Job boards are the email of the recruiting world

New is always better than old. Don't believe me? Take an inventory of articles published in the last 12 months that focus on something new that will 'revolutionize' recruiting and leave all existing technologies/methods/disciplines in shambles. (This of course also applies to pretty much any industry you can think of, be it software, banking, or bagels). The articles always focus on the 'new'. Not the old. 9 out of 10 dentists can't be wrong - right?

Thus the title: job boards are the email of the recruiting world. Here's why:

Email is old. So are job boards; they've been around since the (gasp!) 1990s. See above comment on the value of new vs. old
No matter how hard vendors try, email just won't die. Ditto for job boards - they continue to be one of the top 2 sources of external hires for companies.
Almost everyone uses email. Same with job boards; almost every employer uses them as part of their recruiting 'toolbox'.
Email gets no respect. Need I point out the same for job boards?
Email remains incredibly effective for communication and marketing. Job boards remain incredibly effective for reaching and landing candidates.
Email has evolved. So have job boards.
Email isn't going away - it fills critical business needs (communication, documentation, marketing) efficiently and cost-effectively. Job boards aren't going away - they continue to provide a cost-effective way of branding employers, sourcing candidates, and filling open positions.

So new is always better than old. Except, I guess, when it isn't.

Comment by Matt Charney on March 18, 2015 at 9:27am: Good headline. And touche.

Comment by Raphael Fang on March 18, 2015 at 1:45pm: What about the telephone?? I get more responses from telephone calls than emails.

Comment by Jeff Dickey-Chasins on March 18, 2015 at 1:49pm: You got me there, Raphael!

Comment by Daniel Fogel on March 18, 2015 at 7:00pm: Great post Jeff! As much as a company might want some candidate to come to its branded career site, the job board's ability to aggregate gives a variety of choices and potential matches a candidate might not have realized were out there. Targeting a career site is one specific choice. The job board like going to a food court. You went in thinking Subway but then you noticed the Rib Shack next door...

Comment by John P Carty on March 19, 2015 at 10:13am: I agree. It's hard to argue against the economics of the job boards. They maximize value and reduce search costs for the job seekers. It's not like Google is going away anytime soon.