When job boards hit the scene over 15 years ago, they firmly grabbed a solid spot in online recruiting. As job boards have evolved, it has become an understatement to refer to them as simply job boards any longer. They have morphed into several different types of online job search and recruiting tools.

Jeff Dickey-Chasins said in an HRExaminer post,

“Are job boards dying – or is it instead the idea of a traditional job board, where you ‘post and pray’? I believe it’s the latter. In fact, it’s time for job boards – and the HR world – to move past the term ‘job board’ and to something more descriptive and accurate. I think of these as ‘candidate acquisition services’ – a collection of tools and services that employers can use to efficiently and effectively find the right candidates, no matter where they are or what their skill set.”

So while the talk of the death of job boards is a-buzz on the recruiting sites, it’s important to know what they’re really saying. Yes, those job boards that haven’t chosen to evolve with the tech and trends are in fact dying. However, the job boards that have made an effort to grow and stay relevant are still doing well and it’s important to know about these changes.

Social: Now job boards are taking advantage of the reach and two-way dialogue that social recruiting lends. Jobs posted on online boards or sites are now easily shared on just about every social network with the click of a “share button”. LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are all known for their popularity and ease of use to share employer and job information.

Mobile: 77% of job seekers use mobile search apps. This is a huge chuck of potential candidates. Job boards that haven’t optimized for mobile capability are going to quickly fall by the way side. This can mean a mobile site, or better yet, an app.

Communities: Many job sites have found a lot of value in turning to a community model. Candidates and recruiters can form professional networks on a micro level. These hubs are a great place for candidates to further their reach and share industry insights.

Beyond Niche: Niche job boards are focused on specific industries and are great for those harder to place, unique positions. One step further are job boards for niches within those industries. The more targeted recruiters can get, the more efficient and tailored the experience gets.

Proactive Capabilities: The traditional cycle of job boards is that candidates will search for jobs and fill out applications for those relevant positions. The present technology has allowed employers to search applicants and profiles on job boards and then sendthemrelevant job listings. This two-way targeted searching makes for faster placement.

Pay Options: Finding out what job boards, aggregators or niche boards work for recruiters was getting costly. Now many sites and boards are charging for performance rather than simply charging per listing. This ensures that you recruiters are paying for actual applications received.

Job Aggregators: These are sites that take listings from hundreds or thousands of job boardsand put them all into one big searchable database. I liken it to searching airfare. You can go directly to Delta’s site, or you can go to a site like Expedia, that brings all the fares and airlines onto one searchable screen.

If you’re a newb recruiter, or simply trying to stay up to date on evolving job boards, these are some great bits of knowledge to have when choosing your recruiting path. The days of post and pray are over. Each process in recruiting changes frequently because metrics, trends and technology are evolving everyday. 

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