Job boards are dying…at least if you believe some people.

The latest so-called evidence of this phenomenon is in this Wall Street Journal online article, which discusses how more companies today are enhancing their own Web sites in efforts to attract talent (a tactic I wholeheartedly agree with); but it also seems to imply that because of this, companies no longer have a need for job boards in their recruiting strategies.  That’s where I don’t so much agree, and here’s why…

• First there’s the fact that millions of job seekers are visiting some of these job boards every day, enabling companies the biggest opportunity to get in front of their largest audience at once. While having a comprehensive, informative careers page on your company Web site is an excellent recruiting tactic, that alone is not enough for most businesses to attract the volume of applicants they may need to fill their needs.
• Then there’s the argument that advertising on large job boards generates too many applicants for employers to sort through, which is fair to say…but that’s also exactly why CareerBuilder, at least, gives clients access to several free extras like free custom screener questions and resume search agents: to free up time and move the process along. As well as offering full screening services.
• But most of all, it’s simply a misconception that job boards have failed to evolve with new technology and offer no services beyond job postings or resume searches.  What about services like careers site creation and hosting, SEO enhancement, employment branding and applicant flow management, to name a few?

Just look at Sodexo, a company that is moving toward these new strategies the WSJ.com article mentions – such as using widgets on its Web site to reach job seekers – while still incorporating job board services into its overall recruiting strategy. In a recent e-mail to a CareerBuilder sales rep, a spokesperson for Sodexo wrote, “While we may seek to reduce the resources allocated to traditional job board postings, we are able to take advantage of other offerings from the CareerBuilder team, such as direct mail marketing, enhanced job branding and research regarding our talent pool.”

(Oh, and even in regards to today’s golden child of recruiting strategies – social media – CareerBuilder too is offering services geared toward helping employers establish and manage their social media presence and further connect with job seekers and is the only authorized recruitment reseller of Facebook products. Snap!)

I’m not saying that employers should consider job boards as their one and only way to find and recruit new employees…I’m just saying that you still need to consider them. Companies that diversify their candidate attraction and talent management practices will always be more competitive. And don’t you want to be a winner in the war for top talent?

It’s true, some job boards might not make it in this new economy, but (spoiler alert!) CareerBuilder is here to stay. Though you may think of us as ‘just a job board,’ CareerBuilder is more than meets the eye (kind of like Transformers), and we’re constantly evolving to meet changing employer – and job seeker – needs.