Job boards come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and some don’t even call themselves “job boards”. There are small, independent job board businesses, there are large-scale platforms that generate revenue through selling job posts in addition to other services (think GlassDoor, Indeed, and LinkedIn), and there are the career pages of corporate websites and the job postings that tie into Applicant Tracking Systems on recruitment company websites.
Recruiters, regardless of their in-house tech, use job boards as a part of their overall recruitment marketing. Recruitment marketing, by the way, encompasses all that recruiters do to reach attract, nurture, and engage candidates. Recruitment marketing can include posting jobs, social media, email, phone, content marketing, and more.
Job Posts
Job boards serve multiple purposes for recruitment marketing. The most popular use of job boards for recruiters is that they provide a platform for advertising jobs, where they will be seen by the talent they are targeting. However, job boards frequently offer more to recruiters in the form of tools, talent, and advertising opportunities.
Employer Branding
Job posts and company profiles allow recruiters to showcase their brand as an employer*, and provide more information to the job seeker. Job boards also provide candidate/resume search, letting recruiters discover and contact passive candidates that fit their job requirements. Many job boards also deliver tools for managing candidates and job applications.
*This may vary depending on the type of recruiter. Recruiting agencies that work on behalf of clients may not have permission to disclose the employer brand, and may use the agency’s brand instead.
Candidate Management
Recruiters sometimes use many job boards to reach the talent they are targeting. This can occasionally be a challenge for job boards who sell to recruiters, since many job boards hope to be the only place a recruiter needs to advertise. After posting a job on one board, they may post it on several more just to cover all bases.
How Job Boards Can Help Recruiters
Job boards can make it easier on their recruiter clients by offering different options for receiving and managing applications, such as connecting with an ATS, receiving applications by email, or distributing jobs to other boards, aggregators, and networks. Some recruiters may not have a dedicated ATS or candidate management system, and may instead use a job board as their default recruiting platform. This becomes an opportunity for the job board to do its best to help recruiters make the most out of their platform.
Why Recruiters Run Their Own Job Boards
Recruitment companies are challenged by the need to reach the right candidates quickly and easily, so that recruiters can spend more time with candidates and clients, instead of posting multiple jobs. Recruitment companies have increasingly been merging these needs together through in-house job boards that attract and market to candidates, as well as let recruiting teams access and manage candidates and job requisitions.