Why paid job boards are as doomed as the town crier
Job boards like Seek may have crippled the classified revenues of traditional media giants, but they will themelves be destroyed by the next wave, argues Glyn Brokensha
Popular internet job boards are set to vanish just like the town crier. In medieval times, town criers were the chief means of communicating news. We don’t see too many job ads for town criers now.
The news that Fairfax has given up on charging money for job ads on its employment website MyCareer and will switch to free listings comes as no surprise.
While declining job ad volumes have some part to play, the fact is the business model of posting a print-style job ad online in a closed online environment is redundant.
In May Frost & Sullivan’s Australian Online Classifieds Market report reported growth of the Australian online classifieds market had halved in 2012 to eight per cent compared to 16 per cent in 2011. It predicted annual growth until 2016 would average just seven per cent as the market reached “a state of maturity” with the total market reaching $1.011bn by 2016.
Expenditure in the online employment sector is predicted to grow by only 3.7 per cent next year. This is mirrored by significant growth in popularity in alternatives to paid job listings such as direct candidate search or use of social media to source candidates.
Seek.com.au, jobs.com.au and Careerone.com.au along with many of the big specialist sites are all headed for the same fate as MyCareer. They might try to slow their decline with discounts and repackaged niche platforms but the idea of paid ads is redundant.
The simple fact is job candidates and employers can now more easily find each other via search and company websites. Jobs now go directly to applicants who set up alerts for suitable roles to come to them.
A job seekers soft copy e-resume can be sent to an infinite number of potential employers who often now find themselves inundated with hundreds or even thousands of applicants.
Casting the widest possible net for new employees allows organisations to potentially reach the very best candidates. More applicants means more choice and the knowledge that you have explored all the available talent thoroughly.
The new town criers for staff selection today are specific company career pages delivered straight to applicants via search engines which are starting to index job ads directly. And it’s all for free.
Social media platforms like LinkedIn and its large network of professionals which can be easily targeted according to job category or other characteristics now make it an attractive platform to target active candidates. However this new model is already increasingly being challenged by the ubiquity and reach of the internet where powerful self-publishing and search tools are beginning to make third parties obsolete.
Just as the spread of moveable type and the printing press saw the end of the town crier, the growth of these highly specific platforms will only continue to have a negative impact on the current remaining mainstream online employment websites like Seek and Careerone.
- Glyn Brokensha is MD of Expr3ss! a software company which offers recruitment tools
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Thanks for the mention, Mumbrella! We like your work.
We prefer to think of what we do as “Software that Solves Staff Selection”… we are number one in a new category of software that goes far beyond simple CV automation.
We are aiming to change the course of recruitment history. Thanks for helping!
Expr3ss! regards
Glyn
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Good piece.
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An interesting article with many good points, but I wonder how much of the reduced growth in online job advertising is due to it being used less compared to there being less jobs available?
And while LinkedIn and direct advertising by companies is a growing option, as suggested, in my experience there will continue to be demand for third parties in the recruitment equation. Many companies simply do not have the resources or perhaps skill to wade through 300 to 1000 applications for each job they advertise (even using Seek etc). Good recruiters will always fill that need and provide a much needed service . . . although the question remains what tools they will use to find candidates.
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Thanks for the article Glyn and good luck with the business venture. Some interesting thoughts although presumably to some extent the job boards are victims of their own success. As they have gone from new and exciting to swamped and too accessible, their ‘performance’ drops and people/companies look for new, improved alternatives. They arrive, everyone says “hurrah” and then x months/years later the cycle repeats and another perceived dinosaur bites the dust. Plus ca change and all that. Additionally, you will still end up at the same place ie hiring companies being (or certainly feeling) swamped by applications/contacts, most of which are entirely unsuitable and that is where you need a specialist recruiter to be involved, although of course I am bound to say that !
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While I have no argument with Glyn’s views on Job Seeker sites, I feel he might have chosen a more appropriate metaphor. If you look at the last 100 years, the number of town criers around the world has actually grown enormously. In the UK the actual number of town criers has risen approximately tenfold since 1912. The reason for the growth has been that towns all over the world have realised the importance of using old institutions in different ways. For town criers this has been a switch from a news delivery role to being part of the tourism, leisure and heritage industries. In the same way, it is true that Job boards may well disappear, unless they themselves are able to change their operating models, in which case they will thrive in the future, just as town criers are doing.
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I wonder if we can also take aim at the recruiters who mine for candidates and whose proliferate postings across job boards have largely destroyed their usefulness. There is obviously an opportunity for any service that is singularly unique and can offer exclusivity like the higher end search and selection firms such as Futurestep and Heidrick & Struggles et al
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Hi Chris
Good point… I was writing from Australian experience and the metaphor seems to be apposite down under (I haven’t heard too many town criers in the last year).
Wow!… a tenfold rise since1912… but you’d have to agree that Hr. Gutenberg’s printing press predates that by a few hundred years… about 500 in fact. So maybe that’s a tenfold increase as a result of a low base?
Perhaps this reflects our lack of cultural historical depth here in the antipodes – or maybe since to us you are the antipodes, it reflects our youth and progressive thinking. Nolo contendere.
Either way, we are agreed that job boards will have to reinvent themselves to survive… but somehow I can’t see them as a tourist attraction.
Expr3ss! regards
Glyn
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Chris Brown, I’m amazed you have the time to unearth all these facts – aren’t you too busy beating Rihanna or saving dogs at Bondi?
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In response to Stephen Byrne – why is posting a job ad on a job board destroying its usefulness ? What next, restaurants that don’t serve food. Perhaps you were referring to job postings on LinkedIn but that is not a job board, although it sometimes resembles one ! I’d also add that companies also post jobs on LinkedIn (and job boards) not just recruiters.
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Mark, you’re a recruiter. read the initial post (which I’m sure you did). my comments are valid.
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Yes I am a recruiter – I acknowledged that earlier quite happily. Not bothered about arguing the point. I was simply pointing out that job boards are for job ads. Anyway, thanks for engaging Stephen and have a good one.
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Over the last 30 yrs we have seen many changes to the way we advertise. I remember Seek coming to present to us at Hamilton James & Bruce what seems like 100 yrs ago. I remember the management team all saying, don’t think it will ever take over display advertising. And back then an ad was around $10.00. Now the only people utilising print media are the government.
My point is, our market changes and develops. Unfortunately seek are resisting any change and trying to maintain the status-quo. They have have to move with us. As Glyn mentioned, there are other ways companies can attract candidates. SEO optimised candidate page is ideal for those Co’s that employ lots of the same people (see http://inhouserecruitmentgroup.....rs-portal/).
I think it will be a long time before the job-boards are gone, however there is no doubt there are better ways to find people these days.
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