Free Job Boards

The current economic situation has impacted not only the public but the business sector too. Finding cheaper methods to accomplish recruitment goals has become a necessity of doing business. Finding qualified candidates does not have to be an expensive process. Recruiters can now post open positions to free job boards like Craigslist and other major consumer sites and find the quality applicants that they are looking for.

A free job board is a great resource that can enable recruiters to not only find quality candidates but will also allow labor market queries which can help managers determine the availability of qualified workers before expansion projects begin. Another positive attribute of job boards is the data mining capability that exists. Free job boards allow recruiters to peruse competitors job postings which can enable a market sampling of pay rates, benefits and open positions. Since finding a quality candidate is much akin to marketing a great product, sampling job board positions can help recruiters to sell their company to quality candidates.

There is the old adage that nothing is ever free and that is mostly true. Many job board postings require nothing more then time so the cost for recruiting qualified people is relatively low. However, free job boards don’t yet compare to the major job sites with heavy Internet traffic and exposure.

There are many choices for finding quality professionals but with all things in business the results should out weigh the expense. Using a free job board to post open positions can be an easy and affordable way to market to professionals – but be sure to use this particular recruitment tool in an exacting manner – to complement your existing job distribution methods. Left on its own, job boards without any job posting cost will most likely fall short of any major recruitment campaign.

Another key to recruitment marketing is presentation – especially if you are working with lower traffic free job boards. Each posting that is to be filled should be uniquely marketed to ensure that applicants meet the minimum standards. Successful job postings should include a small blurb that details what an ideal job candidate should possess in terms of skill and aptitude, targeted keywords about the position, and a detailed description of company culture.

Job boards provide an unseen benefit. They are powered by motivation. Motivation is an attribute that every job candidate should possess. Many free job boards require applicants to sift through open job postings either with a search function or by topic word. The boards themselves do little of the work which translates to applicants who are proactive in making things happen. The positive attribute is that most candidates that you will receive from free job boards are actively seeking new opportunities. However, of course the trade-off is that the quality of the candidate is often lower, and niche and/or passive candidates will not often wade through the morass of jobs to apply to your position.

Job posting to free job boards is usually simple to do and the return on investment is simply a metric of your time. Used in coordination with other recruitment marketing avenues, these job boards can be an effective recruiting tool. Be sure that you are including a mix of free job boards in your job posting routines, and that your recruiting staff is up to speed on best practices in copy, key-wording, and descriptive writing.