Just the job

Job boards are gathering ever greater currency as a fast and effective way to fill manufacturing vacancies, offering a quicker and less onerous recruitment experience to employers than traditional web and print advertising. Not good news for the latter certainly, which has enjoyed a sustained period during which its dominance of the market remained more or less unchallenged. Traditionally, long before job boards came on the scene, job seekers would search through the printed media to see what was on offer and this is where employers were most inclined – and more or less compelled – to advertise their vacancies. Now, with the internet such a ubiquitous part of our lives, the new generation of job seekers, it seems, are turning in numbers to the much more immediate, easier-to-use job boards to find employment. The balance of power has shifted substantially and, most likely, permanently. Yet anyone – job seeker or potential employer – using job boards will know that they are no panacea of themselves. Their increasing potency and popularity as the places to recruit and be recruited has spawned a deluge of competitive sites, causing a great deal of confusion when it comes to knowing which really work. "This surge in interest from recruiters and potential candidates means that the job board market has become very fragmented, with over 2,000 jobs boards in the UK alone, so job seekers are left in something of a quandary when it comes to knowing where exactly to look," says Louise Grant, commercial manager EMEA & APAC at Jobg8, an online marketplace where job boards buy and sell qualified applications for job postings. With so many job boards vying for attention, it is calculated that, on average, a job seeker will search through 4.6 job boards when looking for work, according to the 2010 report from NORAS (the National Online Recruitment Audience Survey – www.enhancemedia.co.uk/research). "With Jobg8, however, the employer only needs to advertise once on a member's site – the job postings have a far broader exposure so the average number of applications provided to a 28-day job posting will be 14, while the average response rates on a job board in isolation is around four applications," adds Grant. One key beneficiary of the surge in job boards – and particularly the greater penetration and focus of job board networks – is the Totally Engineering network, the product of a joint venture business between Findlay Media (publisher of WM) and JobServe, dedicated to providing a targeted recruitment service to job seekers and recruiters in engineering and manufacturing. The Totally Engineering website (www.totallyengineering.com) brings together the power of the vacancy database of JobServe – widely regarded as the world's first internet recruitment service – with the strength of Findlay Media's market-leading magazine and website brands in all sectors of the engineering and manufacturing community. Partner websites in the network already include Works Management Jobs, Eureka Jobs, New Electronics Jobs and Machinery Jobs – each targeted at specific areas and disciplines within manufacturing and engineering. More sites are scheduled to join the network later this year. How does it work exactly? JobServe's recruitment technology and expertise, combined with the precisely targeted circulation and profile of Findlay Media's magazine readers, enables current job vacancies from the Totally Engineering network to be filtered and matched to the skills, experience and sector focus of candidates, whatever their discipline. Jobs are classified and automatically directed to the most appropriate ones, with the site catering for vacancies in process and discrete engineering and manufacturing, from SMEs to large OEMs. "What the Totally Engineering network offers is a means of advertising vacancies to the precise market you are seeking," says Darren Wright, sales manager, Totally Engineering.com. "Unlike print, our network is immediate, flexible and reaches a vast audience, as almost everyone now has internet access. And, unlike individual job boards, being a network means a far higher return of potential candidates for the advertiser." Match makers In addition to vacancies posted directly to the Totally Engineering website or to partner sites, matching vacancies from a growing network of Totally Engineering partner sites are also made available to job seekers via the Jobg8 service, and all jobs can be sent to users of the websites who register for 'jobs by email'. In fact, to provide customers with an even wider range of highly targeted candidates, JobServe has become a member of the Jobg8 network. And how effective is it? Very, Findlay Media and JobServe would argue. Jobs posted on the Totally Engineering network and promoted through Findlay's magazines can reach up to 30,000 validated manufacturing and engineering sites, and in excess of 160,000 qualified engineers across the UK. "Because the Findlay Media magazines go only to a qualified and targeted audience, the likelihood of irrelevant applications is wiped out," adds Wright. "When your biggest decision is where to advertise to get the best response, getting that wrong could be a very expensive mistake. And, with more job boards starting up each week, it makes choosing the right one from the outset even more imperative." How efficient are job board networks? If a company is using a recruitment agency, for example, to find a suitable candidate for an existing vacancy, it will be paying approximately 10-15% of salary as a placement fee. By contrast, a job board will charge around £300 for a posting, so the savings can be significant. Making use of a job board that is supported by a network, such as Jobg8, will sometimes carry a small additional fee, but will still be a significant saving on newspaper or recruitment agency use. And it's not just the cost savings that are impressive. Jobg8's reach is vast – in the UK, for example, it has collectively more than 25,000 million unique visitors per month and so provides a powerful option for employers. As with all open marketplaces, the Jobg8 marketplace is comprised of buyers and sellers who can negotiate the price and supply of the product being sold. The marketplace facilitates transactions using various trading tools and settlement services, as well as providing reporting and market data. In the Jobg8 marketplace, job boards buy and sell qualified applications for job postings they have delivered into the network. Together, the buyer and seller set the price for each qualified application and the buyer also dictates how the applicant's quality or acceptability will be determined through the use of specific qualifying questions that need to be answered before the application is purchased through the network. Jobg8 has developed a unique and innovative platform. For job boards that are serious about their business, Jobg8 is regarded as offering one of the most efficient tools for managing the supply and demand issues that job boards struggle with every day.