Are job boards still relevant in a social media world?

It's astonishing to think how swiftly methods of recruiting staff have moved on in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, with developments in both technology and wider public life. Both candidates and employers once depended on job notice boards in public places, which morphed into searchable online job boards with the emergence of the World Wide Web. But now, webrecruit (http://www.webrecruit.co.uk) asks the question: are even online job boards still relevant in a world in which social media has truly took hold? 

Perhaps the answer to this question is not a simple "yes" or "no", but depends on how job boards have evolved to suit varying online recruitment needs, and how they can be integrated into a wider, and suitably dynamic, candidate sourcing strategy in the year 2012. One thing that is certainly not in doubt is that online job boards still exist and remain popular, with both generalist and more specific job boards continuing to thrive. But for how much longer? 

Well, there's no question that online job boards remain very quick and simple to use, and many companies that are looking to recruit staff certainly appreciate this simplicity. These sites continue to serve many employers that need to advertise roles to as wide an audience as possible, with many of them offering job-hunters careers advice on connected blogs. However, this new development, along with the use by these sites of social media accounts on the likes of Facebook and Twitter, hints at the undeniable new reality. 

The truth is that social media platforms are increasingly taking over from traditional online job boards in the staff recruitment process, on account of the relationships that they help to build between employers and prospective employees - including those who may not necessarily even be on the lookout for a new role. In a landscape of intense competition for jobs, as well as of many companies struggling to find people with the right skills for more specialised roles, social media sites make it so much easier for employers to pinpoint candidates. 

Nonetheless, few reputable recruitment agencies are likely to completely exclude online job boards from their thinking, and sure enough, here at webrecruit, they continue to play a key role in our candidate sourcing service. After all, our emphasis is on getting your company's message to travel as far as possible and national job boards are still too prominent not to figure in a good candidate sourcing strategy. 

Here at webrecruit (http://www.webrecruit.co.uk), we draw on not only national job boards, but also our wider affiliate network, while the rest of our sourcing and selection tools help to ensure that your staff recruitment process remains the most efficient and cost-effective one.  

Editor’s Note: webrecruit (http://www.webrecruit.co.uk) is represented by the search engine advertising and digital marketing specialists Jumping Spider Media. Please direct all press queries to Louise Byrne. Email: louise@jumpingspidermedia.co.uk or call: +44 (0)20 3070 1959 / +34 952 783 637.