Online Job Boards

There seems to be a lot of confusion among the job seeking population about online job boards, so I think it is useful to explore this issue in some detail. In the name of full disclose, I work at Israemploy (www.israemploy.net), and one of the services that we offer is an online job board.

There are three (3) main approaches when creating/managing an online job board:

• A large service which is free to the job seeker; revenues are derived from employers – In this model, job seekers can apply to jobs without cost. Employers pay to advertise their job openings. The benefit to job seekers is that it is free; the disadvantage is that many employers can’t afford the often high costs of advertising, limiting the available job opportunities to those that companies agree to pay for.
• A large service which is free to employers; revenues are derived from job seekers – In this model, businesses publish their job opportunities without cost, and the job candidate pays a fee to apply for jobs. The benefit to job seekers is that since there is no financial burden on the employer, a larger variety of jobs and professions/sectors will be available; the disadvantage is that there is a cost to the job seeker to apply.
• A (smaller) online service in which jobs listing are part or all of the focus – There are a large number of websites that fall into this category, including sites/mailing lists that have some job listings among their postings, and small special purpose job sites. Typically these sites are free to job seekers.

In addition to the above, job sites usually take on specific focuses. For instance, Israemploy concentrates on jobs that have a high degree of foreign language (mostly English) requirements. Others concentrate on a particular sector (such as hi-tech, advertising…), a geographical region, or a population group such as immigrants.

When the job seeker is deciding which site(s), if any, to use, they should take the above considerations into account.

Best of Success!