Getting jobs on job board + software

Hi everyone,

We have a job board as part of our website, but as yet it is redundant and I'm fearful this is the way it may remain.

We do have forums on our site which are very popular and we have in excess of 50 members just in this first week of going live with the site - so the candidates are falling into place....it's just no jobs as yet.

Can anbody recommend how to go about 'backfilling' the job board with other vacancies so as not to appear like a dead space? Nobody will advertise their jobs on there if they are the only ones. Unfortunately the software package used for the job board was a small one off fee and therefore does not include the option to easily import vacancies from the big hitters. This is what we went for, but are now regretting:

http://www.focusdev.co.uk/products/28-recruitment-agency-manager

Is the only way round this to purchase a more expensive job board where a click of a button will import vacancies, and if so, any recommendations? Are these free to import?

Any help greatly appreciated.

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Permalink Reply by Steven on January 17, 2011 at 3:31pm

If you are regretting your present purchase and it was only a small fee then not much is lost.

I use Jamit for my boards. You can get an indeed plugin with jamit.

What kind of website are you running? What is the subject? Do employers sign up and take part in the forums? Can you offer free job posts for 6 months? Job postings bring in candidates... or was it candidates bring in job postings? I haven't really figured that one out yet. That might be a good question for discussion.

Or... you could find a company site that has their own internal job board and use that. Open an account on your job site and post all the information for the job and then simply post a link to that companies job listing. Nothing lost and maybe something gained... as in a job posting.

I doubt anyone would object to free advertising and it appears that a company (a reputable company that is) chose your site to post jobs on.

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Permalink Reply by Keith Smallwood on January 18, 2011 at 4:16am

Thanks for your response Steven - I had noted a certain amount of anomosity towards posters if they posted the wrong question or weren't an established competitior, so I was concerned my post would draw a blank!

Anyway, the website is a relaxed and fun site offering advice on any employment/unemployment issues via our community. We have candidates, recruiters, employers and other relevant experts posting on the forums in response to our members questions. These people also contribute articles to the site and we adopt a personal touch with the site.

The job board was intially included as a 'nice to have' but it is very apparent that whilst people are happy using the resources and forums they are also expectant that the job board is fully active - which is understandable. Our pricing is: free unlimited job postings and unlimited CV searches for an introductory period and then it would be £150 per month for unlimited job postings and unlimited CV searches.

I note sites like simplifiedrecruitment etc offer totally free advertising of vacancies....how do they meet their overheads with this, because there appears to be no advertising on the site nor options to upgrade to a paying job posting?

I like your idea about finding an internal job board - I may investigate this. The idea of changing the job board seems a wise move at the moment but I'm concerned about being tied into a contract paying a couple of hundred pounds a month whereas now I pay nowt.

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Permalink Reply by Steven on January 18, 2011 at 4:35pm

I'm always happy to throw in my 2 cents worth even when it isn't wanted. I used to do affiliate marketing and visited an active community often. It was funny to see people ask simple questions and have the knowledgeable members completely ignore them because it might strengthen the competition or something along those lines. I've gone through this forum looking for useful information but it seems to be a little slim around here. Some of the members here are execs with prominent job boards and others seem to have a better grip on the business than most. They just don't seem to be into the open community thing.

Jamit costs $199 for an owned license. Pay once and use it forever. Upgrades are free. Actually, now that I think about it, they announced a while back that they are going open source so you should be able to get it and use it for free... that is the non-commercial license anyway. Not sure if that has been implemented though. The templates are rather crude and shouldn't be used in my opinion. You can find a decent template over at Nasthon.com.

I run free job sites. I rely on Google advertising to make my money. I profit off them but I don't make a living off them. SimplifiedRecruitment seems to offer a paid upgrade. I don't know if they are making any money off of it.

I have a job site that I'm trying to get up and going but it has been barren for a long time. Dead. I am starting to populate it with stolen listings... I mean free advertising. I'm hoping that will help.

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Permalink Reply by Keith Smallwood on January 19, 2011 at 4:01am

Jamit is $199 for a one off payment and that's it? I thought it was that amount per month. If you can import jobs via Jamit then I may look into that option.

I don't seem to be aving any problem whatsoever with people responding to questions on my forums, but I must admit to being a bit shocked at some of the bile on here and petty arguments. It's a shame that people can't just come together for the good of everyone.

Good luck with your business Steven, and if you think we could benefit each other in anyway then let me know - if nothing else, I'll be willing to promote your business on my site by way of a 'thanks for the advice'.

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Permalink Reply by Steven on January 19, 2011 at 10:18pm

Thanks for the offer. I found your site and we have nothing in common as far as being able to promote each other. Your visitors would have no interest in my sites.

Yep, $199. To get the feed that goes with it costs a few dollars. You have to buy credits but they are relatively cheap. Jamit is extremely flexible, too.

You've probably seen the post with a list of job boards in it... http://www.jobboarders.com/forum/topics/a-list-of-job-board-softwares. They list some free ones there. I don't know anything about them.

Good luck to you as well.

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Permalink Reply by Keith Smallwood on January 20, 2011 at 8:30am

No, I hadn't seen that thread with all the job boards in it, so thanks for that.

May I ask what you thought of the site? Any criticism is warmly received! I set it up out of frustration with recruitment agencies and generally finding all other job sites very dull and tedious - like mirror images of each other. I'm not sure it will replace the day job, but I'd like to think it will help others who are in the position I've been in previously. I have several experts signed up who for the time being treat it as a bit of a 'hobby' and are always willing to chip in with advice and articles.

Any advice on how to improve it is always appreciated and with no overheads there isn't an emphasis on money - although making some would be nice I suppose. It's only just over a week old, so plenty of time I suppose!

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Permalink Reply by Steven on January 22, 2011 at 12:31pm

It looks good. It looks like a joomla site.

Initially the site doesn't clearly identify its purpose until you have a look around. Even though you have a large graphic on the right that says JOBS I think the eye passes those things up as advertisements. You know, banner ads. It is on the right as well and the eye starts from the left and travels down. A person may show up and not know what the purpose of the site is right away and leave.

I think this needs to be defined up front since the name of the site doesn't have anything to do with employment. Is it an industry specific site that offers jobs? Is it a general employment site? Am I on the right job site for what I'm needing? These are questions a person might have about your site.