The 2010 Job Board Report is ready for download here. Here are four observations from the report:

The Competitive Landscape
The wrath of the downturn spared no one; industry revenue dipped by 21%.  However, the industry grew in numbers even in the midst of falling revenue. We recorded 270 jobs boards, an increase of 14% from last year, and many more are still in the woodwork (we counted around 50). Convinced that the print industry has no long-term future, job boards are buoyed by the fact that spending on print media still amounts to an estimated $400-600 million every year.

As competition remains fierce, the gap between a good and bad operator becomes more apparent. While household names rule the roost, new players with little hope of survival enter the market; many just unique domain names masquerading as job boards. However, new niches rich with potential continue to be discovered. Resume databases are looked at with new vigour, monetising job seekers’ experience is doing the rounds, and new business models are emerging.

A Year of Doubt, A Future of Hard work
Besides having to tackle the wrath of an economic downturn, job boards have been forced to address simmering doubts. Proven or otherwise, alternatives to job boards are suggested with aplomb. The social media brigade is the loudest. Already, 53% of recruiters and 23% of HR have dabbled with social networks. While social media offers compelling reasons for adoption, there is little evidence of mass migration from job boards. Still, past glory amounts to little, and like all players in the employment game the task to stay relevant will be all consuming for job board owners.

Endorsement Remain Strong (The triangular nexus)
As it stands, the fortune of the job board sector is influenced significantly by recruiters; in turn recruiters owe their existence to employers. There’s a place for job boards as long as recruiters can do a better job than employers in finding talent. Good job boards count as an essential tool in the toolbox of any competent sourcing operation. 96% of recruiters continue to use job boards; it’s in the interest of job boards that the recruitment industry thrives. For now this dynamic – a nexus between job boards, recruiters and employers – remains healthy. Also, it helps that job seekers – those who have the least to gain from job boards – are generally positive with their endorsement.

Clarity of Purpose
Thanks in part to the emergence of alternatives, more than ever, there is a clearer understanding of the problems job boards can solve. With almost all friction eliminated in posting job ads, using job boards is effortless and widespread. Over time, fuelled in part by marketing and the lack of real alternatives, job boards have been painted as the be-all for sourcing.  Job boards do a good task within the realms of what they can and are supposed to do.  Expecting more than they can deliver often results in blame falling in job boards’ courts. Sourcing is a complex operation; a universal solution rarely exists. Smart sourcing operations who understand the need to use different tools for different tasks will call upon job boards to perform what they are best at doing; nothing more nothing less.

Voices
This year, to decipher the road ahead, we enlisted the help of twenty contributors, many of them giants of our industry. A beneficiary of their wisdom and good grace, I remain eternally grateful to all contributors below:

• Brett Minchington (CEO, Employer Brand International) argues that promoting employer brand should be the bedrock for all recruitment advertising.
• Greg Savage (CEO, Aquent) thinks that technology by itself amounts to little, and that it is people, not job boards, who find people.
• Jeff Dickey-Chasins (Founder, Job Board Doctor) sheds lights on new global trends that will affect the industry.
• Carey Eaton (CIO, SEEK), provides pointers on why job boards matter and the potential of the industry to further grow.
• Paul Jury (Head of Executive Recruitment, Talent 2), offers an assessment of the job board sector from a recruiter’s perspective.
• Clifford Rosenberg (MD, LinkedIn), believes the time for social networks in recruitment has arrived.
• Lisa Watts (CEO, ArtsHub) contemplates a future where job seekers paying for content might not be a rarity.
• Peter Wilson (President, AHRI) believes that Association-run job boards have an important role to play. Lauren Jensen, Marketing Manager ITCRA, shares similar sentiments.
• Keith Muirhead (Head of Jobs, TradeMe) believes a job board’s growth lies in looking after the welfare of the audience – job seekers.
• Google and search engines matter in job searching and sourcing, argues Glenn Davies (Director, JXT Consulting)
• Phil Harpur (Senior Research Manager, Frost & Sullivan) reveals past, present and future numbers for the job board sector.
• John Kirkby (CEO, ExpatJobs) lays down ten points to illustrate that all job boards are not created equal.
• Kevin Lodge (CEO, EOC) illustrates the value of face-to-face interaction as an alternative method to source talent.
• Adam Shay (MD, The Face) thinks offering advice on job boards will feature in the evolving role of advertising agencies.
• Andrea Culligan (MD, Unimail) addresses the issues of using multiple channels in recruiting Gen-Y.
• Kelly Magowan (CEO, Sixfigures) lays down the case for niche sites.
• Riges Younan (Director, Peerlo) affirms the need to boldly experiment with many sourcing tools.
• Leah Gibbs (Founder, Lifestyle Careers) highlights the idea that many demographic niches remain largely untapped.
• Martin Warren (Principal Consultant, Insidejobs) dives into the role of sourcing in identifying passive candidates.
• James Green (Director, Check4jobs) thinks aggregator with new business models have fresh solutions to offer.

The Job Board Report is supported by the following organisations:

JXT Consulting (Premium Sponsor)

Few observations from the recent Recruittech conference.

Doubt is good. Not surprisingly, there are many cynics as there are converts to the bold new world of online social engagement. In my book, doubters are in a good place – at least they are participating in the conversations and asking additional questions. Indeed, no one really have all the answers, what works for one organisation in one industry may not work for another. Advice from @RigesYounan – “Just try stuff” – best sums up the mindset of early adopters (the brave). The best time to start on social media was, perhaps, five years ago; the next best time is now.

Fundamentals never change. Despite the hullabaloo on new media and new ways of doing things, ‘relationship’ continues to be the mainstay of the recruitment profession. In fact, when everyone has so much information about everyone else, real relationships will be the deal breaker. Social media merely provide the tools to build new connections and enhance relationships. Once the dust settles, those left standing will be the ones who invested in ‘relationships’. ‘Let’s do coffee’ will never go stale.

Resourcing: Often relegated to the bottom of the hierarchy, Resourcers (aka Research Managers), will increasingly be the ‘go to’ people. Best equipped to find talent online because they themselves have rich digital footprints; we will be hearing more from them as the number of channels to monitor explodes. Follow the likes of @AndreaMitchell and @AylinAhmet, they are a new generation of savvy social resourcers with their hands firmly on job seekers’ pulse.

Career websites: The vast majority of career websites (say 95%) need fixing; no one in the industry really raised their hands until now. @Jobadder (Brett Iredale) seems unable to make mistakes. That his presentation is on career websites (not his job posting software or its foray into the ATS market) is yet another smart move. Without doubt, majority of the two million organisations in Australia do not have engaging career websites. Why job boards and ATS providers, who manages the supply pipeline of jobs, do not address this opportunity is a mystery. Ad agencies looking for new income streams need not look further. Be prepared to see a lot of attention on websites as organisations take up more responsibility for their candidate traffic.

Blogging is not dead. At its best it is an effective employment branding tool. At the very least it humanize an organisation, as @DavidTalamelli (Oracle) succinctly pointed out. If you are new to social media, blogging is imperative. If your target audience is more sophisticated, a real time interaction may be more useful. Still, if it is about drawing traffic to your career website, blogs need to be in your arsenal. It’s also the easiest to start, and with the right intentions the payoff is worth thousands in marketing dollars.

Outsiders. Sometimes, the best insights are offered by those outside of recruitment. We need objective feedback; the more critical the better. @SilkCharm (Laurel Papworth) and @trib (Stephen Collins) are outsiders who bring unique perspective to our industry. It would be interesting to have a panel made up of only outsiders (imagine getting a panel of artists to recommend how to attract talent). Banishing insularity can only be fruitful.

Job boards: @KellyMagowan highlighted the difference between niche and generalist. While some may argue that it amounts to ‘two bald men fighting over a comb”, the fact remains that job boards are the dominant channels to advertise and find jobs (More on generalist vs specialist in a later blog post. Meanwhile, have a look at the Long Tail concept, the controversies and the latest fascinating results from Nielsen).

Currently, job boards are doing well because unlike social media they do not discriminate users (on a job board a good or bad recruiter has almost equal chance). Social networks are unkind to those who just wanted to buy attention, and the vast majority of recruiters currently fall under this category. So will you attract talent if you advertise on job boards? Yes and no. Yes, if you are reaching out to the demographic (mostly active job searchers) job boards reaches. No, if you want to reach, well, those not reached by job boards. It is rather silly to blame job boards for not reaching talent that they are not meant to reach.

In the short-term, a clearer picture of what tool will be effective for a particular demographic group will emerge. If you are hiring part-time receptionists job boards are always more likely to provide a steady stream of applicants. If you are after a CIO, exploring the social web is likely to be a better option. You go to job boards to find talent they reach, just as you go to Twitter to engage Twitter users. The audience dictate the tools. The idea is to have both in your recruiting toolbox (and having more tools than your client is what sets the agency recruiter apart). It is never in the interest of an agency recruiter to ignore any possible source.

In the long run, job boards may need to address the fact their sites are places where people who don’t know one another go to. There is tremendous value in interaction. Job listings by themselves will cease to have little value. Context will be key; rich content will be a differentiator. Many will bite the dust, but brand matters. The popular boards will be around for as long as they can deliver resumes at a price point lower than the alternatives.

Training: To this point, recruitment firms succeeded in large part because of their ability to mass produce a winning formula. Train enough recruiters to meet KPIs and you have a successful business. How does one teach social media skills (Can it be)? What role will training play? Demand for up-skilling will increase but the learning curve will be steep. Influence in the new environment is gained by long periods of giving first. The gap between those who get it and those who don’t will be wide, mainly because the new recruitment realm is more about mindsets than it is about tools and processes. Follow @RossClennett, he’s constantly charting new paths (stirring the pot occasionally), blending new-world thinking with old-world sensibilities.

Changing behaviour: Recruitment tools got all the attention, but changing behaviour of job seekers is equally important. @CareerMums (Kate Sykes) monitors the ever evolving workplace with a particular focus on job flexibility. @mspecht (Michael Specht) lent a sharp eye to the problems faced by organisations populated by connected workers. I argued Job seekers will increasingly call the shot. Given the changing landscape, writing a job ad and not knowing where to promote it will be a recurring dilemma for most advertisers. Attention will be really hard to get. Shouting louder will not be useful. The real opportunity is building your own tribe/community and winning the permission to talk to them.

Web 2.0 : Without doubt, every recruiter’s vocabulary must include web 2.0 tools (rss, widgets etc). Many of the technologies are simple enough for a layman to understand and use (see McKinsey report on how companies are benefiting from web 2.0 ). Keep track of @Thomasshaw’s activities, he’s constantly investigating web 2.0’s relevance to recruitment.

Money money money: Breaking bread with fellow presenters confirm the life of an entrepreneur (a wannabe in my case) is seldom normal. It appears most of us make do with erratic income streams; encounter occasional ridicule and self-doubt, but plodded on regardless. It seems there is little outside money invested in our industry. Imagine what the likes of @RigesYounan and @bluetrain (Clayton Wehner) could achieve if they have capital to play with. Anyone got some spare bucks?

Recruitment firms: Lots of interesting discussions with recruitment firms. If you are a recruiter, relevance is a matter of staying one step ahead of clients. It’s a simple mantra – do something that your clients cannot do well themselves. The problem is employers are able to do a lot more on their own, which is why exploring new ways of doing things is important. Accepting the new status quo is a good start.

People: Not enough time, but met lots of good people. The @GradConnection boys are everywhere. If enthusiasm alone defines success, their day will arrive soon. I’d give Michael Burns a call, he knows a lot more than he is revealing about the nuts and bolts of how our industry works (and where its heading). Mark Tayar is not your typical ATS marketer, he’s into building a community.

Conferences: Recuittech seems destined to spread to more locations. Strange, in a way, that a conference predominantly about digital connections requires meeting up physically. Our yearning for face-to-face interaction (and beer will spawn more gatherings, albeit smaller in sizes. HR Club is a sign of things to come. Count me in for the next one.

Pictures: Few pics from the conference. Presentations: Available on Slideshare (tag recruittech).

What’s next? Ok, lots to digest, but here’s a timely advise from Seth.

Regardless of the less than stellar economy, the talent acquisition industry is witnessing a lot of positive activity. I have been engaging in discussions with a few industry peers and had the opportunity to see/test a few exciting products. Below are three, I encountered this week:

DigitalReach
In a nutshell, DigitalReach aims to distribute jobs to an audience not easily reached by job boards. Essentially an attempt to find ‘passive job seekers’, the DigitalReach product will place jobs where candidates congregate. Using widgets, the service harness the power of independent publishers, bloggers, associations and online communities. While job widgets are not new, DigitalReach’s potential lies in making the targeting of small audiences easier. A  ‘nothing to lose’ revenue sharing model (50% of revenue goes to partner sites) and a deliberate strategy to partner with quality publishers adds to its allure. Currently on trial with a few selected partners, DigitalReach is the brainchild of Jorge Albinagorta, who can be reached at jorge@latinocean.com.

TalentReach (SixFigures)
A new product to be launched by Sixfigures, TalentReach is a fresh approach to find executive talent by combining search technology and human review. Part-search technology, part-human shortlisting service, TalentReach hopes to bring the best of both world in sourcing executive talent. For a set fee, TalentReach offer a helping hand to what has been until now a largely do-it-yourself database search; employers are offered two suitable candidates within a month of the search starting. Its main appeal lies in customers being charged only on the delivery of suitable candidates.  For more information contact Kelly at kelly.magowan@sixfigures.com.au

JobGenie (Employer Referral platform)
Currently in beta, JobGenie is introducing a new software (pay per use model) to effectively harness the power of referrals within organisations.  In essence, the system will allow employers and recruiters to deploy, manage and measure their internal referral programmes. A simple tool, yet with far reaching potential, given the proven effectiveness of referrals in acquiring talent, JobGenie is a product worth having a look. Riges Younan is no stranger to this blog (see here and here). As founder of 2Vouch, Riges has been single-handedly  paying an ‘education tax’ to bring ‘referral recruitment’  to the masses. Watching the JobGenie product, one sense that the effort will finally pay off. Riges can be reached at riges@2vouch.com

In the coming days, I’ll write more about the three products in detail. For now, we ought to rejoice that innovation and entrepreneurial spirit remains intact  in the midst of so much turmoil in our industry.

Phillip asked me to write a few words on topics that I’m very passionate about – referrals and the relevance of social media in the talent acquisition process. Oh yeah and he’s asked me to make some predictions for 2009, too. So here goes..

Referrals in a downturn
Now, being the CEO of 2Vouch – an online job referral platform – I’m obviously convinced of the value of referrals in the sourcing process. In fact, after over 12 years in executive recruiting, I believe they are the most effective sourcing strategy. Research has shown that with referrals you can reduce; the cost of hire, time to hire and increase the quality of hire.

Actually, I’ve been using referrals my whole career and I think they become even more relevant in a downturn, why? Increased unemployment = increase in direct job applications and active candidates = increase in the time cost of screening, filtering, responding, interviewing etc.

I recall working in New York at the backend of 2001 and remember listing jobs on Monster – within the hour I would literally get 200 email applications. I had to quickly log back in make the ad inactive because I couldn’t deal with any more responses. Okay, this may be an extreme example and you won’t experience that with SEEK et al but I would much prefer a candidate being referred to me by someone that has put their reputation on the line and vouched (sorry couldn’t help it J) for the prospective candidate. This allowed me to focus on the important parts of the process like building relationships and qualifying the match.

Where is Talent Acquisition heading?
On the agency side, I have noticed a very strong trend of customers moving from larger generalist recruiters to highly specialised boutiques. In fact, the most interesting trend is the rise of the independent recruiter and the ‘virtual recruiter’; this recruiter is very tech savvy, has all of their data “in the cloud” and is extremely mobile. These recruiters don’t just communicate with their candidate and customer community; they live in the community. It is these recruiters that participate and drive activity in these communities that will survive and thrive in ‘09 and beyond! So if you are an agency recruiter and you want to remain relevant, put yourself in a position where customers in your industry must use you because they cannot get to the people that you can as you have the relationships.

Corporate recruiters and HR will become more educated about proactive and direct sourcing. The use of social media tools to impact employer brand and talent attraction will increase. Lastly, the percentage of hires that come from employee referral programs (ERP) will increase as new tools to manage these programs will make ERPs more efficient and the business case for investment in this area will be too compelling not to be heard by the business.

Social Media’s relevance to recruiting.
Social media is the future – I know I’m probably preaching to the converted but if you are in a role that requires you to find people for your company and your colleagues don’t know what Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, social recruiting and boolean search strings are – then you have a responsibility to get them to Google these terms and suggest they to catch-up.. quickly!. You will see more active candidates responding to advertisements but keep in mind even in a down market companies hold onto their best performers, and these are exactly the people that you should be trying to attract to your company – these candidates are not waiting by their computer for your SEEK ad to go up so that they can respond. You must build relationships with these people over time using social media tools, so that when they decide it might be time for a change you will be the company or recruiter they contact.

Predictions 2009 in Australia
For both Corporate and agency recruiters SEEK will remain the default option in the short term as unfortunately most recruiters are fundamentally lazy (now before all the recruiters reading this post fly of the handle, I speak from experience as a recruiter and as a manager running recruiting businesses globally, so I’ve seen similar characteristics all over the world) and the easiest thing to do is post an ad on a traditional job board and pray that the ideal candidate falls in your lap.

Other innovative business models will take time and cash to gain traction in 2009. For all of those start-ups out there, unfortunately it’s going to be a tough time to raise money in this economic climate. So the big guys will not have to change unless a competitor becomes a pain in the a*se, and that might be a couple of years off.

Having said that, there will be a LOT more active candidates out there so we may see traditional approaches creating floods of applications that are frustrating enough to push recruiters and hiring managers to look for alternatives. Naturally, these people will be extremely cost conscious, so new solutions had better deliver great value FAST.

Lastly, I think social media will play an important role in recruiting, particularly Twitter the micro-blogging service within the Tech and Digital markets. We will also see the virtual recruiter start to go mainstream! Viva la virtual!

If you are interested in listening to my rants or would like to keep updated about the developments at 2Vouch you can follow us on Twitter

Riges Younan http://twitter.com/rigesyounan

2Vouch http://twitter.com/2Vouch

All the best for 2009!