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Big Job Boards Won’t Help You Get Your Job

August 07, 2013 by Careerminds

A lot of job seekers are recently wondering if job boards are still relevant in their job search. A lot of job seekers over the last decade have turned to the major job boards in hopes of a convenient way to land their next position, but this route of job search has turned up to be a disappointment. With 17,738 job searches done every 60 minutes, where are you in that sea of candidates?

The big names like Monster and CareerBuilder are the top dogs for a reason, they bring the numbers, but who does that actually help? When recruiters or hiring managers put a job out there, they can receive hundreds of applicants. The overwhelming number of applicants can turn the screening process into a free-for-all where resumes are skimmed through by the second. And applicants are left waiting and wondering where their response is.

Furthermore, the technology behind job boards hasn’t seemed to keep up with the rest of the world. Have you tried searching a major job board lately? Their searching systems are kind of a joke. Searching by keywords or job titles relevant to the position can turn up some pretty irrelevant positions. Transversely, even using universal job titles, many of the opportunities won’t show up because of differing titles and terms.

Recruiters will often post the same job on different job boards. Candidates are left wondering if their application goes to the same person. If they do go ahead and apply again, will it make them look like they don’t pay attention to detail, or that they are desperate? The lack of communication and personalization in these major job boards has been causing a disconnect problem for a while now, and so came the rise of niche job boards.

Consulting professional, Bruce Dorskind the evolution of big job boards. He sees a broad idea that was in need of refining. Dorskind says,

“The big general job boards, Monster, Hotjobs and Career Builder were very important early on,” says Dorskind,” because they educated the public about the concept of a job board. What the big job boards did was it sold the American public the idea that a job board is a viable way to find a job.” But as the decade of the major job boards has passed, we’ve learned that the job market has changed. “Like every nascent market, it starts out in a very general way, and migrates to the specific.”

Go Niche

Niche job boards are industry specific communities for recruiters and candidates to connect on a smaller and more personal scale. For instance, Dribbble has been the go-to place for designers to share their work and look for new positions. It’s great for recruiters because they get to connect with industry insiders and actually see what they can do. We also love sites like Github for coders and all things code. These smaller, more intimate sites make it easier to find relevant and quality candidates. And for the candidates, they aren’t one in a sea of thousands.

Along with social media job hunting, referrals and in-house movement, niche job boards bring a more personal approach back to the job search. Before the major job boards, we were knocking on doors, carrying our resume and actually talking to people. Job boards bring the numbers, that’s undeniable, but niche seems to be the better way to go.

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