In March of 2009, I published my first JobBoardDoctor post. Was it any good? Well, you can judge for yourself – but I set out a clear task for myself: I wanted job boards to be better… Read More

The news is rolling in – witness the items on Toptal and Freelance.ca acquisitions. So I’m putting in an extra news edition to handle it! Be sure to check out the final item on J… Read More

You’ve probably already heard about the ‘merger’ of CareerBuilder and Monster. It’s actually Apollo Global Management acquiring a controlling share of Monster, and Ra… Read More

Acquisitions seem to be in the air – see Bullhorn acquires Textkernel, for example. Or Jobtoolz, or NetJobs, or… You get the idea. And could it be that Indeed’s traffic is… Read More

Indeed gets into staffing. Sound familiar? Of course it does. The company introduced Indeed Flex roughly five years ago (via the acquisition of UK staffing platform Syft) as their foray into… Read More

Pop quiz: which of the following will increase job board profitability the most? A) Individual job postings B) Regular ‘special deals’ events C) Annual or semi-annual job po… Read More

After several years of underperformance by its job boards in Brazil and Mexico, it is not a surprise that Seek is exiting Latin America. To be clear, there is not a Seek-labeled site in Lati… Read More

Yes, you read that right: online job ad revenue shrinks, at least according to a new report. Not the way I usually like to start the news roundup – and you’ll see that plenty of… Read More

By now you may have run into Google’s AI overviews – summaries of text thrown up in answer to your query. Google rolled these overviews out to a certain number of search queries… Read More

By now you’ve probably heard of the Indeed layoffs and Recruit’s revenue decline. If not: Indeed laid off 1000 employees on May 13, a cut of about 8% of the total workforce. This… Read More

Remember department stores? I do. I remember going to Hubbards, our local Texas version – riding up the escalator to the men’s department on the 2nd floor, and of course the reve… Read More

Huzzle raises funds – you heard right. Don’t know what’s up with the name, but sometimes this industry gets weird. It also turns out that LinkedIn continues to find new way… Read More

AI and verification: the new job board peanut butter and jelly? OK, I’m stretching things a little (maybe a lot). But the reality is that when AI can mimic humans so well that deep fak… Read More

Many years ago as a marketing novice I learned the first rule of competing against giants: don’t play their game. This was long before I entered the job board world. I was a marketing… Read More

It’s always been the case that some folks retire, then go back to work. Why? Maybe they get bored in retirement. Perhaps they feel isolated. Or they find that they don’t have as… Read More

If LinkedIn plays around, does that mean the rest of us will too, sooner or later? Interesting thought. As you might imagine, continued low unemployment and labor shortages are keeping the j… Read More

Ok, this is hardly the first time that Glassdoor hurt its brand. Just scan through the company’s history and you’ll find plenty of examples where the tension between user anonymi… Read More

Job board content success? Huh? Well, job boards have long believed – or were taught to believe by search engines – that job ads were ‘their’ only real content. In ot… Read More

Government regulation and job boards have been a fear, a threat – but the regulations also seemed remote. Even when GDPR was implemented, job boards were able to quickly comply. But&he… Read More

For years, job boards have pushed employers to include salary information in job postings. Why? Research has shown that adding a salary (or salary range) to a posting will increase the job s… Read More

Zip, DHI, Recruiter, and Freelancer down? Is this news roundup going to be a total bummer? Not exactly. As you’ll see, others like CrowdWorks, Upwork, Fiverr, and HelloWork are doing j… Read More

Old tech encompasses a wide range of things – from typewriters to transistor radios to email. Some old tech is still being used, almost unchanged – think of dress shoes or blue j… Read More

The concept of influence is not new – it appeared when humans first began communicating and learned that one of them knew more about something than the others. So the crowd (tribe, etc… Read More

When you don’t want people to notice a change, you use non-colloquial language, as in Google’s Job Ads deprecation. Yep, deprecation. They could’ve said, ‘We’re… Read More

Google backs off? I guess I wasn’t as surprised as some folks – but perhaps I’m just too cynical! Still, the apparent retreat of the Google job ads offering was only one bi… Read More

Why am I talking about three things that could hurt job boards? Well, basically, because of Joel Cheesman. Yes, that Joel, of ChadandCheese. It all started with a show they had las… Read More

Why would I focus on the idea that employers are consumers? After all, everyone knows that…right? Ahem. To put it discreetly, sometimes we ‘forget’. We think that employer… Read More

Job board AI implementations are picking up – as I thought they might. I last wrote about this in July, and since then I’ve seen a steady wave of AI-related announcements. Some o… Read More

X is hurting – ok, that’s not really news. But the fact that LinkedIn is benefiting? Well, that is! I think it’s one sign of instability in the ad market – and of cou… Read More

Why ask 5 burning questions for 2024? Better yet, why not? Back when I managed a publishing company, I learned something very important. The fastest way to shut down a conversation is to lab… Read More

Today we’re looking at 2023: the job board year in review. Why? Well, it was a heck of a year, to be honest. 2022 was a very strong year for employment and job boards, if you remember… Read More

Note: It’s the week before Christmas and the Doctor is frantically wrapping packages. This is a replay from last year. Enjoy! It’s impossible to escape holiday music –… Read More

Now, why would I call pay per application Indeed’s New Coke? Well, let’s look back to one of the worst product launches ever – Coke’s, not Indeed! As per Wikipedia, i… Read More

What a surprise – Upwork revenue up, Fiverr revenue up, and Indeed and Glassdoor revenue down. Notice anything there, such as freelancer sites seem to be doing better than their tradit… Read More

As you may being prepping for 2024 – yes, I know, it’s already almost the end of the year and you aren’t ready for Christmas, either – the Doctor has a few thoug… Read More

So why am I going religious on you and talking about the four horsemen of the apocalypse? Well, see, it’s Joel Cheesman’s fault. Really. I am a longtime fan of the Chad and Chees… Read More

The results of the 2023-2024 Global Recruiting Sites Trends survey are here! AI pops up as a potential threat – but most folks are still worried about the economy. The survey, whi… Read More

Layoffs are always news (of the unpleasant sort), and news that LinkedIn lays off staff is pretty big news. They’re not the only one, though (looking at you, Stepstone). However, there… Read More

Indeed’s AI future was the subject of a recent talk by Chris Hyams, CEO of Indeed, at the company’s FutureWorks conference. Indeed – in case you’ve forgotten –… Read More

You may ask yourself why I am telling you how to destroy a business. Well…the longer you spend in the job board and recruitment marketing sectors, the more likely it is that you will… Read More

Data matters for job boards. For instance… We’ve all experienced it: a movie or play is going along, we are firm in our understanding of the how and why of the characters’… Read More

It’s an interesting environment when Seek job ads slide, multiple companies raise funds and two sites shut down, isn’t it? Well, no one goes into business to get bored! Let&rsquo… Read More

Huh – job boards are dying? AI is the one and true religion? Is there one technology to rule them all? I am by nature a skeptic and contrarian. In general, these tendencies have served… Read More

I previously wrote about what specific job boards are doing with AI – and not surprisingly, it’s the largest job boards that are making the biggest splash. But the sheer number o… Read More

It’s that time of the year when your friendly Doctor needs some help – with the 2023-24 Recruiting Site Trends survey! To make it truly useful, I need your he… Read More

It’s another month and we get to see how Borderless raises funds, X tries to do job ads, and Recruiter.com is selling their domain. Just as lively as last month, to my mind. And yes, t… Read More

Most job boards and recruitment platforms are privately held. Missing your numbers – assuming that you have targets, that is – can be scary. But at least you don’t have ang… Read More

As regular readers know, I gather up the most interesting and relevant job board news once a month. But sometimes I see news that just doesn’t fit. It’s weird, unusual or just od… Read More

Sometimes you have to ask yourself: does it suck to be a follower? Specifically, I suggest that you keep in mind that job boards – by their nature – are followers, not leaders.&n… Read More

Indeed’s job postings drop 50% – really. See below for details. Indeed had plenty of company. However, the news isn’t all bad – see LinkedIn – and of course the… Read More

Ever wonder how to compete with LinkedIn, Indeed, and Google? Well, as long as I’ve been in this industry, there have been the big boys. The companies that have grabbed attention… Read More

So today I present to you what are either smart or desperate moves by X, Glassdoor, and Kununu. Let me preface this by saying that X – Twitter to those of us who have been around more… Read More

You want to make your job board better, right? Even if you don’t call it a job board? Even if you’re an old-timer? Even if you started your job board yesterday? Well, sure. Of co… Read More

A few weeks back I talked about the effects of AI on job boards – and this time I’m looking at specific examples of job board AI products. It seems as if every day I read about a… Read More

Hmm – Ferretly, Prepper, and Recruitroo seem to indicate a resurgence in slightly silly names in our industry. At least I think so. Last time around we saw news from Jobindex… Read More

A fundamental challenge for our industry is candidate discovery: how do candidates and employers discover each other? You can argue that job boards – and newspapers before them –… Read More

To understand the role of video and job boards, you have to go back a bit in time. Remember ‘dial up’ internet? If you’re lucky, you don’t – but that’s wh… Read More

After a decade-long warm-up -finally –AI is affecting job boards. As I’ve written earlier this year, generative AI has some obvious use-cases for job boards and ATSs. In fact, if… Read More

As part of the continuing deconstruction of CareerBuilder, Broadbean makes the news this time around. But don’t worry, there are also plenty of AI-related items, acquisitions (includin… Read More

Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) has been covering the global job board world for a while now, and they just came out with their latest report. It says that “the value of the global on… Read More

If you read my monthly news roundup (and if you don’t, you should!), you have probably noticed that a fair amount of the content is on companies getting funding. Why? Well, for one thi… Read More

In an announcement that is both expected and a surprise, CareerBuilder disintegrates into many smaller pieces – and it’s still not the end yet! So why was this announcement expec… Read More

There is news this time around for optimists (see HelloWork) and pessimists (see ZipRecruiter), but mainly, there is a little bit of everything: acquisitions, funding, legislation, and produ… Read More

The Metaverse is dead, haven’t you heard? It’s not ‘officially dead’ – yet – but for all intents and purposes, it has joined the long line of over-hyped a… Read More

When thinking about your job board’s future, you may be looking at the latest missteps by Indeed and Google’s move into recruitment marketing and wonder: what do I do now? I mean… Read More

Indeed changed its mind. First it said that its U.S. clients had to convert to the CPA model. Now it says that actually, they can still use CPC (although it has a new name, of course –… Read More

There have been a few(!) acquisitions since last month’s roundup, including Circa and Space-Careers, detailed  below. But that’s not all, folks! I’m talking layoffs, f… Read More

Job board conferences are known for networking…and partying. Most of the time, those in our industry are siloed into their own little world, keeping their businesses afloat, and watch… Read More

Well, that’s a pushy way to start a post – claiming the adaptive brilliance of job boards! Apart from the assertion, it implies that job boards are still going strong – tha… Read More

You have probably read about the Indeed layoffs by now. The world’s largest job board has laid off 2,200 employees, or about 15% of its workforce. Its sister site Glassdoor also laid o… Read More

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about whether or not a job board or recruiting site should have a resume database. Originally, almost every job board had resume database… Read More

Since last month’s roundup, we’ve started seeing some financial results (including a rundown on Recruit’s revenues, below) and continued strength in labor demand. Some of u… Read More

On March 1, Google job ads came into the hiring world like a lion. Ok, not really – but it made a great opening sentence, eh? No, the first sighting of Google job ads (thanks to Tom Ch… Read More

Have you ever wondered why job boards fail? Over my many years of consulting with job boards around the world, this is one of the most commonly asked questions. It’s usually asked in a… Read More

How did Indeed’s CPA rollout go? Well…take a look at these TrustPilot comments. Or read this AIM Group article. Or listen to this Chad and Cheese podcast. Or listen to Steven Ro… Read More

Last time there was plenty of job board news (and check out the stuff below on HelloWork and JobandTalent in particular this time!). But it’s also that time of year when some folks are… Read More

You knew that at some point I would weigh in on ChatGPT and job boards, didn’t you? I mean, the topic is just too juicy! As you can probably guess, I’m ‘AI-skeptical’… Read More

Job boards can do many things with regard to job application response for employers: they can find and connect the employer to specific and targeted groups of candidates. They can foster a p… Read More

The rise of pop psychology, beginning in the 1970s, spawned an endless series of books with titles like “I’m OK, You’re OK” and “Emotional Intelligence” t… Read More

A new year and some new job industry board news! (Let me see how many additional times I can put ‘news’ in this paragraph…). Even as we see signs that hiring is softening… Read More

No matter how much information you have, it seems like it’s never enough. Case in point: remember 2021 and the first half of 2022? Certain industries, such as Big Tech and online retai… Read More

It’s the time of the year when everyone – even doctors – are making predictions. I have done it in the past (last year turned out reasonably accurate), but I do so with pl… Read More

If 2020 was the year of collapse and rebirth, then 2021 was the year of bounce-back. So what was 2023? For many job boards, it was the best year ever. Combine labor shortages, cont… Read More

It’s the end of the year – but not the end of job board industry news. Strange thing, that – the clock just keeps ticking on, doesn’t it? In addition to a confirmatio… Read More

Note: It’s a few days before Christmas and the Doctor is frantically wrapping packages. This is a replay from last year. Enjoy! It’s impossible to escape holiday music. Radi… Read More

It often feels that the longer I work in the recruiting industry, the less I see that is truly ‘new’. This is neither an unusual or surprising insight, by the way. If you by chan… Read More

The world has suffered through the first (and second, and third) wave of COVID. Many people are vaccinated – many more are not. In the U.S. alone, over one million people have died fro… Read More

How much do you think about your job board UX? All the time? Or never? In my experience, I’ve found that job board site designers often expect people to act linearly – going… Read More

Well, hardly anything has happened since the last roundup – except for a major election in the U.S., thousands of layoffs at Meta and Twitter, and lots of positive (and a few negative)… Read More

The results are in – and things have changed a bit from 2021! Folks seem considerably more optimistic about their businesses – although perhaps not so optimistic about the e… Read More

If you read my monthly news roundup (and if you don’t, you should!), you have probably noticed that much of the content covers companies getting funding. Why? Well, for one thing, big… Read More

In 2023, any employer that is using Indeed (and let’s be honest, that’s a lot of employers) will be using the pay per application (PPA) model. Why? Because Indeed says so. OK, it… Read More

Amid reports of market softening but also lots of acquisitions, I have also seen what I would call ’employer swapping’ – workers who are laid off by one company being immed… Read More

I’ve built various items with wood for many years. Tables, benches, cabinets, spoons, stools, chairs – some actually resemble real furniture, others…well, they were intere… Read More

As you may have noticed, the JobBoardGeek podcast ended a few weeks back – but never fear, the archive lives on! And in a related development, my co-host Steven Rothberg ran off and fo… Read More

The recruitment marketing industry encompasses many different types of services: traditional job boards, hybrid job boards, sourcing tools, recruitment platforms, professional networks, care… Read More

As we get deeper into September, we’re seeing continued positive revenue growth from most – not all – job boards and recruitment sites, just like last time. Yes, of course… Read More

It’s that time of the year when your friendly Doctor needs some help – with the 2022-23 Recruiting Site Trends survey! To make it truly useful, I need your help and input! I… Read More

Snagajob, the Richmond, Virginia-based job board for hourly workers, laid off about 40 employees in the past week. According to CEO Mathieu Stevenson, “We recently had to make difficul… Read More

In this episode, Jeff Dickey-Chasins of JobBoardDoctor and Steven Rothberg of College Recruiter say goodbye to the JobBoardGeek podcast. You’ll have to li… Read More