There is much conjecture over which recruitment medium will win out over the next few years but for jobseekers the future is bright – particularly with the evolution of job boards

As anyone who has tried to lose weight or exercise regularly will attest, changing your behaviour is hard. You’re fighting years of mental and physical conditioning – and (unfortunately) many times the old habits win out.

That was the challenge that job boards faced in the mid-90s – how to change the ingrained behaviours of job seekers, to move them from searching want ads in the newspapers…to searching want ads online. It took many years, but eventually job seekers did change their habits. The majority now look first to online resources in their job hunt.

Slow-burner

This was not an overnight or unilateral change, however – a fact that social media enthusiasts should note. If Twitter or LinkedIn are truly the ‘job board killers’ that some suggest they are, they must first change the behaviour of job seekers. In essence, they have to ‘re-teach job seekers to turn first to social media for employment opportunities – not job and career sites.

Social media companies will, of course, do their best to change job seeker behaviour. It’s not an impossible task – just a challenging one that will take years of effort.

Jobseeker re-engagement

A more likely path is that job boards will re-engage with job seekers by integrating social media functions into their job sites.  Seekers are already visiting the sites to look for work – so it’s a natural step to turn the sites into community hubs. Many job boards have already done this – and have seen additional revenue opportunities follow. Thus, instead of trying to change job seeker behaviour, the sites adapt to this new behaviour while retaining the core functionality that brought people to the site in the first place – job ads.

Adaptation is one method of evolving – changing one’s behaviour in response to an altered environment. Successful job boards should adapt and evolve in response to job seeker behaviour – and will thrive.

The good news for you

Only Marketing Jobs is committed to providing for its community not just social media channels but content-rich information, enabling members and followers of its hubs to keep ahead of the game and stay informed.

What do you think job boards need to do to ensure they are still delivering results for their visitors in 2011?  Please comment below.

Original source: jobboarddoctor.com, Dec 09

Additional comments: Simon Lewis | Editor | Only Marketing Jobs

Related posts:

1. Job boards versus recruitment agencies: the gathering storm
2. What is the future for job boards and how can recruiters evolve?
3. Why are recruiters trying to kill job boards?
4. Marketing jobseekers use ‘old boy’s networks’ to secure employment
5. Get 2010 off to a flyer with this jobseeker guide to striking it rich
6. Recruitment agencies still king in marketing job search
7. Where do jobseekers turn now the market has picked up?
8. User-generated-content. Why the reserved nature?
9. Only half of jobseekers will use social media to find a job by 2011
10. How do recruiters find the best candidates?