Job boards have long been the boss of online recruiting. However, in recent years, LinkedIn has established itself as a social media haven for job seekers and professionals.
The question is; which one is better – LinkedIn or job boards?
How LinkedIn can help your recruitment drive
Despite being relatively new on the online recruitment scene, the powerhouses behind LinkedIn are pushing their platform to the forefront.
Not only has their UX experience drastically improved in the past year or two, but it’s giving businesses a few key advantages to find top candidates.
This includes:
- Targeted ads – LinkedIn’s ad service uses an algorithm and the information posted/provided by users to match relevant candidates with your job vacancy. This allows you to find more suitable candidates in no time at all.
- Access to passive candidates – not everyone is looking for a new job. However, that’s not to say that they won’t be interested in what you have to offer. You can reach out and headhunt top professionals within your industry without costing you any money or breaching any laws.
- Access to job seekers – while job boards are probably still the first port of call for a lot of job seekers, there’s still a high probability that they’ll take a browse at the LinkedIn platform too.
- Advertise multiple jobs at once – if you’re on a tight budget and have multiple vacancies to fill, LinkedIn’s Job Slot tool is absolutely ideal. This feature enables you to pay for the advertisement space for up to 28 days and raise awareness of more than one job at different times in the month.
There is an argument to say that LinkedIn is just a career equivalent of Facebook and Instagram, where people just fight for popularity.
But does this mean that it’s not a useful tool for businesses to find new recruits? Not exactly.
Whether you love it or loathe it, the fact of the matter is that LinkedIn gives you access to over 590 million users from around the world.
Its pay-per-click model, advanced advertisement features and its accessible method of headhunting is making top job boards up their game.
To an extent that a vast majority of job boards are now mobile-friendly, are available in app format and have one-click apply buttons for on-the-go applicants.
How job boards can help your recruitment drive
Despite LinkedIn’s rapid evolution, job boards are still very popular among businesses and recruiters.
While they might not use fancy algorithms to take their adverts to the candidate, there’s a subconscious urge that keeps people using these kinds of platforms.
The benefits of job boards for recruiters and businesses include:
- Direct access to job seekers – no matter how advanced LinkedIn gets, when people are searching for a job online, they will always check a job board first. Plus, with the ability to send email notifications and save CV details, it’s making the process a lot more user-friendly and convenient too.
- Big reach – LinkedIn may have over 590 million users, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you can reach all of them. Job boards are used by thousands of people in the UK every single day.
- Quick results – because a lot of job seekers will use job boards, your vacancy will receive a huge amount of applications very quickly. However, this does depend on the type of role and how much you’ve spent on the advertisement itself.
- Better value for money – generally speaking, the power a job board has of generating multiple applications in quick succession usually results in less money spent on advertisement.
Trying to
find the perfect job board on a smaller budget?
Here at Coburg Banks, we use an array of job boards, depending on the requirement of our clients.
If you’re on a slightly tighter budget, use Adzuna as it’s free.
Although, you’ll need to be creative with your post as you’ll be competing against thousands of other active ones.
To combine the best of both worlds, Indeed provides a free and paid for posting service.
So you can test the water before you splash out.
You can find more of our recommendations in our previous post: ‘The 5 Best Job Boards We Use’.
The answer: LinkedIn or Job boards?
Choosing between the two recruitment options isn’t an easy process. In fact, it’s a matter of preference to each individual business.
For instance, if you’re working with a tight budget, you may find that a job board provides more instant results without exerting much effort. While LinkedIn might prove to be a more effective tool to headhunt top professionals.
At this moment in time, job boards still remain the go-to for job seekers, with LinkedIn classed as a research tool to spy on candidates and companies.
LinkedIn may have proven its worth as a method of reaching more professionals and sourcing top professionals, but it won’t take over from job boards anytime soon.
My advice? If you have a big enough budget, experiment with both to see what works best for you. Remember to take notes and monitor each recruitment campaign, as this can help you form a more accurate conclusion as time goes on.
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