As 2009 comes to an end here are my thoughts heading into next year.

Building a job board today is more about building a community. Here’s my philosophy and why I love Ning.

Sites mentioned:

* Sales Gravy
* Jobs in Social Media

Please log in to view this article.

Please log in to view this article.

If you create a job board that is the most search engine friendly thing you can build and that “inspires” people to post, then in my experience, it will make money. Watch this to see what I mean.

Episode 14 of the Free version.

Please log in to view this article.

Recently I was alerted to this study by TalentDrive which caught my eye. Check out these 2 points;

This is further proof that the ‘death of job boards’ is greatly exaggerated. People are trained to use job boards and companies still dont know how to properly use their ATS. All signs point to good news for us job boards.

Here’s the actual release:

TalentDrive Talent Acquisition 2010 Forecast Survey Exposes Human Resources? Top Hiring Priorities
(September 23, 2009)—Chicago, IL (September 23rd, 2009)TalentDrive, the creator of the on-demand resume sourcing technology, TalentFilter, today released the results from the recent דTalent Sourcing Forecast survey, exposing top concerns, priorities, and budget capacities for Staffing Firms and F1000 Companies as they enter Q4 2009 and plan for 2010.

Over 8,000 F1000 Companies and Staffing Firms were surveyed. This survey was conducted between August 27, 2009 and September 22nd, 2009.

The survey first discovered the number one sourcing challenge facing companies currently, with 51% of companies responding ԓfiltering through the mass of resumes and increased number of applicants as the number one issue.

When asked what the top strategic action companies are taking to improve their talent acquisition efforts and conquer the sourcing challenge is for 2010, 58% of those surveyed said revamping their interview process to reduce time spent with unqualified candidates as the top priority. Additionally, 31% of the respondents plan to implement sourcing technology to help improve their online talent sourcing efforts.

Despite filtering through the online resume pandemonium ranking as a top challenge for recruiters, when asked if, once the resumes had been located, the quality of candidates met or exceeded their expectations, over half (54% of those surveyed) said yes, the quality of candidates was of the caliber they required. The survey shows that despite the chaos created by the increased number of applicants online, one of the best ways to locate qualified talent, especially young talent and recent graduates, is still in habitats they are comfortable- social media and online job sites.

The survey went on to ask, if not online, what is the number one method for connecting with top Talent. 59% replied that their number one way of pinpointing top Talent is through employee referrals. The surprising statisticSM 98% of the companies surveyed did not find Talent from within the existing Company ATS.

The survey continued, gauging the current use of recruitment technology solutions. Background Checking Software (48%), Online Applicant Screening Services (41%) and Resume Sourcing Technology (31%) were ranked the highest, while using an ATS (Applicant Tracking System), was not surprisingly lowest on the list with only 20% of companies employing this familiar candidate management technology.

Trying to figure out what to charge for job postings can be a trick business. Here’s some advice for how to price your job board offerings.

A keyword rich domain name is one of the best things you can do when naming your job board. Picking a domain that says what it is has always been my philosophy for a niche/local job site. In episode 6 of the podcast I explain why and how.

The Big 3 (CareerBuilder/Monster/Hotjobs), and now job search engines like Indeed have the national job market covered. Thats why any new job board needs to be niche. Learn more by watching this 3 min video.

Niche boards are more efficient because of their nature. And for employers they offer a less costly way to find the targeted talent they want.