I just realized my last blog post was about 3 years ago. Titled Social Networking and Jobs Board. IF you think about it – 3 years ago, there was very, very little or none SN elements on any job board. All this Branch Out, Be Found and clones like Talent me have happened in the last 12 months actually. I wrote about in in 2008!

The fact that I am still working on the same site www.JobsBoard.ie can tell you a few things:

• The development is really slow Ivan!!! It took 3 years and the site is still not done!!!???
• Did you give up for a time, and now you are back at it?

In fact, the through is I am working on it for 3 years. And trust me I had a lot of fun doing it! The web has changed. We have all changed with it. IN 2008 I strongly believed I will be able to live completely avoiding Facebook and it’s ‘Pokes’. When Pokes turned to ‘Likes’ a whole web changed within months. The traffic patterns changed on the web. In 2008 twitter was a funny newcomer. 3 years on we all tweet like mad, and we tweet while mobile. If you would say that in 2008, it would sound like a science fiction. Networks have been slow and majority of the phones had really terrible web usage experience. iPhone really changed it all.

There have been periods in this last 3 years that I was wondering – what do we have to do to be different? What would we have that would set us apart from other job boards. In late 2009 and early 2010 we did a few releases of one version of it – that would be a job site + LinkedIN features + WordPress.com. The moment we released it – LinkedIN released the public API. As LinkedIN was developing we have to follow suit. You can see the build at: http://www.JobsMarket.ie.

But that was not really ‘different’ enough. Facebook is where all the people went then. LinkedIN was just recruiters and some ‘Business Development’ people in Ireland.

When I saw Branch Out, I knew then what we have been missing. I guess so did Monster so they released Be Found thingy. It was a rushed development. I know was trying to post a job in the first days, and it never worked. I tweeted about it-and they tweeted back that they are aware and fixing it.

It took some more time than Monster over here – yep, we do not have their budgets! But by looking at Branch Out and Be Found and comparing them, and the new clones like Talent Me trying to find their space, I believe we have found the reason for people to use it. Since both Be Found and Branch Out are still in ‘Early Adopters’ stage, and we know that that can last in any social networking application, there is time for us still (I hope). Perhaps in industry niches and geographies especially.

So the question I have here – 3 years later (I apologize it took me a full page before I dared to ask!) is:

What do YOU think a job board should have today?

If you think releasing a job site in 2011 is really a bit to late – you are more than welcome to tell me that as well. I have had my fair share of business failures, so skin thick enough to take it.