Peter Weddle give some strategies for job boards in his latest newsletter.

"Use the right job boards in the right way. The data suggest that Internet job boards continue to be an effective route for connecting with talent in transition. They were three times more popular with our respondents than the second most cited job search activity.

The key to using job boards effectively, of course, is knowing which ones are most likely to attract the specific workforce cohort(s) you are trying to recruit. And that?s the rub. You have at least 40,000 boards from which to pick, and no single one of them can provide complete access to any one cohort. For that reason, I recommend a strategy called the 7:1 Method.

The 7:1 Method involves posting your openings at 2 general purpose sites (those that support recruiting in all professions, crafts and trades), 3 niche sites (one that specializes in the career field you are trying to recruit, one for the industry of your employer, and one that focuses on the location of your opening) and 2 diversity sites (those that focus on diversity in general or on a specific diversity group you are trying to reach). That 7-site formula provides you with optimum access to the full range and depth of the workforce and thus has the best prospects of yielding 1 great hire.

Add networking to the Career area on your company site. While job seekers feel that ads posted on your site are their third most likely source of employment, using them was selected by fewer than one-out-of-ten individuals. In contrast, better than one-out-of-six respondents felt they would land their next job by networking ? and not a single one mentioned networking online or at a company?s Web-site.

That disconnect between the popularity of networking and its absence online creates a huge opportunity for your organization. I?m not talking about using social networking sites; they were selected by fewer than 1% of our respondents. Instead, I?m suggesting that you re-imagine the Career area on your corporate site so that it operates not as a classified ad platform but as a venue for building relationships with employment prospects.

Certainly, you continue to post your openings on the site, but with this new vision, you also invite your visitors to stick around and chat awhile. How can you do that? Offer one or more blogs, bulletin boards or discussion forums to create a way for job seekers to communicate with you and with their peers online. The resulting sense of inclusiveness will bring them back over and over again and, no less important, stimulate them to bring their friends and coworkers by, as well."

Labels: Industry News, Job boards