The Future Of Job Boards

We’d all agree with this: if any business or individual wants to communicate with other individuals or clients into the future, they will be required to do so via a means that is not static. By the term “static”, I mean the simple pronouncement of information, without adjacent means of interaction or relationship-building.

This statement applies to the recruitment industry as much as any other.

Moreover, this statement applies to job boards, as much as it applies to any other conduit of communication.

As it stands, the traditional method for recruiting is to place an ad. on a job board and wait to see what sorts of responses slink their way into your inbox as a result.

Usually the outcome is not pleasant, both in good and bad economic times. Let me extrapolate: in good times, desirable candidates are comfortable, entrenched in their positions and paid well. They’re confident. They don’t reach out and share because they see no purpose in it.

Contrarily, in bad times, EVERYONE feels the need to share, so recruiters are hit with a veritable onslaught of resumes, most of which read as though they are simply trying to meet the Centrelink requirement of having applied for a certain number of positions. All recruiters are familiar with the picture I have just painted, but nothing changes because:

1. The job board method is easy. It makes recruiters feel as thought they’re being effective (people like to feel like they’re making progress in their roles and duties)

2. Job boards are frequently underpinned by massive media companies, and we are accustomed to thinking these are the only agents of information dissemination.

3. We’re not creative or innovative enough to consider the situation from a different perspective.

But we’re going to have to. In much the same way as television, an historically static medium, has had to redefine its role by considering increased relationship-building and interaction with viewers, the recruitment industry needs to reconsider how it spreads its word.

Social media a godsend in this regard. It provides us with the means of providing information (eg advertising jobs), building relationships (with clients and candidates) and conducting forums for discussion (like this one) on how we can improve as an industry. With all this to offer, I cannot see space for the one-dimensional model provided by the job boards. In other words, I cannot see a role for job boards coming into the future.

This will no doubt be a hot topic at the HR Futures Conference ’09

Friday Funny

Haven’t these guys heard of nasal spray technology??

Island reef job video. Didn’t know Kel Knight (kath and Kim) was applying…

Miss Teen USA 2007 – Ms. South Carolina answers a question. Should have attended more classes…

Adlogic – The Recruiter

AdLogic is a multi-post and recruitment management solution provider. It powers several recruiters and employers.

You can imagine my surprise then, to see that they are now turning their hand to recruiting. C++ Analyst/Programmer .

Hang on (double take), that’s our job as recruiters.

Latest Jobs

Seek.com.au
Strategy Analyst – Melbourne

Onrec.com.au
Senior Interactive Producer – Melbourne
Producer – Games Industry – Melbourne
Senior Character Artist – Sydney
Recruitment
Consultant – Brisbane/Sydney/Melbourne
3D Artist – Sydney
Experienced Games Programmer – Melbourne/Brisbane

Confusion At MyCareer…

Every now and again I have a moment of remorse for MyCareer and CareerOne, who just seem to spend their existences clawing their way up the mountain past Seek, whose lead just keeps getting wider and wider.

Other times, I shake my head and make that clicking sound with the tip of my tongue on the back of my top teeth; the one I save for my kids when they  have made a particularly bad choice.  Haven’t I just been clicking and shaking my head all weekend over this one.

Check out MyCareer’s advertising pricing.  There is little consistency in the packages.  For example, if I choose to advertise in the The Age over The SMH for print and online bundle, then The Age is more exy.  However, if I’m just opting for a print ad, The SMH is more expensive.  I’m perplexed as to why this is the case.  Then, when I click on to buy the more expensive $211 option of The Age bundle, the prices are actually $198.  Jeeeez.

How can consumers expect to make informed choices about where to spend their advertising dollar if they cannot get correct information from a job board like MyCareer?

And just as a further note, the lowest common denominator, in terms of function, of a job board is communication.  How on earth can MyCareer expect to act as an agent of communication for other companies, if they can’t even get their own messages through clearly?

Friday Funny Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s day…

Recruiter Daily Spam Update

As I see it, one of the most important roles of a blog is to open discourse regarding issues in particular industries.

I’m not a qualified journalist or researcher, and never have claimed to be. But I believe in discussion, and I’m willing to attempt to engage my readers in such discussion – even at the risk of my views being exposed as somehow invalid.

A couple of days ago, I opened discourse on the issue of spam. Please Support Our Spam. It seems my views upset the folks at Recruiter Daily, and I got this dressing down from them today:

In response to your blog post about Recruiter Daily’s ‘spam’, I’d just like to clarify our position (which is completely above board in the eyes of ACMA).

When you and our other 11,600+ subscribers signed up to receive RD you knew it relied on advertising for revenue. That’s how we provide the service for free.

Our privacy policy stated then, as now, that subscribers’ details would only be used to contact them about our service and our affiliates. The fact that we haven’t sent any messages on our advertisers’ behalf until this week doesn’t change the fact that we have your permission to do so. We do not, and never will, share subscribers’ personal information with any third parties.

If you really feel that the inconvenience of receiving a maximum of one advertising email per fortnight (which is fewer than other free publications send) is not worth the value of what Recruiter Daily provides then you’re welcome to unsubscribe.

Yikes. For a minute there, I was victim to a very real flashback. Me. The Principal’s Office. High School. As I read, I waited anxiously for news of the length of my detention or dreaded yard duty.

But it prompted me to take a further look at this issue of giving subscriber details to third parties.

My delving uncovered this:

Despite assurances from Recruiter Daily that “We do not, and never will, share subscribers’ personal information with any third parties.” here they are touting my details to anyone willing to pay: Advertise with us.

Email our subscribers

Be the sole subject of an email sent to our 11,000+ subscribers. You decide on the content of the email, including graphics and links.

You can also tailor your message for subscribers in specific states within Australia (contact us for a state-by-state breakdown).

• Email all subscribers: $5000.00 (11,000+ recipients)
• Partial mailing: 50c per email ($2500 minimum)

My details feel like they’ve been pimped.  My details have more dignity than that.

To make matters worse, their claims that the terms of subscription alluded to occasionally giving out my details to advertisers were, well, plainly, incorrect.

You see, I have subscribed to RD for three years now. My Agreement was that affiliate publications of RD Shortlist, Workplace Express and OHS Alert. could have access to my details. My agreement said nothing about selling my details to advertisers. The agreement to have your personal details given to advertisers by RD on subscription is a new agreement. I, and I assume many others of RD’s subcribers, was never informed of these new terms.

Spam is unsolicited email. My claims stand.

Please Support Our Spam

Question: when is spam not spam?

If you ask Recruiter Daily, they’ll tell you it’s when you’ve been notified by them that they will be sending it to you.

If you ask JobX, they’ll tell you it’s when you’ve signed up to receive their “newsletter” and therefore are obligated to receive it FOREVER, despite the fact that you’ve unsubscribed.

Both of these answers are incorrect. Let me extrapolate.

Last week, Recruiter Daily informed me that from now on, because I subscribe to their news, I will “occasionally” be receiving advertising from their advertisers. Well, thanks there, kind of you to tell me. But how does this sort of softening change matters in any way? Recruiter Daily; hear this. I subscribe to receive your updates, not advertising from your sponsors. Whatever the rationale for your decision to share your mailing list with your advertisers, and however politely you request that I read their propaganda, what you are doing surely falls under the description of spam:

It’s illegal to spam (Spam Act 2003). So don’t.

Next: JobX. And I won’t be prettying this up with humorous metaphors about stalking ex-lovers (JobX – I’m just not that into you). I’m gonna tell it straight. This is a point of online etiquette, as well as a principle of law. As my regular readers know, I have had a hard time trying to escape unwanted mail from JobX. Despite my attempts to dodge their steady flow of advertising into my inbox, and my having written about this already, yet another piece of garbage advertising from these persistent junk mailers crossed my desk late last week. Uuuuuuuuuurghhh (this is the sound of a grown man chucking a hissyfit).

I respect clever marketing. I respect building relationships with clients. I do not respect spammers. Spam is unimaginative, cheeky and illegal. It shows a disrespect for the intelligence of your client base – and it also demonstrates a very lean understanding of marketing on the net.

Friday Funny

CareerBuilder.com Official Super Bowl Commercial 2009. Poor Koala..

Seek’s New Partner

Wow! I’ve just happened across an exciting innovation in the online recruiting space. Thinkresources.com.au is offering an instructional on how to place jobs on Seek.com.au. Talk about value for money. Once you’ve written your ad., they’ll approve it, and they’ll place it live on Seek within an hour – but wait, there’s more! The ad. will be placed for 30% less than what you’d pay going directly through Seek. (see here)

I’m so excited and can’t wait to spread the news to my casual-rate paying colleagues. Why on earth would they elect to place their ads. directly when they can do business with these “proud partners” of seek.com.au (sneaky buggers, Seek, why no press release about this new partnership?):

As proud partners of many online job portals such as seek.com.au – we provide assistance to our clients with producing top knotch advertising on the latest advertising mediums.
With savings of up to 30% off the generic prices and with valuable advise such as optional proof read this is an opportunity for your business to save money whilst attracting great staff!

Personally, I wouldn’t want to access a communication service that can’t ensure its own copy is free of spelling errors. But maybe that’s just me – I’m sure there’ll be loads of clients willing to forgo accuracy for such a fantastic saving. Top notch.

Note: Relish in glory while you can, Think Resources. What were you thinking?

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