Operating a niche job board, even in a field such as healthcare that’s growing exponentially, requires great relationships and marketing in order to thrive. How can you attract the attention of the right companies so that you’re known as the go-to spot for doctors, nurses, techs, and administrators looking for their next position? Conversely, what steps can you take to make sure that you’re attracting the best candidates and offering a great experience to everyone who uses your site? Here’s a closer look at some top lessons from major mainstream job sites.

SEE ALSO: Study the Best Niche Job Boards, and Become Even Better

Make Your Specialty Clear

Some of the top specialty job boards, such as Idealist for non-profits and Dice.com for the tech industry, developed a strong brand. Their offerings were clear from their design, name, logo, content, and tagline. Big job boards followed the same strategy to become a mainstay with recruiters and job hunters. Think about whether your specific brand has been articulated and dialed up to an appropriate level. Are you the go to site for Physician’s Assistants? The leading site for hospital administrators? Be clear about your points of differentiation and use that to anchor the rest of your activities.

Create Recruiting Features

Building relationships with the top companies in the healthcare space requires more than just the ability to post a job. Companies are looking for robust recruiting tools, such as analytics on how many views their jobs received, application management features, integration with other employment tools, and more. The better the experience you’re offering recruiters, the more likely they’ll use your job board to find their candidate pool.

Allow Job Searchers to Create Profiles

Today’s recruiters are also looking for more passive features. In a world where it’s increasingly common for candidates to have websites and robust social media presences, large job sites have become savvy to the power of the candidate microsite. Niche job boards can leverage the same concept by allowing candidates to create profiles that showcase their resume, accomplishments, digital presence, and career objectives. It gives candidates marketing power and allows recruiters to anonymously headhunt for applicants they’re excited about.

Improve Search Capabilities

The world of search is changing. While the traditional job board format asks users to highlight what type of job they’re looking for and in what location, users’ search styles are evolving. Major job boards such as Monster and LinkedIn have been following search best practices and preparing for semantic search. Semantic search is the more conversational style people tend to use when searching from mobile devices, saying things like “show me nursing jobs near Boston” rather than the clunky keyword searches favored by desktop users.

Device Compatibility

Does your job board look great and function fully on a wide range of mobile devices? If not, now may be the time to think about investing in this. Not only are the major employment sites optimizing for mobile users, but search engines are now penalizing any website without a mobile optimization strategy. Don’t get left behind because you failed to plan for the mobile revolution.

Today’s largest employment sites offer useful strategies that niche job boards in the healthcare space can follow to establish credibility, increase visibility, and become a known brand. Investing in these areas will help you stand out and lay the foundation to work with the top health brands and best candidates on the market today.