Are candidates important to job sites?

You’re probably thinking, “He’s kidding, right?”. Sadly, I’m not. For many job site operators, the focus is almost exclusively on employers – what they want, how they want it, how much they’ll pay, and so on. In a way, this makes sense – after all, for the vast majority of job sites, employers pay and candidates don’t.

But step back for a moment – why are employers willing to pay in the first place? Candidates – and not just any candidates. They want candidates that are skilled, experienced, and competent.

Yet it is extremely easy for job sites to forget who their primary customers are in the daily push for sales. That why it’s a good idea to hang a large sign in front of every desk that says, “Candidates rule”. OK, “Job seekers rule” is fine, too!

Think about it for a second – how might you change your site if you were to focus on it from an exclusively candidate-centric perspective? No doubt you’d make some things easier to do. Perhaps you’d add some services. Regular talks with job seekers would make sense, too. Some job sites even go so far as to put employers and job seekers in the same room, talking about how they could interact online.

Job sites are always compromises between the needs of two sets of customers – candidates and employers. But never forget – if you don’t have the candidates, you certainly won’t have the employers!

Tagged as: job seeker audience, planning and development, user experience