Tag: So You Wanna Build a Job Board

This blog post is the fifth in a series that will examine the pros and cons of different methods of creating and running a job board as the focus or part of a business. There are many reasons for creating a job board﹘it can be the centre of your business, a way to pipeline talent for your recruitment firm or staffing agency, or a way to help monetize your already traffic-heavy news/media website. This is the fourth installment of our series, and covers the ins-and-outs of installing software to run your job board’s technology. Also see: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

 SaaS is the sassy-sounding acronym for the term “Software-as-a-Service”. It refers to software that lives on the Internet. The software is hosted by the service provider, and often in “the cloud”, as opposed to their own in-house servers.

 SaaS can be delivered to the customer either through a shared online portal (e.g. all customers log onto the same website to use the software), or it can be delivered through unique customer instances (e.g. everything is hosted by the software provider, but is accessed through a customer’s own website).

Let’s get down to it, then. What’s good and bad about using SaaS to power your job board?

Continue reading “So You Wanna Build a Job Board? Part 5 – Cover Your SaaS”

This blog post is the third in a series that will examine the pros and cons of different methods of creating and running a job board as the focus or part of a business. There are many reasons for creating a job board–it can be the centre of your business, a way to pipeline talent for your recruitment firm or staffing agency, or a way to help monetizeyour already traffic-heavy news/media website. This is the third installment of ourseries, and covers the ins-and-outs of outsourcing the work of building your job board. Also see: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5. 

We’ve already covered what it takes to build a snowman job board from scratch as a Do-It-Yourself project, and what’s involved with building a job board entirely with WordPress.

Now let’s say you want the final product to be similar–something customized, something where you get the final say in every detail–but you either can’t or don’t want to do the building of it first-hand. So, you want to explore the option of paying someone else to do that work for you.

If you just need someone to build a WordPress job board for you, you’re looking at hiring a web designer on a short freelance contact. As discussed, the barriers-to-entry of creating a WordPress job board is comparatively low, but at the same time, hiring a designer who knows WordPress well can be money well-spent if that kind of work is not your personal forté.

If, however, you’re looking to create something more ambitious as far as the design and technology of your job board goes, outsourcing the development will become more involved. So what are the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing the building of your job board?

Continue reading “So You Wanna Build a Job Board? Part 3 – Outsourcing Sorcery”

This blog post is the second in a series that will examine the pros and cons for different methods of creating and running a job board. There are many reasons for creating a job board–it can be the centre of your business, a way to pipeline talent for your recruitment firm or staffing agency, or a way to help monetize your already traffic-heavy news/media website. This second installment covers the ins-and-outs of building a job board using WordPress technology. Also see: Part 1, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.

Why did I title this method of building a job board “Frankenstein’s Monster”?

 Let me state up-front that I love WordPress. I’ve used WordPress in both my work and non-work life to blog, and to create and manage websites.  WordPress is awesome. (I’m also quite fond of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, come to that.)

 This blog runs on WordPress, and its Content Management System is the go-to CMS for most business websites. There are tons of free resources for beginners, and you can find free and premium/paid themes, plugins, and other add-ons to enhance a WordPress site’s functionality.

Bottom line, if you need a website for your business, start with WordPress.

 There are now a number of WordPress themes and plugins that provide basic job board functionality, which means you can combine them to create your job board. I call this WordPress job board option “Frankenstein’s Monster” simply because it involves using tools and elements created by others, and fastening them together to create a final product.

 Alright, so what’s good and bad about this option? Many of the pros are similar to those for building one from scratch yourself, because you are in charge of your hosting, your content, and how you use your technology.

Continue reading “So You Wanna Build a Job Board? Part 2: “Frankenstein’s Monster””

This blog post is the first in a series that will examine the pros and cons of different methods of creating and running a job board as the focus or part of a business. There are many reasons for creating a job board–it can be the centre of your business, a way to pipeline talent for your recruitment firm or staffing agency, or a way to help monetize your already traffic-heavy news/media website. This first installment covers the ins-and-outs of building a job board website yourself from scratch.

I love Pinterest. I particularly enjoy browsing the crafts and “DIY” category, just to see what kind of things people come up with. That said, a lot of projects posted there are more complicated than their pretty pictures allow for. Google “Pinterest DIY disaster” and you’ll find a long line of failed real-life attempts at replicating the final products depicted. But you can also find some beautiful, legitimately successful examples creativity that comes from a little bit of Pinterest inspiration.

So, what’s it like when the Do-It-Yourself project is something as complex as a Job Board, and not party decorations?

Continue reading “So You Wanna Build a Job Board, Part 1: The Do-It-Yourself Project”