What Is a Job Board?

A job board is a platform used by both recruitment agencies and direct employers to advertise open vacancies to jobseekers. There are two main types of job board:

• Generalist Job Boards are not industry-specific and allow recruiters to advertise roles across most industries, reaching wide candidate pools.
• Niche Job Boards are targeted towards finding talent in a specific industry, discipline or location, reaching smaller candidate pools that usually generate more relevant applications.

In this article, we look at what job boards can and can’t do for both recruiters and jobseekers, and the role they play in the recruitment process...

What Can Job Boards do for Jobseekers?

Job boards are often free to use for jobseekers and provide a range of innovative features for job searching. They often help jobseekers to:

• Easily save jobs and manage applications: Most job boards allow candidates to complete applications onsite, making it easy to see, manage and track applications in one place. They can also save jobs for later and apply at a more convenient time.
• Apply for jobs on the go: Many job boards offer free mobile apps for candidates to apply for jobs on the go, ensuring they don’t miss out on the latest opportunities and that they can apply for jobs at a time that suits them.
• Set up a targeted job search: Job boards are a great way of creating a more targeted job search, especially when it comes to niche job boards. Candidates can set up job alerts based on specific criteria and sign up for email newsletters rounding up the latest opportunities in their discipline and/or location.
• Be discovered by recruiters: Jobseekers can upload their CV to a job board database, making it easier to be discovered by recruiters and matched with relevant positions even when they aren’t actively searching.
• Learn from careers advice: Whilst job boards can’t give candidates advice on specific vacancies or applications, they often provide helpful resources to guide jobseekers through the recruitment process. Resources generally include both general and industry-specific careers advice, as well as industry news and developments.

What Can Job Boards do for Recruiters?

Whilst each job board will usually provide its own unique range of services, here’s how they can generally help recruiters and hiring managers:

• Expand the candidate pool: Job boards allow employers to tap into talent beyond their pre-existing network, with larger boards allowing them to tap into international markets.
• Candidate CV search: Job boards allow recruiters to dive into the candidate CV database, searching for relevant candidates based on specific search criteria, making connections even when candidates aren’t actively job searching.
• Employer branding: Job boards are great platforms for strengthening brand identity and improving employer of choice positioning. With PharmiWeb.Jobs, recruiters can create an employer branded careers hub; a branded mini-site highlighting their values, achievements, company culture and current opportunities. These help to stimulate interest in the organisation across the pharma job market, and help to attract candidates who are the right cultural fit.
• Proactively attract candidates: Job boards help recruiters and hiring managers be more proactive in their job search. PharmiWeb.Jobs provides the opportunity to set up targeted email campaigns, sending information about an organisation and its current opportunities straight to their target audience.
• Training and resources: As with candidates, job boards also provide helpful resources for recruiters and hiring managers, including industry news and advice to help attract the best talent in the market. Take a look at PharmiWeb’s recruiter blog as an example. 

What Can’t Job Boards do?

It’s important to remember that job boards advertise roles on behalf of other organisations. Once jobseekers have applied for a role, the rest of the application process falls to the responsibility of the hiring company. Similarly, if there are any questions relating to the nature of the role, the interview process or application progress, these questions must be sent to the hiring organisation and not the job board.

Job boards also can’t help recruiters and hiring managers with interviewing and making decisions on the best candidates. The focus for job boards is instead on developing a strong candidate database and innovating ways for jobseekers and recruiters to connect.

Take a Look Around…

If you’re new to PharmiWeb.Jobs, here are some useful links to get you started:

Jobseekers

Find a Job

Job Alerts

Upload a CV

Search Companies

Careers Advice

Recruiters

Recruiter Services

Recruiter Blog