Job Board Doctor

Although I’m a bit skeptical of Google’s recent prediction of the imminent death of the desktop, it is true that more and more people are using their mobile devices as some form of a portable computer – for proof, just think of the number of times you’ve watched someone gamely try to type on their Blackberry or iPhone. It’s funny – but if your choice is writing on paper (horrors!) or entering your thoughts into your phone, there’s really no choice.

So where is your job board? Do you have a mobile version – and if not, is one in the works? I hope so – for example, over 30% of mobile device users are already using Twitter, Facebook, and the like on the go. With the advent of Twitter-centric job sites like TweetMyJobs, the pressure from job seekers will only continue to mount for mobile versions of their favorite job boards.

What comprises a good mobile interface? Simplicity and ease of use, focus on the most used functions, and compatibility on the most popular mobile platforms. It never hurts to ask your users what functions they would like to use on their mobile devices. And don’t forget to make the interaction between the mobile site and your regular web site seamless and painless.

Curious to see what your site looks like on a typical phone now? Well, you could dial yourself up, I suppose – but these sites are more fun!

It’s been a year since I started blogging – a year filled with both good things and not-so-good things. But the best thing? I’m still blogging, you’re still reading, and we’re all still learning.
I rarely (well, actually, never) write about my personal life. Why? Because I’ve always assumed that: a) it’s pretty boring; b) you [...]

Cool – now what is that, exactly? To me, it means unusual (in a good way), well designed, and ‘of a piece’. In other words, if it’s different and hangs together, or approaches the job board paradigm in a different, effective way, it’s cool!
So here are a few job sites I think are cool:
Krop
Not surprisingly, [...]

Matt Alder published a fascinating piece last week about ‘job clouds’ and why he thought Twitter could be the future of job boards. It was one of those “I wish I had written that!” moments for me, to be honest.
In brief, he posits the creation of a ‘job cloud’ created by multiple employer Twitter feeds [...]

Doostang just announced that they’ve landed $1.25 million in new funding. That’s not a huge investment compared to the boom years, but it is a signal that our industry may have reached bottom and is beginning to rebound.
So you’ve survived the worst. Now what are you going to do?
Do you have a plan for growth? [...]

By now you’ve probably heard of JobDeck, a modified version of the popular Twitter search application, TweetDeck. A collaboration between TwitJobSearch and TweetDeck, JobDeck has a permanent, specialized search that focuses on jobs. These are sourced from the Twittersphere, based on employment-related keywords, plus additional content from LinkedIn.
Well, it’s gotten the New York Times excited.
But [...]

There are thousands of job sites out there. If you spend much time looking at them, like I do, you quickly realize that many lack ‘brand identity’.
In other words, they’re forgettable.
Try it yourself. Go to JobBoardReviews or Google “your favorite industry + jobs” and see what you find.  I’m betting that (after you get past [...]

It’s true: anyone and his or her dog can have their own job board. Actually, the dog could probably run the board, thanks to Job*a*matic (well, maybe not my dog – she sleeps too much).
How many job boards is too many? Peter Weddle says we have 100,000 or so worldwide. I suspect only a small [...]

A few weeks ago I put out a request: what would you want to see from job boards in 2010? Quite a few of you responded – so here are your comments and ideas

It’s never a good idea to upset your customers. So why would a job board allow a so-called ‘fake’ job posting – a job listing that, in fact, does not currently exist?