For anyone thinking about launching a generalist job board, it’s fair to say that you may have missed the boat on this. The landscape is dominated with mature players like Monster, Indeed and others (depending on which country you are in). These guys are already known and trusted by jobseekers and employers.
If however you are thinking about launching a niche job board, that is a very different thing, especially if you already have an audience. One of the biggest problems employers have is searching out the right quality of candidate and filtering out irrelevant applications. If you are a publisher with a decent sized niche audience, it’s possible that employers would be crying out to get their vacancies in front of your readers.
In fact I frequently encounter missed opportunities where I see a publisher with a strong brand and/or a significant niche following that is not offering job opportunities to its audience. There are a few reasons why this is worth talking about.
Why launching a job board is a good idea if you are a niche publisher:
- Jobs are a necessity for most people
Most of us need employment at some point in our lives. It used to be that once employed you could expect to spend your whole career with one employer. Nowadays it’s more common for employees to switch every 2 to 3 years or even have a portfolio career where they work for a number of employers at once. This means there is a constant rotating stream of candidates looking for work – leaving behind them a stream of vacancies. A never ending supply of job vacancies and jobseekers. Niche publishers are perfectly positioned to tap into this demand.
2. We are all part of a tribe
They come in a variety of shapes and sizes but the profession we choose and the people we hang out with mean we have an affinity with people of a similar profession or similar interests. In fact we will quite often enjoy reading the same kinds of books/magazines or visiting the same kind of websites. They give us a sense of affinity and trust. That same sense of affinity and trust mean a jobseeker would much rather apply for a job via their favourite publisher than trawl through an ocean of irrelevant jobs on one of the big generalist job boards.
3. Employers are jobseekers
In the world of recruitment marketing, we tend to think of jobseekers and employers (or recruiters) as 2 separate people. But employers change job too. And when they do they will be looking for the best job board to find the best jobs. Once they have found them they will then use them to recruit their own staff. What better place to hire than via a website which attracts an audience that matches the job you are hiring for?
Reasons publishers choose not to launch job boards
There are a variety of reasons that publishers choose not to launch job board, her are some of the main ones I have come across:
1. We are a publisher not a job board
It’s important to have a strategic vision, and yours may mean that you have decided to exclude potential peripheral revenue streams in favour of focussing on your core offering. This makes sense. But it’s worth noting that some of the most successful job board businesses started life as magazine publishers. They launched a job board offering and over time, the revenue from the jobs dwarfed the revenue from the main publishing business. Don’t underestimate the revenue potential that exists in recruitment.
2. We don’t know how to run a job board
Job boards are in fact a form of publishing so you are not a million miles away from home when considering launching a job board. Fortunately there are a number white label job board software platforms that mean you can get up and running with relative ease. You can either do this yourself or hire a job board marketing consultant to help you.
3. Where will we get the jobs from?
If you are worried about launching a job board with no jobs on it, I can understand why….it’s not a good look. Fortunately there are solutions around this and you can take live jobs from alternative providers such as job aggregators. In fact some of them will even pay you for each application you send to them.
If you want to have a chat and explore your ideas with me, get in touch for a free consultation!
