This is actually a really great question, although you might be disappointed with my answer. As a Headhunter/Recruiter with an Engineering degree who has worked for some of the most exciting startups in the world, as well as Fortune 100 companies, I have found that job-boards are rarely successful in providing strong candidates. Now, I will also say that sometimes they do come through with ‘flying colors’, but that is more the exception than the rule.
I personally use ZipRecruiter, which posts my positions to over 100 sites, and sometimes it does work. Usually not so well, but once in a while I get a really outstanding candidate that way. Because this site posts to so many other sites, I’m pretty certain that it reflects the efficacy of job-boards quite a lot. I think that it’s an inescapable conclusion that job-boards don’t work nearly as well as direct-contact via email or phone.
I will post job openings on Twitter, LinkedIn, GooglePlus, and Industry-specific society sites like AIChE, ASME, SPIE, ACS, IEEE, etc. Generally, these do not work nearly as well as having a skilled recruiter directly sourcing and contacting individuals with details about a job opportunity.
I’ve been doing this for 27 years, and it’s always been that way. I’ve certainly posted ads on Monster.com, too, but rarely got any results. ZipRecruiter is probably the best bargain out there, and it’s still a good tool to have, but direct-contact marketing by a Headhunter is 90% more effective than posting to even 100 job boards at the same time.
So, based on some feedback, here, I want to clarify that I only use job-boards as a back-up or “last resort”. They rarely produce good results, but the fact is that they can — and it would be foolish to ignore their possible benefit… That said, even posting on 100 job boards, only a very small percentage of the candidates I identify come from that source.
(Answer originally published on CofoundersLab.com)
