How to Attract More Talent with Job Boards

Job boards have been part of the recruitment industry fabric for over 25 years. They revolutionised the way companies advertised vacancies. Job advertisements that had traditionally been published in magazines and local papers, were now all online for job seekers to engage with.

The list of boards operating in the UK is quite extensive. Ranging from the very niche to the more generalist ones, with paid-for and free options as well. With the boards pushing themselves to improve traffic to their sites, what are the best job boards for employers; how can recruiters make the most out of them; and how they can take their recruitment strategy further in the bid to find top talent?

  1. Understanding the right job board for you

    Different boards work best for different industries, so where does your business model fit in? It is good to understand what the USP of each job board is as this can support with taking job roles further. Boards such as CW Jobs, Technojobs and Jobserve have traditionally been known to favour IT and Tech roles; and are preferred for roles within those sectors.

    However, job boards such as Reed and Total Jobs (recently been merged with Jobsite and cross posts to multiple job boards such as Career Structure, Just Engineers and Retail Choice), have invested in technology and analytics to ensure that general Finance and Customer Service roles; and even more specific roles such as Data Analysts, are found at the top of the search results for candidates. The Stepstone Partnership boasts 60 million visits across their 10 brands and has an international presence. Similarly, Monster has a global affiliate network. If you are hiring for international roles these could be a good option to explore.

    This is where knowing your own target market and how you wish to engage your candidates, plays a part as well. If the roles are so niche that candidates are unlikely to search boards, it is better to explore other platforms such as LinkedIn Recruiter.

  2. SEO and job boards

    All jobs boards are essentially websites that give you the option to post jobs on to them. As any website, it is important for it to generate traffic and have the right Search Engine Optimisation to be found by Google.

    In order to improve rankings, along with putting the necessary back end data structure in place, most job boards will also run social media campaigns, generate shareable content and ensure that they are using the right keywords. Google for Jobs rewards job boards by being in partnership with them. Those with good SEO habits will naturally appear higher and therefore have a better chance of engaging job seekers.

    Along with the SEO of the boards, recruiters need to ensure that their own content and job descriptions also use the right keywords. When advertising job roles, make sure that titles are in line with what a candidate would search for. Quirky and cool titles may work well internally, but do not fare well when appealing to job seekers.
    Job descriptions should have a structure and list all key points; so that when Google crawls data, it can pick up on key words quickly and effectively.

  3. What type of inventory works best for you?

    Job boards have a variety of products that can work in your favour. Although Standard listings are available and have been the norm, the boards have improved their offering with enhanced products to help boost performance. These include Featured or Premium + listings, which stay at the top of search results for weeks, company profiles and engaging templates, but also rank higher in keyword searches.

    There is enhanced inventory available to send customised email campaigns (HTMLs or E shots). Additionally, display banners can help to target passive job seekers, based on various search criteria. As of late, job boards have invested heavily in programmatic capabilities. You can also run campaigns to boost traffic based on candidates’ digital interests and activity.

Making use of your own company’s social media can also take your job posting further and complement your online presence when posting jobs.

To gain further insight on what board is best for your recruitment strategy, our WaveTrackR reports advise on where the most applications come from and are useful in recommending on what channels perform the best for hires.

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