Are Job Boards a Cost Effective Method of Recruitment?

I would be very interested in hearing people’s thoughts on how useful advertising is as a recruitment tool for clients, candidates and recruitments agents. As an industry, are we getting true value for our money?

From a recruiter’s point of view, my mindset has changed. Five years ago I would have ensured that any new consultant in my team had a sound knowledge and understanding of various job boards for advertising new vacancies and attracting new candidates. My initial belief was that this was an integral part of becoming a successful resourcer.  My view on this has now completely changed.

I believe there is now too much of a reliance on job boards which has resulted in a reduction, or a loss of old fashioned recruitment skills such as networking. In addition, job boards are very expensive! Effective networking is an art form, which, I think, produces much better results for all involved in the recruitment life cycle. It is a real skill that is not achieved overnight and takes time to master through experience, but it is the premium recruitment tool available on the market and it is FREE.

So what makes Sanderson different?

At Sanderson, we always make sure that our trainee consultants understand the value of obtaining a new candidate through a contact who is known to us; either as an existing client or candidate who we know is of high quality. This process enables us to provide our clients with a short list of trusted candidates that are of known quality and not just a response from a job advert.

No doubt, you can find a huge number of “positives” and “negatives” about job boards, but this post is not meant to be perceived as a closed personal statement. I would like to use my initial thoughts to become a vehicle for generating a healthy discussion and understand people’s views around the true value of job boards.  Do they have a positive effect on the recruitment industry?

And please, if you would like to chat to us about how we can deliver a unique resource solution for your needs, please call us on 0207 337 9900.

Jon Ball, Operations Director, Sanderson - Connect with me on LinkedIn