A job board owners view of LinkedIn

There’s a post on Forbes entitled ‘Linkedin is about to put job boards out of business‘. Although I know the author Dan Schwabel and like him, he is off-base with his assumptions.

LinkedIn just announced a new feature that allows job seekers to ‘apply with linkedin’. Its a button that companies can put on their career pages and let job seekers submit their LI profile. Dan is correct in saying that it will put the resume out of business. A profile is a much more valuable tool to sell yourself than a resume. I think eventually in 5-10 years the online profile will be the primary tool to job hunt, not the resume. If this new feature hurts anyone, I’d point to the ATS (applicant tracking systems). ATS’s are a bigger pain point for job seekers not job boards. This has the potential to become LinkedIn’s own version of tracking candidates for employers.

Comment by pam claughton on June 2, 2011 at 1:43pm: When Monster first came on the scene, everyone said that it would be the end of recruiters. That hasn't happened and I don't see job boards going anywhere either, because LinkedIn is not a job board. It's just another tool, not the answer to all recruiting.

The smarter job boards have already started integrating some of the features of LinkedIn and other social media, such as The Ladders where you can build a network of followers and send alerts to them, much like the status update on LinkedIn.

Comment by Emily Giorgi on June 2, 2011 at 2:36pm: I believe some type of formal application would still need to be required. Our current system allows them to attach their resume which then fills in fields within the application but they need to click on a button confirming that the information they are attaching is correct. This serves as an "electronic signature". Not sure if a Linkedin Profile could be considered a legal application.

Comment by Chaser on June 2, 2011 at 3:23pm: This is going to get interesting...ha...Enjoy the ride folks!

"The Link" needs to focus on the Customer Service of its paying customers rather then this widget...

@Simon you couldn't be more correct!

Comment by Margaret on June 2, 2011 at 3:36pm: To reiterate some points that have been made Mr. Seip excellent point about tailoring your information to an existing employer based need. Mr. Cialone brings about a persuasive point that if you have to put all of your information in one place (LI Profile) it is cumbersome and overload for most prospective employers. They are seeking qualified applicants that fill the needs that they have and would prefer not to wade through a multitude of information to find the most qualified candidate. Jessica right on point with the increment of time spent.

We all understand that the job market is tough and finding the right person at the right time is sometimes an all consuming challenge, why then would we want to bog it down even more with information that is not pertinent to the employer or the job seeker?

I must say that consumer feedback is what it is all about! Modern technology and the influence it has had on the way that we approach the topic of employment is evolving constantly. Possibly through these discussion boards we will represent a greater need and some suggestions on how to improve on existing systems, so that we can avoid confusing the situation any more than it has already been.

Comment by John Rorick on June 2, 2011 at 4:03pm: Those that are mentioning the dynamic of tailoring a resume to the skills/slant of a job posting make a good point...but that will almost take care of itself. Why? Because increasingly (and I think soon universally) the recruiter takes the name on that resume they like and pulls up that person's linkedin profile. For industries such as HR and Sales it is a demerit to not even have a profile.

So while you can argue that a resume submittal is a tailoring of a person's skills to match the open position they specifically seek, I would argue the linkedin profile will always trump the submittal as the defacto standard. The resume is going away. Right or Wrong.

Comment by Jeff Yocom on June 2, 2011 at 8:59pm: As an agency recruiter with a very specific niche, I love job boards. For the kinds of roles I fill, they add pain to the process for my clients and help sell my service. I've also been around long enough to hear the doom-and-gloom forecasts that job boards would put headhunters out of business. So forgive me if I'm cynical about predictions about the end of resumes, or job boards for that matter. Yes, innovate of get left behind.

My favorite comment in the opinion-piece is: "Companies will expect you to be on LinkedIn and if you’re not, then you can’t apply for jobs!" Do you really think a company will exclude any candidate not applying on Linked-In (except maybe LI itself)? I don't. Also, isn't that post more appropriate for a blog than Forbes?

There's another article on Fast Company right now (http://www.fastcompany.com/1756920/is-an-apply-with-linkedin-button...) that ends with this little gem: "LinkedIn needs to do more than put job boards out of business. It needs to put head hunters out of business." Where have I heard that before?

Comment by C. B. Stalling!! on June 3, 2011 at 8:04am: It is just one tool

Comment by Suresh on June 3, 2011 at 8:45am: Niche job boards came about because Monster, Careerbuilders of the world could not cater enough to all niche areas out there.

Linkedin is also catering to everyone and don't see them replacing the need for focussed services. They can't compete in every niche out there against all the existing brands.

(why are we discussing this topic here on RecruitingBlogs and not on Linkedin..because we want to be focussed)

Comment by Amos on June 3, 2011 at 5:47pm: "Dan is correct in saying that it will put the resume out of business" Really? Dont think thats happening for another 50 years or until the resume evolve's into a sophisticated pre-programmed hologram of the individual. I read that piece and its full of assumptions, personal branding isnt as important to a potential hiring company as someones past track record of success - that will impact their bottom line. And if you ever headhunted on Linkedin you would know that most of times the talent your looking for come from a referral from someone on Linkedin to someone who is not on the network. Ive used linkein job ads and they will never replace great headhunters. Dan is way off on his "predictions" too bad he didnt talk to reall recruiters before he published it.

Comment by Sandra McCartt on June 3, 2011 at 9:43pm: I love to see a baby narcissist in action. Never even been close to recruiting but he knows all about job boards and if he used the words guru or expert one more time in his linkedin profile the thing would explode. If it did explode it would scatter jobs all over the place. Me2.0 is about right. Blah. what a crock.