As more and more companies offer "free" job boards, develop new tools for job seekers, and rely more heavily on internet marketing, how are they competing and why?
For employers, a job board has no value without there being a large quantity of highly qualified job seekers willing to work in their industry and region. I've seen some of the slickest job boards out there, all the bells and whistles, promoting themselves as THE location to advertise XYZ jobs. The problem is that when you open the job board, all the jobs are located in one or two metro areas.
Great. Your search engine marketing worked, and now you're attracting people that are finding no or little relevant content (assuming the norm that more than 85% of job seekers aren't willing to relocate).
With the declining number of jobs posted on the internet, the level of organic content is shrinking, hurting the SEO of job boards everywhere. PPC is great, but can be expensive if you're competing with the big boys. Banner advertising is another growing advertising service that give more bang than the PPC, but for much more buck. Are job boards spending too much time marketing to employers, and not enough time promoting themselves to job seekers??? If the number of job boards decline, won't that lead to a loss of value for aggregator sites such as indeed?
Why is it that SO many people are jumping in the market? Is this the gold rush mentality? Or is there more to it? Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that all businesses who provide business services want to expand their product lines, and this is one way that can be done "easily". Just create a db, with a search function, and call it a job board. It reminds me of my State Farm Agent who continually tries to sell me retirement plans. I guess I'm old school- I like to go to insurance agencies for insurance, and investment companies for my investments, which is why I work with Wachovia for my IRA.
There is a long history of companies diversifying beyond their core competencies and failing miserably. Do people really believe the Walmart philosophy applies to business and professional services? One stop shopping at bargain rates for everything you need? There may be a dumbing of the consumer base- now more willing than ever to sacrifice quality and price for convenience (yes, it's true, only the leader priced products are cheaper at Walmart0 watch out!)-, but is it really spilling over into the business purchasing and procurment world? When businesses focus on their specialty, their HEDGHOG CONCEPT, to steal an idea from Jim Collins, isn't it better for everyone?
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