3, 2010 at 12:16pm

when I ran my recruiting firm we never used job boards. But, the thing is I always saw my role as a recruiter to bring a qualified and hopefully motivated candidate to the table who was not already talking to my client. lots of times, our clients would say we have subscriptions to all the main job boards so don;t send us anyone who is on a job board. we would always say we can't guarantee that the candidate is not on a job board but even if they are, it should not matter because if they are qualified and you are not talking to them, I've done a good thing by making them aware of you and you aware of them. I don't believe that the main service a recruiter brings to the table for the client is the identification of the candidate. It's the art of getting the candidate to accept the position with your client. Identifying a candidate with the right skills is easier today than ever before. Recruiters are not paid what they get paid for sourcing candidates. a name on a list just means you have someone to call. it's a long way off from sending an invoice.

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Permalink Reply by Peter Ceccarelli on February 3, 2010 at 12:31pm

My belief is that job boards had their 15 minutes of fame.

Huh! If that is the case, then why are they so expensive, and why do they still work, and why does most everyone post their resumes to them if they are so "last year????" I'm tired of how a lot of recruiters from all walks of search pooh-pooh job boards when we all use them and will still use them regardless of how sexy we all believe the "new" channels are. Like a lot of you have stated, job boards are just another source, albeit a rather important source. If you compare the overall hiring source codes from job boards against social networking sites, I'd think we'd not be surprised how job boards still dominate our hiring statistics. It's just a fact!

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Permalink Reply by Christopher L. Poreda on February 3, 2010 at 12:37pm

Well said Jason...I love and lived by the "But For" rule and it's never been more necessary than today. When I ran my search firm I had strict policies that clients will meet with all of my candidates (if they are rejecting them on paper either they didn't give me enough information or I didn't ask the right questions), they would only get 3-5 of my best, I needed immediate and extensive feedback (and "pass" is not one), and that they didn't pay me to shuffle paper, they paid me to manage the process and get the candidate they wanted to say YES.

Slouch said:

when I ran my recruiting firm we never used job boards. But, the thing is I always saw my role as a recruiter to bring a qualified and hopefully motivated candidate to the table who was not already talking to my client. lots of times, our clients would say we have subscriptions to all the main job boards so don;t send us anyone who is on a job board. we would always say we can't guarantee that the candidate is not on a job board but even if they are, it should not matter because if they are qualified and you are not talking to them, I've done a good thing by making them aware of you and you aware of them. I don't believe that the main service a recruiter brings to the table for the client is the identification of the candidate. It's the art of getting the candidate to accept the position with your client. Identifying a candidate with the right skills is easier today than ever before. Recruiters are not paid what they get paid for sourcing candidates. a name on a list just means you have someone to call. it's a long way off from sending an invoice.

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Permalink Reply by Christopher L. Poreda on February 3, 2010 at 12:39pm

refreshing commentary Peter...

Peter Ceccarelli said:

My belief is that job boards had their 15 minutes of fame.

Huh! If that is the case, then why are they so expensive, and why do they still work, and why does most everyone post their resumes to them if they are so "last year????" I'm tired of how a lot of recruiters from all walks of search pooh-pooh job boards when we all use them and will still use them regardless of how sexy we all believe the "new" channels are. Like a lot of you have stated, job boards are just another source, albeit a rather important source. If you compare the overall hiring source codes from job boards against social networking sites, I'd think we'd not be surprised how job boards still dominate our hiring statistics. It's just a fact!

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Permalink Reply by Steven Coyne on February 3, 2010 at 1:35pm

100% of my placements have come, and will continue to come, from a job board. It is an extremely effective tool if managed properly!

But it's more than the job board at issue here. I have found candidates that some may consider to be "diamonds in the rough." Well, what are the "diamonds" doing on my job board? They are doing exactly what has already been expressed here! They are using every tool available to them, from face to face networking to online job boards. People understand that there are very effective tools available online, and a job board is one of them. They also want to know that you, as their recruiter, care enough to work with them to give them the best chance possible at getting in front of the hiring manager.

If my job boarding experiences bring me "diamonds," then I can only hope for more "rough."