As we mentioned in last week’s blog, there are lots of things to consider when choosing a job board to use during your job search – but did you know there are also lots of things you need to consider when deciding whether to stick with that job board?
You see, just because you’ve chosen to use a particular jobs board, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to stick with your decision – and it certainly doesn’t mean that your chosen job board is guaranteed to be effective and to work for you!
Just like anything else in life, different things work for different people – so just because a jobs board works well for your friend or a jobs board works well at the beginning, it doesn’t mean it’s going to be great choice long-term and it’s worth sticking with.
When it comes to assessing the effectiveness of a job board, there are a few questions you need to ask yourself.
1. Does It Do What It Says On The Tin?
Looking for digital jobs and signed up with a jobs board that ‘specialises in digital vacancies’ – but that doesn’t actually have any digital jobs on it when you visit? Uh-Oh! If the jobs board doesn’t do what it says it does, it’s telling porkies and it’s of no use to you – so I’d ditch it sooner rather than later!
On the other hand, if it does have digital vacancies but none in your area or your niche – I’d urge you to be patient! Trust me – the number and the type of jobs that are advertised on a job board changes every day – so I wouldn’t ditch a job board just because no jobs have come up yet which match your criteria.
2. How Good Is Their Communication?
If you’ve signed up for job alerts but received none, despite the fact you’ve seen new jobs come onto the board which match your criteria, you’ve got an issue again! This suggests the job board isn’t set up properly and means you could miss out on the perfect opportunity!
3. How Easy Is It To Apply For Vacancies?
As we mentioned in last week’s blog, user experience is really important when it comes to job boards – so generally, the easier it is to apply for vacancies, the more effective the board should be. Going back to the communications point for a minute; you also need to consider what kind of confirmation messages the job board sent to you when you’d completed simple tasks like applying for a job or uploading a CV. What’s that? You didn’t get any? Now, this isn’t a major problem – but it is a courtesy thing – particularly when confirming a job application which can help to put your mind at rest that the application has been received.
In terms of hearing back from jobs you’ve applied for, this is a tricky one – because there’s actually nothing a job board can do about this. All the job board does is provide a platform for the application to be sent through to the recruiter – and then it’s up to the recruiter to contact you or not contact you. That said; it might be annoying when you don’t hear back from jobs you’ve applied for, but it’s not something you can attribute to the job board and its overall performance – the problem lies with the recruiter!
4. How Useful Is The Information They Supply?
Does the job board have a blog full of useful job seeker tips and hints (a bit like this one!)? If so, how easy is it to find and how often is it updated? The more often, the better. When using a job board, you also need to consider how often they spam you with newsletters/updates and what’s in them. How useful and helpful is the information in these newsletters? The more relevant and helpful, the more effective and useful the job board overall.
5. Would You Recommend It To A Friend?
As any brand knows, reputation goes a long way – and the same can be said with a job board. If a friend of yours was looking for a similar position, ask yourself if you’d recommend the job board in question. If the answer is ‘no’, ask yourself why – and then consider whether it’s worth you continuing to use it.
So there you go; five key questions to ask when assessing the effectiveness of a job board. Disagree with any of my points or think I’ve missed something out? Leave me a comment below.
Source: B2C_Business
Job Seekers: How Do You Measure The Effectiveness Of A Job Board?
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