Job posting is big business. And so were wagon wheels to your ancestors. But everyone needs a job, right? Revenue that’s based on finding those jobs has to be profitable in the long term. Unfortunately, that might not be true after all.
Look at what’s happening with Monster. It was wildly profitable. And now its future is uncertain. Maybe it will be sold. Or maybe its shareholders have other ideas. The point is that the industry changed and Monster wasn’t able to keep up. And perhaps that’s because revenue was too closely tied to the wrong factor. Perhaps job candidate access was and remains the real revenue generator. Here’s why.
RELATED: We’re on the Verge of a Programmatic Job Posting Revolution
#1: Search Algorithms are Really in Control
Google has a lot of power. Job boards are designed with Google search algorithms in mind. But what happens when those algorithms change? Job Board Doctor suggests that it’s a potential disaster in the making.
Just because Google hasn’t changed in ways that negatively affect the way you do business doesn’t mean that they won’t. It’s in the power that Google holds, not in what they’re doing with that power right now.
Think about SEO and how the old practice of content keyword stuffing caught the ire of the search engine giant. In one fell swoop, gaming the system with SEO no longer worked. If job postings are your bread and butter, and if those postings depend on Google, your revenue depends on a factor that you can’t control.
#2: Candidate Access is the Heart of the Issue
Imagine an old rotary phone. And now imagine a high-tech mobile device. What do they have in common? They are commodities that give access to people who have conversations. The need to communicate hasn’t changed over the years. The method of communication has.
Job postings are a commodity. That’s what Job Board Doctor says, and it’s true. Unfortunately, any commodity can tank just like a rotary phone. It happens all the time when technology improves and one commodity becomes be outdated. But what doesn’t change is the job candidate.
When your profits hinge on a commodity, one false move sends the whole operation into a tumble. Focus on access to candidates instead of the job posting commodity and you’ll stand a better chance of staying on top of the shifting sands instead of becoming buried by them.
#3: The Tide is Already Turning
Job Board Doctor points to an industry that’s already changing. Some sites are thrilled because the bulk of their revenue comes from job postings. But that might be better classified as a cause for concern than a reason to celebrate.
He calls it a “race to the bottom.” That’s blunt! But the illustration is pretty clear. Job boards that have already migrated from selling job postings to selling access to candidates are clear winners. And they’re able to adapt much easier than those that are commodity-centric.
When you sell candidate access instead of job postings, you open your business up to an incredible range of options. No longer is your revenue welded to a job posting. Now, your revenue is free to come to you through products that easily change with the times, such as emails, videos, and technology such as candidate matching services. That’s huge, because candidate matching is all about, and only about, connecting employer with candidate using the most efficient means possible.
If your revenue is dependent on job postings, your access to revenue is on its way out. Think of job postings as one egg in one basket. The more baskets you have and the more eggs you collect, the less likely you’ll be to go under when job postings become obsolete. You can reinvent your business when that happens. Or you can toss that one egg aside and keep moving forward.
If you’re ready to shift from a job posting focus to one that embraces a wider range of revenue options, you’re in the right place.