Running a job board in today’s ever-competitive digital world means paying attention to what successful job boards and job search sites are doing. Failing to keep up with changes and improvements could spell certain death for your own job board as employers, recruiters, advertisers, and job seekers will be more likely to go to your competition if you aren’t up to speed. If you’re not sure what traits some of the big names in the job search industry have in common, here are three that can make or break your job board:
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1. Flexibility
The ability to be flexible is an important part of running any type of website, but it’s even more so when it comes to running a job board. The best job search engines are flexible in that they allow employers and recruiters the ability to do things like post multiple ads using advanced tools that make the process efficient, but they also offer flexibility in terms of offering users search tools that include things like the ability to filter results.
What this means for your job board is that you need to make it easy for employers to post jobs, for recruiters to scan candidates, and for job seekers to look for relevant results. If your site’s architecture is rigid and fails to allow for different types of job searching and posting, you’ll likely lose business.
2. Accuracy
When looking for a job, the last thing an unemployed individual wants to do is waste their time. Many such individuals are already stressed due to unemployment, and they want to be able to find openings fast. If someone searches for IT jobs on your site and they receive results for data entry, they’re going to be frustrated, they’re going to think your site isn’t designed very well, and they’re probably not going to spend any further time on your site. This then means fewer users, less ad revenue, and fewer employers posting to your site. The best job search engines use algorithms that match searches with accurate results, so follow their lead and do the same.
3. Relevancy
In addition to accuracy, relevancy is something that the best job search engines focus on when providing results to both job seekers and recruiters. A recruiter who is looking for a candidate who has a Masters in biotechnology is not going to be pleased if he or she is provided with page after page of candidates who do not possess that degree. Likewise, an employer who is based in Texas and is looking for local talent is likely going to be frustrated if he or she is sent candidates who live outside of the region.
In addition, job seekers aren’t going to be happy if they are searching for jobs in the medical section of your site, but they are seeing nothing but open positions in the agricultural industry. Make sure that your search results are relevant in order to attract and retain employers, recruiters, advertisers, and job seekers.