Jeff Dickey-Chasins's Blog (160)

The future of job boards is…

The future is alluring – nothing bad has happened yet, you haven’t made any dumb mistakes yet, and anything could happen. In fact, the future is so much fun to write about that I am going to write about it (with my job board industry goggles on, that is).

So, let us finish the following phrase in as many interesting and contentious ways as we can, shall we?

The future of job boards is…

1.… Continue

Added by Jeff Dickey-Chasins on April 27, 2010 at 9:09am — No Comments

Know a site that needs an extreme job board makeover?

The formula for the extremely popular reality series “Extreme Home Makeover” is simple and compelling: find a family (or sometimes an individual) who have done good works in their community but have been beaten up by bad luck luck; add the Extreme Home Makeover crew and local supporters; create a new home for the family. All in the space of 7 days.

So why can’t we apply that to the job board world? Well, in fact, we can. I don’t have the resources (or sex appeal) of Ty, but I do know… Continue

Added by Jeff Dickey-Chasins on April 20, 2010 at 9:06am — No Comments

The problem of duplicate job postings

You know what gets a job seeker truly steamed? Clicking on a link for a job posting – and discovering that it’s exactly the same job he looked at a few seconds earlier. Same job, different listings = unhappy job seeker.

How does this happen? Well, any job board that allows 3rd party recruiters to post their open positions runs the risk of duplicate postings. Let’s say that ABC Company has an listing for a mechanical engineer. The HR person posts it on their company site and also… Continue

Added by Jeff Dickey-Chasins on April 6, 2010 at 2:23pm — 12 Comments

5 ways to screw up a job board

I’ve observed that approximately 90% of the music put out at any given time is just not very good. Much is mediocre, and some is simply appalling. Well, folks, this is true of many industries, and it’s true of the job board industry.

Why? Well, honestly, job boards are more complex than they seem, both in design and operation. Add to this the never-ending winds of change and competition, and you can see how a job board operator might hit a few false notes.

So in the spirit… Continue

Added by Jeff Dickey-Chasins on March 16, 2010 at 9:15am — No Comments

Confessions of a job board doctor

It’s been a year since I started blogging – a year filled with both good things and not-so-good things. But the best thing? I’m still blogging, you’re still reading, and we’re all still learning.

I rarely (well, actually, never) write about my personal life. Why? Because I’ve always assumed that: a) it’s pretty boring; b) you have better things to do; and c) why would you be reading the Job Board Doctor’s blog, if not to learn about job boards?

That being said, I’m going a… Continue

Added by Jeff Dickey-Chasins on March 2, 2010 at 9:13am — No Comments

Job clouds, job boards, and the job seeker

Matt Alder published a fascinating piece last week about ‘job clouds’ and why he thought Twitter could be the future of job boards. It was one of those “I wish I had written that!” moments for me, to be honest.

In brief, he posits the creation of a ‘job cloud’ created by multiple employer Twitter feeds of their jobs. This cloud would be much larger than any individual existing… Continue

Added by Jeff Dickey-Chasins on February 16, 2010 at 9:00am — 1 Comment

Is your job site positioned to grow?

Doostang just announced that they’ve landed $1.25 million in new funding. That’s not a huge investment compared to the boom years, but it is a signal that our industry may have reached bottom and is beginning to rebound.

So you’ve survived the worst. Now what are you going to do?

Do you have a plan for growth? If not, now is a good time to start – because if you don’t, your competitors will. The job board industry is like any other; you can grow, or you can fade away.… Continue

Added by Jeff Dickey-Chasins on February 9, 2010 at 8:53am — No Comments

JobDeck and its implications for job boards

By now you’ve probably heard of JobDeck, a modified version of the popular Twitter search application, TweetDeck. A collaboration between TwitJobSearch and TweetDeck, JobDeck has a permanent, specialized search that focuses on jobs. These are sourced from the Twittersphere, based on employment-related keywords, plus additional content from LinkedIn.

Well, it’s gotten the New York Times… Continue

Added by Jeff Dickey-Chasins on February 2, 2010 at 9:00am — 2 Comments

How many job boards is too many?

It’s true: anyone and his or her dog can have their own job board. Actually, the dog could probably run the board, thanks to Job*a*matic (well, maybe not my dog – she sleeps too much).

How many job boards is too many? Peter Weddle says we have 100,000 or so – but only a small percentage of these makes money. If it seems like there’s been an sharp… Continue

Added by Jeff Dickey-Chasins on January 19, 2010 at 9:28am — 1 Comment

What you want from job boards in 2010 (and more)

A few weeks ago I put out a request: what would you want to see from job boards in 2010? Quite a few of you responded – so here are your comments and ideas:

1. Better crafted job posts: This is in fact something that a job board can’t produce, as it’s the responsibility of the employer. Such a small thing – and yet most employers and recruiters still fail to post engaging, succinct, and informative job ads. Let’s put it this way – if you don’t write a great job ad, someone… Continue

Added by Jeff Dickey-Chasins on January 12, 2010 at 9:36am — 4 Comments

“Fake” postings and your job board

It’s never a good idea to upset your customers. So why would a job board allow a so-called ‘fake’ job posting – a job listing that, in fact, does not currently exist?

1. Maybe the job board didn’t know it was fake. After all, dozens or even hundreds of jobs are posted at many sites each week – by employers, not the job board.

2. The ‘paying’ customer posted that ‘fake’ listing. Money speaks.

3. ‘Fake’ postings are almost impossible to screen.

For the sake of… Continue

Added by Jeff Dickey-Chasins on January 5, 2010 at 9:29am — 19 Comments

The year in job boards: 2009 – what we learned

It was an ugly, painful year. I haven’t talked to a single job board owner – not one – who saw revenue declines of less than 35 to 70 percent. Many had to lay off employees, cut benefits, or otherwise pull back. They weren’t alone, of course – almost every aspect of our economy (Goldman Sachs excepted) has suffered.

So, we’re agreed – 2009 sucked. But surely we learned a few things, right? Hmmm….

1. Bailouts are for banks, not job boards (unless you’re Monster in… Continue

Added by Jeff Dickey-Chasins on December 16, 2009 at 9:04am — 3 Comments

Inside and outside: job boards have to work both places

It’s easy to do: you work and obsess over building the perfect job board, making certain that posting a resume is easier than sneezing – but then you forget about the world outside your site. Or you spend hours on backlinks, blog postings, and email campaigns, only to discover that your site just isn’t that easy to use.

Job boards have to function equally well both inside the site and outside the site. As a colleague once said, “You can build the best store in the world, but you’ll… Continue

Added by Jeff Dickey-Chasins on December 9, 2009 at 9:19am — 3 Comments

How job seeker behavior affects job boards

As anyone who has tried to lose weight or exercise regularly will attest, changing your behavior is hard. You’re fighting years of mental and physical conditioning – and (unfortunately) many times the old habits win out.

That was the challenge that job boards faced in the mid-90s – how to change the ingrained behaviors of job seekers, to move them from searching want ads in the newspapers…to searching want ads online. It took many years, but eventually job seekers did change their… Continue

Added by Jeff Dickey-Chasins on December 1, 2009 at 10:25am — No Comments

What I’m thankful for

In the spirit of the season, I thought it would be worthwhile to give some thanks (sometimes you forget about it in the midst of everything else). So, in no particular order, here are a few things that I’m particularly thankful for this year:

* You: Seriously. I appreciate the time you spend reading this blog. I hope you find it worthwhile.

* Monster: It’s very useful for our industry to have a ‘big’ company to kick around. Plus it keeps the target off everyone else.

*… Continue

Added by Jeff Dickey-Chasins on November 23, 2009 at 4:48pm — 1 Comment

What do your job board customers want?

When was the last time you asked your job board customers what they want? Not just a one-off question to a few clients – but an systematic, organized survey of everyone who uses your site? Employers and job seekers?

A recurrent theme in the ‘job boards are dying’ blog posts that I see is a feeling by recruiters, employers, and job seekers that the ‘big boards’ are out of touch. In other words, they don’t know what their customers want. Now, I’m guessing that they would argue with… Continue

Added by Jeff Dickey-Chasins on November 17, 2009 at 9:11am — No Comments

Job boards and applicant tracking systems

The appeal of applicant tracking systems (ATS) for employers is obvious: they promise to bring order to the often disordered process of managing job applicants. An ATS can theoretically drive all job applicants into a single pipeline, massage their unruly information into neatly ordered database fields set up exactly as the employer desires, and allow HR to actually manage the interactions with applicants.

Sometimes the ATS works well – and sometimes (like all software) it doesn’t.… Continue

Added by Jeff Dickey-Chasins on November 10, 2009 at 9:08am — 3 Comments

Why job boards need branding

Branding often gets a bad rap – as if there is something inherently bad in trying to create a unique, persuasive persona for your job board. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Think about it: most of the truly successful job boards out there have built successful brands. Monster. CareerBuilder. Dice. The Ladders. RegionalHelpWanted. Of course, a brand won’t replace solid technology, good marketing, and SEO. But in combination with these, branding will help push your job board… Continue

Added by Jeff Dickey-Chasins on November 3, 2009 at 9:09am — No Comments

Job boards as economic indicators

As I was sorting through the usual spate of ‘job boards are dead’ articles, I noticed other more interesting types of articles: pieces that point to job board postings as indicators of the state of the economy. (Monster has published their Employment Index since 2004.)

Makes sense, doesn’t it? If job boards are posting more… Continue

Added by Jeff Dickey-Chasins on October 27, 2009 at 10:34am — No Comments

Can job boards truly be ‘Web 2.0′?

At their core, most job boards are series of one-way communications: employer posts a job; job seeker responds to employer; employer does (or doesn’t) respond to job seeker. Each communication is distinct and separated by both time and method – some might even say fragmented.

Compare to a blog, social networking site, or Twitter: you send out a communication – and built into your communication are methods for readers to respond, as well as the expectation they will; readers DO… Continue

Added by Jeff Dickey-Chasins on October 19, 2009 at 9:39am — No Comments