selecting-the-right-job-board
Job Search & Hiring

5 Steps to Selecting the Right Job Board Website

Glassdoor Team

Glassdoor Team

Glassdoor Team | Author & Career Expert at Glassdoor | Nov 24, 2015

Are you getting the candidates you want at a fair price from the job boards you use? If not, you’re not alone. A 2014 Glassdoor survey showed that 68% of employers were dissatisfied with the job boards they were using. With the average time to fill a position at 52 days and a cost of $4,000 according to a Bersin by Deliotte study, it may be time to reevaluate the job boards you’ve been using.

Choosing a Job Board Website

Follow these five steps to find the job board website that can help you make quality hires quickly at a fair price:

1. Define your needs. When was the last time you listed what you actually need from a job board? You may enjoy one feature from one job board, and be frustrated with the limitations of another. Take a step back and make two lists: one for critical needs, one for “nice-to-haves.” Critical needs might include ATS integration, mobile apply, and competitor benchmarking. Your nice-to-haves list might include the ability to post Company Updates, list benefits, or target talent from your competitors’ pages. In addition, you may want to list “above the call of duty” services like industry monitoring tools or consultative customer service. 2. Create a scorecard. Once you have your list, create a scorecard and rank each job board you research on a one to five scale. When you add up the numbers, you’ll have an objective view into the job board landscape. Use the format of the scorecard below to create your own:

job board website scorecard

3. Research and compare. In the process of filling out your scorecard, you’ll research several different job boards. Sign up for demos, read case studies, ask questions and get proposals. Try to get an understanding of how each one will fill your particular needs, and what analytic capabilities are offered. Here are some questions you might ask:
  • Is this job posting site relevant to candidates researching my business?
  • What employer brand attributes can I highlight on this job posting site that I can’t on others?
  • Will my traffic and impressions be higher on this platform than others?
  • Do they market a mobile app to help job seekers find my job listings?
Once you fill out all the scorecards, you can put all the information you’ve found into a competitor pricing matrix such as this:

job board website selection criteria

4. Gather evidence. Gathering evidence is about knowing your market – what candidates are looking for, and what your competitors are doing to attract them. For candidates, find out where else they are applying, what jobs sites they use, and how they research your company. For competitors, see which job board sites they are using, how they appear in search results, and how they brand themselves in job descriptions and job boards. This step will help you validate your scoring and confirm or deny initial assumptions about how your candidates and competitors behave. 5. Select and measure. Congratulations! You’ve done all your homework. Now you can evaluate the proposals you’ve received, consider your scorecards, review the market intelligence, and make your selection. Perhaps you’ve found that a job board website you used in the past didn’t pass the test, and you’ll be trying out a new one. Or maybe you’ve negotiated a new contract with a long-time vendor. Before you sign on, just remember to put ROI tracking in place so that you can monitor performance going forward. Check out our Slideshare presentation for a visual guide to selecting the right job board, or download our eBook for a more in-depth view of the topic.
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Glassdoor Team

Glassdoor Team

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