It's no secret that there are lots of job boards out there. And depending on whom you talk to they are a valuable vehicle for promotion or a stressful money pit. As an owner of an up and coming niche medical job board bragfolio www.bragfolio.com I naturally go with the first opinion of value.
Throughout my work day I communicate with numerous recruiters and corporate HR heads who voluntarily offer feedback and of course I receive the unsolicited kind as well. We continually tweak (and tweet) our marketing message and I do like to hear what value a hiring professional looks for in any of his or her job search efforts. The high level response of course is "results" or whatever works. However when I ask the more pointed question of what or whom do you use in terms of internet, news paper, trade pubs etc the answers usually weigh mostly towards internet and referred as the primary sources advertisement.
In my niche of the medical and healthcare industry we do have our share of venerable competitors. Some are long time established brands and newbie's are born almost daily it seems. A common model for revenue is to charge membership and post fees. The argument being that a job seeker who pays for membership is more serious about his or her search and therefore a more quality candidate. If I were going to put a percentage I can tell you that my data (the respondents I have queried at least) is about 50 percent are pro-paid membership sites. To this number I can give you the other half of the audience that says they refuse to pay for membership for use as a job seeker or poster.
Can you see the dilemma here? Who is right? Which model is best? From a business standpoint like all others the answer is "whatever works". I don't think there is a correct response as it is personal and or results driven. I challenge myself daily to provide a valuable cost effective product that’s free for the job seeker and one that offers huge reach for the hiring managers at an attractive cost. In our case, it's one that takes all the proven internet methods along with infusion of the new social media. The human capital industry will always be a key component and I look forward to providing one of the tools in the box towards everyone's success!
Jeff Stahl
CEO
http://www.bragfolio.com
twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bragfolio
