Back To The Future For Job Boards

My recent blog regarding The Future Of Job Boards sparked a bit of debate. A few issues arose from that debate, and I’d like to respond to each of them.

Before I do this, however, there needs to be some clarification around the definition of social media. Many readers assume they know what this means, but – when pressed- have difficulty defining it. And since it remains a hot phrase over the coming years, let’s establish up front what we mean when we use the term.

Social media describes a new set of internet tools that enable shared community experiences, both online and in person.

A community, in this context, is a group of people with common interests who connect with one another to learn, play, work, organise and socialise. Communities can be large or small, local or global. They can be public or restricted to members.

Okay, let’s move on to address some of the concerns and conflicts around what arguably is set to become the latest adaptation in the evolution of the Internet.

1) Social media won’t have the impact on the way the Internet is used: Wrong. Evidence, in the form of the large numbers flocking to Twitter and Facebook, not to mention forums like Whirlpool, demonstrating high levels of uptake of social media suggests there’s something about it that people enjoy. And it doesn’t take a genius in anthropology to figure out what that might be. Humans are social animals. We congregate in groups to share opinion, to gossip, to fight, to fall in love. Any form of communication that exploits this natural tendency will necessarily have dominion over more static formats.

2) Job boards can simply add a social networking component and this way will be able to deliver interactivity to the user, while maintaining their traditional role in the market: This looks like a bet each way to me. Are you a job board, or are you a social network? When customers get confused about the service your business offers, this ameliorates customer base and loyalty. Why would customers want to look at old and outdated jobs listed on the job board component of a business like this when they can hear about what’s hot straight down the line of a social network posting. The immediacy of these types of media makes the static environment of the job board obsolete.

3) Social media is probably where we’re headed, but it’s going to take a while to get there: Well. Der. No one suggested it would happen immediately. We’re discussing future directions here peoples. Keep up with the show.

4) It’s difficult to monetise social media sites: the value of these sites is not around the direct revenue they make, it’s around the value of the unique users. Users bring traffic allowing for the leverage and sale of other products.

5) Social media may overtake the recruiter’s role of moderator in the job-candidate relationship. This may herald the demise of the recruiter: The breadth of contacts a recruiter has, as well as the knowledge of what is happening with the major players in their areas of speciality will work to protect the role of the recruiter in the match-up process. While social media are useful, they are time consuming. Building relationships takes energy. It has always been the value of these relationships that the recruiter offers the process. This will not diminish, but can only be escalated, as social media make contact with more people from more industries, more accessible to recruiters.