How to spot a good job board

There are thousands of job boards to choose from if you need to post a job. But not all are created equal. Here are some telltale signs that the job board you are about to post on is worth using.

1. It Looks Good: If the job board has good design, meaning a nice logo and well done interface with clearly spelled out call to actions and navigation.

2. Contact Info: If the job board puts their phone and email in a prominent place on the page. This means they're not afraid to be contacted. I always put my phone number at the top of every page of my sites.

3. Too Much Backfill: Many job boards these days backfill their listings with Indeed or SimplyHired. There's nothing wrong with this as it provides an additional source of revenue for them. But beware of sites that dont have any original listings.

4. Outdated blog: Many boards run their own blogs. If that blog hasnt been updated recently, watch out. Its a sign the job board is dying.

5. Does it Google Well: Do a keyword search for that job board based on its name or niche. If it doesn't appear in the first 1-2 pages of results, chances are the site doesn't get much traffic.

6. Do They Syndicate: This is not a total deal breaker since many sites can stand on their own for traffic. But see if your job board also syndicates to the major aggregators. If they do that means you get more than you are paying for. Its like getting multiple sites for 1 price.

7. Age: How long has your job board been around. The older its been online the more likely it is to be worthy of your jobs.

Chris Russell is the CEO & Founder of regional job board network, AllCountyJobs.com LLC.

Comment by Ben McGrath on August 17, 2011 at 11:07am: Sorry Kirby. Thought I was genuinely helping.

All the best,

Ben

Comment by Henning Seip on August 17, 2011 at 2:09pm: Chris, how about the following criteria:

A good job board can match the search criteria of the job seeker to the job requirements in the job postings. As a result job seekers read only job postings that match their skills and education (->job seekers save time). Due to the match "on paper" recruiters receive only job applications from qualified candidates (->recruiters save time).

Comment by Amy Ala Miller on August 17, 2011 at 8:07pm: @Chris - true - it's all about the audience. I know some candidates who think CL is too "sketchy". And one hiring manager swears no real professionals would ever look for work on CL. Probably shouldn't mention that to half our Directors who found us through there... hahahahaha

Completely agree that niche / local job boards will always have a place.

Comment by Seth Handler on August 22, 2011 at 12:42pm: Great article and comments! As an employee of JIBE.com it's very interesting to see what recruiters look for when picking a job board to post on. I think our company does pretty well with everything on the list, however we do not have a blog at all. Is a company blog something that recruiters take a lot of stock in when picking a board?