 | How to choose a job site or job board Choosing the right job site for your vacancy is fundamentally important to the success of your online recruitment campaign. If your job ad is on the wrong job site or job board, you won't ever fill it. | 1: Use whatjobsite
Okay, this sounds a bit cheeky, but we really are trying to be helpful. If you were to search the hundreds of job sites and job boards on the web, you'd spend weeks doing it ―we did! And Google isn't much help either. Google only gives you the job sites and job boards that have put effort into appearing high up in Google. That's no gaurantee of how good they are as job sites. We've checked and verified lots of job boards so you'll be able to create a short-list of relevant job sites to advertise your vacancy. You can search all the approved job sites on our database via the search box above; if you are looking for a specialist and niche job site use the tick boxes or go to Advanced Search. You can also find more job boards in our A to Z directory of job boards. What's more, the whatjobsite job site profiles will answer many of the questions that follow. 2. Is it free to search for jobs?
Don't even look at a job site or job board that charges a candidate to search for a job. Simply move on to the next one. Why? Well, that's what the candidate will do. Whatjobsite does not include job sites and job boards that charge for job searching. 3. Does the job site offer a 'jobs by email' service?
A site that offers a 'jobs by email' service ensures candidates are kept up-to-date with new vacancies as they are posted to the site. This is another basic. All job sites and job boards should provide this service. Check the whatjobsite job site profile to see if your chosen site provides this service. 4. Is there Account Management?
Your job site or job board Account Manager can be a great source of advice and assistance and can help make sure your recruitment campaign is successful. Does the job site provide a person who will look after you during your recruitment campaign? You don't have to use the account managed service, but it's usually a sign of quality when a job board provides this. Again, check the whatjobsite site profile to see whether the job site provides an account managed service. 5. Check the job site traffic.
A job site is only as good the job seekers and candidates using it. Before you advertise on a job board, you have to establish that those job seekers are the ones you are looking for. Most job sites will be able to gice you a picture of who uses their site. They usually speak in terms of site visitors, unique users and registered users etc... (read our article 'Unique users, audited users, relevant users, registered users, email subscribers' to find out more about this.) However, at the end of the day, choosing the right job site comes down to choosing the one with the most job seekers looking for jobs like yours. And to find that out, there's nothing else for it but to ring them up and ask them.
6. Check the job site for vacancies like yours
If the job site doesn't carry jobs like yours then it won't be attracting people looking for jobs like yours. So there is no point in advertising on it. In addition, if there are jobs like yours make sure that there a good number from other employers. Having other employer jobs listed means that the site has been around for a while and has established itself as being good. If a job site only features jobs from recruitment agencies it's best to avoid it. Most job boards that feature only jobs from recruitment agencies tend to be just starting off or are dying. A healthy sprinkling of employer jobs is a good sign.
7. Is there candidate screening or filtering?
One of the most irritating aspects of recruiting online is applicant overload. Simply too many applicants apply for your job. Many job sites and job boards now offer the ability to pre-screen applicants to ensure that only those that match your requirements go on to apply for your job. This simple tool can help to reduce the number of unsuitable applicants.
8. How much does it cost?
The bottom line: what's the cost? And how does it compare to other job sites and job boards? Is it more or less expensive? If it's more, why is it and do you think it's worth it? If it's less, why? As a general rule, specialist or niche job sites tend to cost more than generalist job sites. This extra charge can be worth it, but do check that the specialist has the audience you are looking for.
A word on free job sites: With our very long experience in online recruitment we have found very few free job boards of any real value. Most of the time free job boards are new and trying to break into a market, or old and dying a death. Whichever the case, free job boards will have limited appeal for candidates and, therefore, limited appeal for you. It's not rocket science: if a site is good people will pay for it. 9. Is there a CV Database?
Many job sites and job boards allow employers to search their CV databases for relevant candidates. This can be an efficient way of finding the right person for a job. However, before you commit to purchasing this service, be sure to find out how up-to-date the CV database is, how much it costs to use it, and get an indication of how many relevant CVs there are on the database.
10. What other advertising services does the job site offer?
Job posting is just the start. Banner advertising, home page buttons, company profile pages, online application management, candidate screening, job match services, keyword sponsorship, email shots: all these additional advertising products can help to increase your chances of online recruitment success. Be sure to ask about what else is available.
Article updated: May 2009 Next step? Try these:
We hope our articles are of help and assistance to you. If you would like to comment on any of them or on whatjobsite in general, please click here to email us. To find the right job sites and job boards to advertise your vacancies, use the search box above. To find specialist or niche job sites to advertise your vacancies click here. Advice home | Online Recruitment | Job sites & job boards | Job Vacancy Advertising | 
