Have Job Board, Will Recruit

It’s a love that baffles. People’s passion for job boards annoy many workforce experts. But it’s a resource that people rely on heavily.

And a recent survey by Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) indicates that staffing firms are not immune to its appeal.

“Given that job boards have the highest bang to buck return on spend/effort when it comes to recruiting temporary workers, I see the attraction,” says Jon Osborne, SIA’s VP of Strategy. Job boards scored higher than recruiting tactics like hiring from existing candidate lists, referral bonuses, listing jobs on company website, advertising one’s firm etc.

The survey also revealed that Monster, Indeed,LinkedIn and CareerBuilder were the most commonly used job boards/social media sites by temporary workers when looking for an assignment. Dice is also a big player for IT jobs as is Craigslist in office/clerical.

But the fact is that there is no one job board or social media site for all careers. Healthcare practitioners, for instance, follow the beat of their own drum. Ten percent of this group don’t use any job boards or social media at all. Interestingly, they are much more likely to turn to staffing agencies for help. Even sites like Facebook and Twitter are not widely utilized by temps to look for gainful employment.

Perm or contingent – the classification is irrelevant when it comes to finding quality workers. At the end of the day, buyers and staffing agencies have to go where the workers are. As a recruiter or a hiring manager, it’s your responsibility to know where your tribe hangs out. You can only engage the best if you know where these workers dwell. And that in most cases mean traversing the job boards.