Will Social Networks kill off the Job Board?

Last week at the Recruitment Unconference I listened to a number of large recruitment agency firms and various industry experts discuss the impact of Social Recruitment.

One camp felt that the Job Boards of today will be killed off by agencies and HR; sourcing directly via Social Networks.

Some worried that the recruitment agency would be killed off in 10 years when today's teenagers join tomorrow's HR, with their wide digital networks nurtured over the years.

There were examples of agencies cutting 100% of job board spend! Where are the candidates coming from?- From their website via Twitter or Linked In.

Before we rush our attention to killer tactics of social recruiting to save thousands of pounds, I would like to consider the following framing points...

1. Social recruitment is very young. The social web evolution is in its early phases. Those early birds are, in some cases delivering strong results, but will this success remain feasible as the marketplace gets more crowded? How will it scale? Will it infringe privacy and be reined in by legislation?

2 Every new thing is always going to kill the last thing, according to media hype! But does it, or does the hyped frenzy just promote the killing? If the job boards embrace social media, it could become their best friend since Google, instead of the executioner. (Just as Google was a serious threat back in 2000)

3. The last major digital recruitment revolution - the online job board - delivered the CV database, which has created a volume of monstrous recruitment agencies. The volume of consultants that just forward CVs straight from a database as a "punt" is staggeringly high. The service level has suffered- no screening, no client relationship, no candidate relationship. Will social recruiting improve the situation or build on an ever-increasing bad named industry?

One thing is for sure, social networks are here to stay, even if the platforms change (Friends Reunited, MySpace, Bebo, Facebook, Twitter).  Any network of people will attract recruiters.

So what are you doing with Twitter or Linked In?

What would you like to see job boards doing?

What can we help you with as an online recruitment technology expert?

P.S.
Further listening (not reading!) check out http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bill-boorman/2009/11/30/job-boards--rip-uk-show to listen to myself, @SiteAdvisor, @RCEURO and the host @BillBoorman chat about the future of job boards.

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Posted on November 30, 2009 18:15 by dave
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Categories: Recruitment | Technology
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November 30. 2009 18:21

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November 30. 2009 18:25

Alan Whitford

Great synopsis of both the Unconference debate and the 3 Blog Talk radio shows today (including the US show we are on at the moment)

Alan Whitford

November 30. 2009 21:43

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December 1. 2009 11:49

Alconcalcia

I don't think that social networks will kill off the job board, but the thousands of job boards will have to wise up and have a better offering in order to survive certainly.

One thing thst I am not sure about though - do mere mortals who haven;t got a stake or an interest in the actual functionality of social network mechanisms actually want to mix business with pleasure? i.e. if you are chatting to your mates on Facebook or posting up what you are having for dinner on twitter (not eveyone uses twitter as a business/self-promotional tool) do you want to be interrupted by a bunch of messages about jobs? I guess if you are unemployed maybe, but if you are in gainful employment do you not want to be in control and to separate your 'social' networking from the grind of looking for a job?

I am just putting that out there and I am sure more informed individuals than I wil have a perfectly logical answer, but, in my own short experience of twitter say, whilst I have used it to shove out blogs, opinion etc. I still get annoyed when I am inundated with jobs. For instance, I started following a local jobs twitterer, just out of interest, to see what came back, and within half a day I had to unfollow them because I was showered with hundreds of jobns of all kinds - admin, outdoors, finance, IT, sales, etc. etc. Now, I don't know if I could set up a filter so that I only receive the jobs from them that are deemed relevant, but if not, what a pain! The screen was full of them at one time. I don't want that. Does any jobseeker?(and let's reiterate, whatever the mechanism, jobs shouldn't just be aimed at the unemployed)

In short, clearly there is a long way to go with fine tuning and targetting, but as of now, I think job boards, provided they remain interesting and relevant, will survive, but they may no longer be the cash cows that many were when they started up. In the meantime, the social network providers need to find a way of ensuring they don't scare off people who maybe just want a chat with their mates, by flooding them with content that the user started to follow with good intentions, but got fed up of within a day or so, because they were bombarded with a mass of irrelevant jobs.

Hope some of that kmakes sense Dave!

Alconcalcia

December 1. 2009 16:56

Dave Martin

Alconlcia,
First off, great to meet you the other week at the un-conference and thanks for the feedback.

Great point, do typical users want to mix job hunting with Social Networking?

When FaceBook was still a small under dog to MySpace we contacted them and suggested we became their job search partner. They turned down the opportunity based on, and I am quoting..

"Our users come to FaceBook to relax and enjoy the site..."

Clearly they have changed their approach since then.

Our experience that a careful more subtle approach to tweeting jobs works very well. Filling up the users timeline does not help anyone. Job boards etc need to get more smart!

Dave Martin

December 3. 2009 22:13

essay

social network is a social structure made of individuals (or organizations) called "nodes," which are tied (connected) by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.

essay

December 4. 2009 15:21

Gareth Jones

Hi David, interesting post. Provokes a couple of thoughts. Firstly, from my recollection, 'monstrous' recruitment agencies existed long before the emergence of the internet and job boards! Unfortunately the internet and job boards gave them a huge shot of steroids in the arm.

The scalability and long term influence of social media is a good question. I guess as time moves on it will scale, just like the job boards did. there were similar fears back then, and also comments that 'only IT people will use the internet/job boards to find a job'. How 19th century that sounds now!

Your last point was a good one - that social media is here to stay "even if the platforms change". We talk about the current platforms like they are old friends but a year is a lifetime these days. Who knows, in 5 years time we might be saying "remember Twitter?!"

Gareth Jones

December 4. 2009 17:33

Dave Martin

Gareth,
Thank you for your comments. The reminder of how in the 1990s it was felt that the web would only be for Geeks is worth while remembering.

Social is here to stay!

We must embrace it!

Thanks again.

Dave Martin

December 4. 2009 18:32

Jeff Dickey-Chasins

Dave,

I think it's less an issue of 'will social media kill job boards' than it is 'what will job boards borrow from social media to survive?'. Smart job boards are already integrating engagement techniques into their sites or turning their sites into hubs with more than just job postings. 'Adapt and evolve' is the mantra of the smart boards; the rest will certainly be left behind.

Jeff Dickey-Chasins

December 5. 2009 12:15

Dave Martin

Jeff,
Thanks for your input and the RT.

I am quite inspired by your rephrasing of the question.

I might borrow that for a future blog post / discussion!

Dave

Dave Martin

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