Brett Minchington explains the importance of promoting a consistent employment brand message across all touch points

With the increasing fragmentation of communication channels used to express, ‘What it’s like to work for this organisation,’ and ‘What’s in it for you,’ it pays to ensure the employment experience you promote to potential employees through a job board is matched by what you can realistically deliver upon in the employment experience – and in many cases this experience starts at a job board.  Read more...

SEEK’s share price quietly crossed $8.00; it is no accident.

At a time when naysayers are at their loudest and their future most doubted, job boards appear to hold sway.

For all their limitations, two things worked in job boards’ favour. First, it helps that almost everyone knows how to use a job board. Our recent report revealed that even the most unlikely demographic group – senior executives – overwhelmingly endorsed job boards. Second, the alternatives, real or imagined, to job boards are yet to deliver consistent results.  Read more...

New research claimed that newspapers, combined with their online websites, are more reputable and effective in influencing the views of consumers than other media channels. The report is a fascinating look at how people consume their news and interact with newspapers (figure 1). It paints a rather glowing picture of the Australian newspaper industry at a time when the sector is struggling for relevance in most developed economies.

So, are print classifieds making a comeback? Not really, but they are not completely dead either.  Read more...

Google is making interesting moves into the Australian real-estate classifieds market. Google Maps is an useful tool, and it’s not difficult to imagine its application in a job search capacity. Already, job boards are incorporating Google Maps in their search engines.

In light of this move, it makes sense to wonder if Google will rejuvenate its neglected job classifieds product – Google Base (Currently there seems to be only around 1300 Australian jobs listed)? It doesn’t look like an immediate priority, but given its domination with anything to do with ‘search’, it would be foolish to write Google off.  Read more...

Taught in every MBA course, Michael Porter’s Five Forces model is a useful tool to make sense of the competitive environment of a particular industry. By mapping the various forces influencing an industry, Porter’s model helps in assessing the attractiveness (profitability) of a market and the planning of corporate strategy.

Whether you are a job board operator, a recruitment agency, an ATS provider or a consulting firm, the Five Forces model is a quick and useful framework to assess competitors, threats and opportunities. For example, the competitive environment of job boards can be briefly illustrated by using Porter’s model (refer chart)  Read more...

WHAT: Job aggregators or vertical job search engines.

HOW: Aggregators, unlike traditional job boards, do not own the jobs listed on their website. Like search engines, they merely act as a platform to redirect job seekers’ traffic. Many job boards depend on them to increase their own traffic. Offer candidates convenience and a wide range of jobs not available on a single traditional job board. Can increase traffic to corporate career website significantly.  Read more...

The Job Board Report 2009 is ready and available for FREE download.

If ‘numbers’ is a yardstick, Australia is currently witnessing a ‘golden age’ of Job board activity. Our report lists 236 job boards in operation, with new players introduced on a regular basis. The job board tapestry is colourful, and every conceivable niche – geographic, regional, professional, job type and industry sector – is represented by one or more job board. A declining print classifieds market, the easy availability of technology, the continuing demands by employers to reach new pockets of audiences is fuelling the growth. In spite of the existence of alternatives, job boards continues to offer a cost-effective solution, and remains a preferred channel to reach out to talent.  Read more...

Job boards in the US are witnessing high patronage. Behaviour in Australia is no different.

The recently unemployed will continue to flock to job boards. The rest who still have jobs will browse around to see what’s out there, just in case.

In times of economic upheavals, job boards are like sanctuaries. Perhaps, it’s because they offer a semblance of certainty in times of uncertainty.  Somehow, a jobseeker feels good to head to a destination where he is greeted by hundreds of new opportunities. Calming frayed nerves is a job board service which is yet to be given due credit.  Read more...

Some nine companies, both local and international, compete in the job aggregation space in Australia. Aggregators, unlike job boards, do not own the jobs listed on their website. Like search engines, they merely act as a platform to redirect job seekers traffic. Some job boards depended on them to increase their own traffic, while some sees them as a threat. Aggregators offers employers another channel to net talent at a very attractive price-point, including the increasingly popular pay-per-click services.  Read more...

Job Board Report 2009, a guide book to assist HR practitioners, recruiters and employers to better navigate the Australian job board landscape will be released shortly.

Register now to be the first to receive the report for free.

We are grateful to our sponsors below for their generous support.

   
Sixfigures is Australia’s leading niche job board for high income earners and senior executives.

   
Resourceware is a market leading recruitment and HR systems provider in Australia/NZ . 

The past often reveals what the future holds. I looked back at some of the major job board related trends in the Australian marketplace.  Read more...

A presentation on the Australian Job board landscape. Email me at info@destinationtalent.com.au if you want the presentation slides.

Some of the most effective job boards don’t focus on jobs alone. Instead they concentrate on building a strong community, often on a platform of quality content. Media Bistro, a content rich community site which also moonlights as a job board for media professionals, is a case in point. Of course, it sold for $23 million.  Read more...

SimplyHired, a US based jobs aggregator, launched its Australian operations yesterday. Already 200,000 Australian jobs are listed on their site.

Jobs aggregator sites have been around since 2005, and the Australian market is well served by a mix of overseas players and local startups. Recruit.net, based in HK, is one of the first and most established companies to serve Australia. UK based Careerjet and local players like Jseekers and myspider are also gaining traction.  Read more...

Problogger is one of the most popular blogs in Australia. On any given day the site amassed well over 65,000 readers. With a loyal and active readers base(one post registered 600 plus comments from readers) it is understandable that Problogger runs a lively job board, charging $50 per job posting.  Recently another popular marketing blog gave birth to a new job board – Socialmediajobs.com.au.  Read more...