Steal this idea!: a roundup of employment and career hubs

I said I would be more prompt about my periodic roundups of new  and unusual employment sites – and for once, I am! This time we’re going to look at a special sub-set of site – hubs. I’ve talked about these sites before – they combine career-related content, news, blogs, and (of course) job postings. Why? To engage candidates in an ongoing basis – not just when they’re looking for work. Much of the noise over at LinkedIn has been focused on this specific problem – how do you keep those thousands (or millions) of candidates engaged and coming back for more?

To repeat what I mentioned in an earlier post, a career hub (also often called an employment portal) can include:

• Job listings (of course!)
• Industry news
• Ability to interact with other candidates (forums, chat rooms, etc.)
• Opinion (blogs, etc. – which also let candidates comment and interact)
• Candidate Services (resumes, candidate profile pages, training, certifications, candidate marketing, etc.)
• Employer Services (job postings, profile/resume access, targeted emails, site ads, company profiles, sponsorships, etc.)
• Articles (industry-specific developments, professional development, how to, etc.)
• Events (webinars, career fairs, offline events, etc.)

So let’s take a look at some hubs that have survived (and possibly thrived):

• GlassCeiling: As you might guess from the name, this site is aimed at professional women, with a particular focus on how they can successfully navigate and overcome workplace sexism and bias. Content includes job listings (via Adicio), blog postings, interviews, live events, and Q&A. This site has been live since 2011.
• Archinect: This hub focuses on architects. Active since 1997, the site features a massive amount of content – both site- and user-produced. It also offers advertising, job postings, and a service it calls ‘Talent Finder’ – basically, a blinded, paid resume search. Architects and companies can also put up their own profiles, including various multi-media options. A good fit for its industry.
• ConstructionWork: Not surprisingly, this site serves the construction industry. It has a mix of job postings (although the most recent was several months’ old), forums, a place to request construction quotes and search for leads, and even a picture gallery (which makes sense, given the focus).
• MarketingHire: This evolved from a print publication, and has been around since 2004. In addition to job postings, it has some very targeted career articles, a blog, video training, and salary trends and info.
• ProductionHub: Kind of like eLance for the video production world. You can search production companies for work, or search profiles for employees – and there’s an area for classifieds (buy/sell equipment). Of course you can view sample reels, and there are plenty of ads for schools and education – all industry-focused. Nice.
• MediaBistro: I’ve covered MediaBistro before – but it was really a pioneer of the ‘career hub’. It includes live events, training, job postings (natch!), and – interestingly enough – a product called GPlusData, which (for a price) allows you to up to 10 G+ users or pages, based on demographics, activity, and more. Very interesting!
• TranslatorsCafe: An interesting site – very retro in looks and functionality, but with some pretty cool services for its users. If you’re looking for a translator, you can search by original and target language, location, or agency. Translators can actually set up their own web sites (as subdomains of the cafe). There’s also a very active forums area. And of course, you can view the site in a variety of languages!

I hope this tour of employment and career hubs has given you some ideas to steal for your own site. Let me know if I missed a good one!

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