The future is alluring – nothing bad has happened yet, you haven’t made any dumb mistakes yet, and anything could happen. In fact, the future is so interesting I will now write about it (with my job board industry goggles on).
So, let us finish the following phrase in as many interesting and contentious ways as we can, shall we?
The future of job boards is…
- Dead. After all, hundreds of bloggers and commentators can’t be wrong can they? (Well, yes, actually, they can – see #2 & #8)
- Rosy. A rebounding economy, the intrusion of the web into every nook and cranny of everyday life, and a desire to do better will drive growth across the job board industry.
- Social. Job seekers AND employers want more social features on job boards – so expect to see them.
- Regulated. Did you think the OFCCP reporting requirements were a pain? Get used to it. I predict more is coming.
- More revenue. Expansion into career hubs, new social media services, and more niche sites mean more revenue for smart job board companies.
- Lower margins. Commoditization of job postings, more niche sites, social media, and cheap, easily available job board software will drive overall profitability down.
- LinkedIn / TheLadders / Craigslist / .jobs / etc…: You get the picture. There will always be competition, and there will always be those who predict that ‘something’ will kill job boards. Prove them wrong.
- You. That’s right. You run them, so you get to write how this story will end.
What did I miss?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
The future of job boards…is probably a i phone app which pings up the nearest recruiters relevant jobs as you walk past and hits them with your c.v in return
This future of job boards is… sites that don’t promote themselves as job boards.
I have just completed a survey of 10,000 IT professional’s in Ireland with 700 responses.
One of the questions I asked was “Do you know anyone who has got ANY job through Twitter, Linkedin or facebook”
82% said No
The big winner being Linkedin following with facebook and twitter as 3rd and 4th.
I have just completed a social media campaign for http://www.ComputerJobs.ie & have come to the conclusion that its not what job seekers are interested in – following updated jobs via these services – they just switch them off.
But I am amazed at the amount of ex marketing people who have jumped on the bandwagon, learnt some technical tricks of the trade and are making a good living scaring companies that if they dont get social, there finished.
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