Debating the future of job boards should be something every person in a recruiting position is talking about. Job boards made their way into the job market more than 20 years ago! These frequently used tools have been through the highs and lows of hiring, including the recession. With the flood of digital transformation into the HR space, are job boards rolling with the punches or becoming the punchline of a “back in my day” joke? 

Dive into the debate on whether or not job boards will reign supreme or fall to their deaths:

Everything Needs Changes

Overall, most job seekers wouldn’t consider job boards sexy. When you’ve been around for longer than some applicants have been alive, it’s easy to fall into old habits and techniques which have proven successful in the past. But, it also means it’s time for a change and a revamp in the way you’re looking for candidates. Especially, since applicants are looking for jobs in modern, digital ways.

Recruitment technology advanced at a rapid pace and for the most part job boards stuck with them, but social media has come to revolutionize the way people find jobs or more specifically how jobs find them. Due to this, many employers have significantly changed the way they think about recruitment and employer branding. However, job boards have done little to evolve and match their new challenger. 

In fact, Google for Jobs, a job search tool, is still far from delivering the promised results of boosting the exposure of your job listings to help you attract more relevant candidates to your roles, especially in the UK. However, no one is writing it off quite yet. Another downfall to the current set up is the shift from free posts to paid posts on sites like Indeed.com for agencies in the US and UK. Plus, the rise of voice technology is making a big splash in the industry. While some companies have dabbled in both a voice search and skill-development capacity, others haven’t even thought twice about it. The verdict is still out on whether or not job boards can rise to the challenge of staying competitive in the job market. 

The market is shifting towards Cost per Applicant (CpA) or Cost per Hire (CpH). Yet, this trend hasn’t revealed itself to date, and no business model has emerged for job boards to utilize. Last year, companies paying for visibility on job boards only increased. The business model of job boards hardly seems tenable using CpA or CpH, since these days each applicant has a small commercial value. This is where technology has brought us: candidates have become a commodity.

Although, technology is advancing beyond current jobs boards, does this mean they’re dead? 

Why Displace Job Boards?

Today’s industry doesn’t look like it did 10 years ago, and it won’t look the same 10 years from now. However, that doesn’t mean job boards have lost their relevancy now or in the future. If you walk into almost any HR conference right now, you’re bound to hear job boards are dead. Yet, the industry is worth about $20 billion worldwide and growing. 

Did you know: After referrals, job boards are the most effective method for job-seekers.

So are job boards really dead? Short answer – not quite. Unless you ask those who are trying to kill them by pushing their own narrative. In fact, the only thing really dead here is the term ‘job boards.’ As stated earlier, candidates don’t see job boards as sexy; and in an era where everyone is trying to push out the latest UX designs and social media influencers are posting what’s hot and what’s not, it’s time the term had a little more sex appeal.

With the newest technology coming in, job boards can utilize a majority of it to gain the momentum they need to shoot straight into 2025, with a little help. Employers, software developers, and HR managers need to be looking at what technology is the latest and greatest, how it relates to outdated job boards, and how they can improve it to fit their needs. Customizable quizzes, job postings, and insight into candidates are great ways to spice up outdated tech.

The Verdict Is:

In short, the days of job boards in their current form are numbered, but they’re not dead. If they can manage to retain, shock, and attract candidates more effectively, job boards will remain relevant in the future. If they don’t, they’re doomed to lose out to Google for Jobs. That is once Google has worked out the initial bugs. Job boards need to offer more context and make sure the masses of data they collect is actually converted into added value for candidates and recruiters. If they can achieve that, there’s a place for them in 2019 and beyond.