Author: Maddy

How Recruiters Use Job Boards

by Maddyin Recruiting

Job boards come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and some don’t even call themselves “job boards”. There are small, independent job board businesses, there are large-scale platforms that generate revenue through selling job posts in addition to other services (think GlassDoor, Indeed, and LinkedIn), and there are the career pages of corporate websites and the job postings that tie into Applicant Tracking Systems on recruitment company websites.

Recruiters, regardless of their in-house tech, use job boards as a part of their overall recruitment marketing. Recruitment marketing, by the way, encompasses all that recruiters do to reach attract, nurture, and engage candidates. Recruitment marketing can include posting jobs, social media, email, phone, content marketing, and more.

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Job Board Revenue Models for Publishers – Part 2 of 2

by Maddyin Job Board Strategy

This week we’re continuing our discussion of job board revenue models for publishers.

Online publishers – magazines, newspapers, blogs, news and media websites, and online communities centred around content – have dedicated readerships and established relationships with advertisers and benefit from generating revenue through job boards.

Last week we discussed the Job Page/Hands-Off model and the Print Sales Companion model. This week we’ll have a look at Revenue-Sharing, and the all-in-one Embedded Revenue Stream model.

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Job Board Revenue Models for Publishers – Part 1 of 2

by Maddyin Marketing

Last week we discussed what online publishers with job boards today look like, as well as what particular advantages and disadvantages they may have in the job board industry.

Online magazines, blogs, news and media websites have a variety of options for using a job board to generate revenue. Some of these revenue models are dependent on their technology solutions, the presence of print publications, and internal business structuring. Of course, not every publisher job board will fit neatly into these categories, and you may see your business reflected in more than one.

This week we’ll take a look at the Job Page/Hands-Off Model, and the Print Sales Companion model.

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Job Boards for Publishers: Advantages and Challenges

by Maddyin Job Board Strategy2 Comments on Job Boards for Publishers: Advantages and Challenges

In many ways, job boards owe their existence to publishers. The classifieds section in the newspaper used to be the first place you looked when starting a job hunt. Online job boards have come a long way since they first emerged in the 1990s and have played a significant role in transforming job search and recruiting, and in expanding the recruiting industry.

In this edition of the Careerleaf blog and two posts following it, we’ll continue our tradition of unpacking key elements of running and marketing a job board business, this time for online publishers specifically. Our hope is that by explicitly sharing and discussing the various advantages, challenges, and revenue models for publisher job boards, you’ll be prompted to see what you are doing in a comparative light.

Publisher Job Board Businesses:

Before diving in, it is worth it to define the broad spectrum of online publishers. Publishers come in all shapes and forms. Many established newspapers and magazines have traditionally sold recruitment advertisements in their print editions, and have in time developed parallel web presences that include job boards. In some cases, the digital has overtaken or replaced print publications entirely.

However, many online publishers today have emerged because of the Internet – successful blogs that expand into large news and media websites. Online communities centred around content – recipe sites, video gaming forums, etc., may also add a job board to deliver relevant career opportunities to their users.

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Your Pre-Launch Job Board Plan

by Maddyin Job Board Strategy

You want to start a job board, but you’ve asked yourself some tough questions and realize you may need to do some legwork before you’re ready to go all in. Don’t lose heart – Careerleaf’s pre-launch plan for job boards should help you reach your goal.

If you decided you’re not ready to launch yet – look at the reasons why and turn them into milestones along the path to starting a profitable job board business. The criteria you’re using to judge whether or not you are ready likely involves four key areas: market research, candidates, employers, and branding.

Build a Candidate Following

To get employers to be your customers, you need to prove you can deliver the kind of candidates they want to hire. To do that, you need to establish a connection with the candidates you and your would-be customers want to attract. There are a lot of great, cheap ways you can start community-building before you launch your job board, including:

  • Social media: share content, resources, and advice with the candidates you want to target. Take advantage of the hashtags, groups, lists, and search functions that social media platforms provide to discover and engage with the online community in your target industry. Interact with people and start providing value now.
  • Blogging: plant your flag and start creating your own valuable content and resources. You can also contribute content to other industry blogs to expose your brand to wider audiences in your market.
  • Start a Group or Mailing List: you might already be in the habit of finding and sharing amazing jobs within your space – why not start a social media group or mailing list to share them with subscribers? This is especially valuable, because people who have opted in to this service are more likely to want to use the amazing job board you’re going to launch.

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Outbound Phone Campaigns for Job Boards

by Maddyin Marketing

There are so many cases where a problem can be solved with a simple phone call.  Wondering why an employer posted one job on your board last year? Find yourself wishing you could help that new company from the news with their hiring?

Just pick up the phone.

That’s a phrase I have often heard from Careerleaf’s own CEO, whose recruiting and entrepreneurial background has given her many opportunities to test out her own advice. A quick conversation over the phone can be an incredibly effective way to qualify your employer or recruiter customers, build relationships with them, and solve problems.

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Scary Mobile Experiences on Job Boards

by Maddyin Technology

We’re one week away from Halloween, and I’m thinking about all things spooky and scary, including what’s frightening on a job board – bad mobile experiences.

I know, I know.

You know that job seekers search and browse jobs on their mobile devices. We’ve talked about it a lot here on the Careerleaf blog, and you’d have to have your head in the sand not to notice how many people use their mobile devices for just about everything.

But the reality of it, and how job boards are facing up to it, can be a frightening prospect. Below are a couple (anonymous) examples of what job search can be like on a phone.

Classic Old School

This job board features a still-functional older design, but it’s intended only for desktops/laptops, and becomes unreadable on mobile without excessive zooming and scrolling. The point of registration for the job seeker isn’t any easier for the mobile user.

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Your Guide to Email Marketing for Job Boards

by Maddyin Marketing

Over the past two weeks we’ve talked about ways that job boards can use outbound marketing to generate business. We touched on email marketing, but it’s a subject that deserves a blog post of its own.

Job boards can use email marketing to engage existing job seekers and customers, or to reach out to new ones. Email marketing can be as simple as sending out an email to a large number of people waiting for a response. Or you can get more complex with segmentation, automation, and A/B testing.

In this post we’ll talk about a few areas worth learning about as you get your email marketing started, including anti-spam laws, available tools, automation, A/B testing, campaign goals and optimization.

Keep it Legal

Anti-spam laws vary depending on your region or the region of your target market: Wikipedia has a list of email spam legislation by country available, so check it out.

You may need explicit permission from someone before adding them to a mailing list, or you may be limited in how often you can contact a person or business with whom you have not had previous contact. In most circumstances, if it’s not mandatory, it’s still a best practice to always allow an email recipient to opt out by providing an unsubscribe link or instructions in the email.

Tools for Email Marketing

There are lots of tools out there to help you along your quest to use email marketing, many of which are free. Here a few worth checking out:

  • MailChimp is great for newsletters and maintaining mailing lists, it’s free for sending email to less than 2,000 contacts, and its paid features include automation and A/B testing
  • AgileCRM combines customer relationship management with automated email campaigns, among other sales and marketing tools.
  • Yet Another Mail Merge takes advantage of Gmail and Google Sheets to email contacts and track things like who opened them, who clicked, etc.
  • MailTrack adds a checkmark in your Gmail on every email that has been read

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Outbound Marketing for Job Boards – Part 2

by Maddyin Marketing

Read Outbound Marketing for Job Boards – Part 1

Welcome to Part 2 of Outbound Marketing for Job Boards! In this post we’ll go over outbound marketing tactics that will definitely cost you. But fear not! Many of these options don’t cost a lot, and you can pick and choose what best suits your business and your budget.

Outbound Marketing for Job Boards (That Will Cost Money)

 

Online Advertising:

  • Plain text (e.g. AdWords
  • Display ads (images)
  • Videos (e.g. Youtube ads)
  • Social Media

Most advertising systems will let you set spending limits so you can stick to a budget. As always in digital marketing, it’s important to track your results and improve on your messaging and/or methods based on what you learn from the data.

Many social networks will also let you post display ads, some in the usual leaderboard, banner, or skyscraper formats.

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Outbound Marketing for Job Boards – Part 1

by Maddyin Marketing

This summer we’ve talked a lot about social media, SEO, and inbound marketing. As we shift into fall, I’d like to turn your attention to outbound marketing for job boards.

We’ll divide this into two posts, the first of which will cover low-to-no cost methods of outbound marketing.

Outbound marketing gets less attention these days, as it’s the more traditional route than its digital-first sibling, inbound marketing. But as I outline these marketing tactics for job boards, you’ll that some use the same digital channels as your inbound marketing, and some may be older yet incredibly useful methods.

Low/No-Cost Outbound Marketing for Job Boards

These methods don’t have to cost you a dime, but some are made easier through marketing software, a VOIP plan, or printing some business cards.

Phone & Email Campaigns:

Not everyone naturally gravitates to picking up the phone and calling people, but it’s still an effective way to connect with potential customers, as is email. Some campaigns will combine both emailing and calling prospects, as well.

There are a couple rules of thumb to keep in mind, whether you’re phoning or emailing prospective customer.

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