Job Boards vs Recruitment Agencies

By Dave Marine

The year was 1994. John Major and Bill Clinton were still in power, Brazil won the World Cup, Nelson Mandela became the first black President of South Africa, OJ Simpson may or may not have murdered his ex-wife and her lover and John Bobbitt was newly castrated.

And something happened that was momentous for the recruitment industry. In Boston, Massachusetts, a bloke called Jeff Taylor decided to buy a domain name and set up the world’s first online job board. Monster.com was born. It was, by all accounts, only the 454th commercial website in the world and it started the ball rolling for the creation of thousands of other online recruitment services, I-resign.com included.

It also started the decline of newspaper-based recruitment ads. Last year and for the first time in the US, advertisers spent more on online recruitment than they did on print ads ($5.9 billion vs. $5.4 billion). Similarly, in the UK, £177 million was spent on online recruitment last year and is forecast to rise to £500m a year by 2009.

Impressive figures but what does it mean for you as a potential jobseeker or employer and should you use job boards or stick to the personalised service of recruitment agencies?

What’s the difference?

Good question especially as most recruitment consultants post their vacancies on job boards anyway. Truth is, you probably couldn’t care less about the method with which you find your next job as long as it’s a relatively easy process. And that’s where job boards excel – ease of use.

With job boards you know what you’re getting. Look at a few job ads (our own job board partner, Reed.co.uk, has over 300,000 on it’s site), decide on the positions you want to apply for, upload your latest CV and wait for prospective employers to start calling you. What could be simpler?

Yeah, except the fact that it’s so simple means that everyone else is doing the same thing. An employer who has posted a job ad may receive hundreds of applications. His problem is not getting a response, it’s that the response has been TOO great. The poor boss now needs to read through all the various letters and resumes before filtering down to create an interview shortlist. It’s entirely possible that your own application might slip through the net.

Getting Noticed

It’s not all gloom and doom though. Over the years, many companies have created filtering software to help employers cope with the volume of applications they receive. Indeed, some job boards offer their own mechanisms to ensure that the advertiser is only getting responses from their preferred candidates.

Either way, if you’re using a job board to apply for positions, the following might help in getting your CV noticed by your dream employer:

1. Write a Covering Letter

Many job boards will allow you to post a covering letter along with your resume. Some will even include a rudimentary, pre-written letter for you. If you get the opportunity though, write your own. A concise, one page précis of your experience and achievements will automatically make you stand out from all the other candidates who didn’t bother to write a personalised note.

2. Choose your job boards wisely

The majority of employers now post vacancies on their own company website. Unfortunately, response can be limited especially if the firm’s website is only visited by a handful of users each week. That’s why employers use job boards – the potential audience for their ad is far, far higher.

Knowing this though, some employers choose to eschew the generalist job boards and advertise on niche, industry-related websites instead (e.g. New Scientist for science related jobs, Accountancy Age for accounting positions etc.). This guarantees first, that most potential candidates will already be working in the desired sector and second, that the calibre of candidates may, in theory, be higher as they're using a vertical website to find jobs instead of a catch-all.

Ergo, if you're looking for a job, it might be worthwhile checking out job boards related to the work you already do. There might be job ads there that you just don’t find on the bigger boards.

3. Follow up on your application

If you haven’t heard anything about your application after a few days it might be a good idea to follow up your application with a quick phone call or letter. Yes, bosses are usually busy people but if you're confident that you're a good fit for the job and can show real-life examples of your suitability, the employer will be happy to hear from you. Note, it’s much better (and makes a greater impact) if you can speak to your potential new line manager directly instead of dealing with the company’s HR department.

Using Recruitment Agencies

Take a look at I-resign.com’s discussion forum and you'll see lots of messages from jobseekers railing against recruitment agencies. Posting fake job ads to boost the size of their CV database and being lax in their communication with candidates are just two of the common gripes against third party recruiters. And while that there may be some rotten apples in there (just like with any industry), much of the negative press aimed at recruitment agencies is undeserved.

Recruitment consultants solve problems for job-hunters and bosses alike:

You won’t go unnoticed

If you're looking for work, recruiters contact employers on your behalf and “sell” your application to the boss. If you're a good fit for the job, there’s no way that a firm will ignore your application. You might not ultimately get the job or even an interview (if there are other experienced candidates that have been put forward for the role) but there’s little chance of your application slipping through the net.

They do all the following-up for you

When you submit your CV to a recruitment agency they’ll almost certainly get back to you (assuming they think you're qualified for the job) to discuss the position and start the vetting process for the employer. Remember, recruitment consultancies generally work on a commission basis and are only paid by bosses if you get hired. In other words, it’s in the interests of the recruiter to keep you informed and enthusiastic about the position so you don’t take a job with someone else in the meantime.
They’ll send your CV on to the employer and get back to you with the hirer’s initial impressions. If you’ve already been for an interview, recruiters get feedback from both you and the employer and communicate comments and questions to both parties.

It’s follow-up’s galore.

They filter applications for employers

If you're concerned about getting missed by an employer with a direct application, consider using a recruitment consultant. As outlined above, they’ll get you front and centre. If you're a boss (and are willing to pay a commission to an agency), a third party recruiter will do all the filtering work for you. You’ll never have to allocate a whole week to reading CV’s ever again!

Conclusion

At the top of this article I said that most jobseekers couldn’t give two hoots about HOW they find their next job as long as it’s relatively painless. But the reality is that finding a job can sometimes be painful (coping with rejection for one) or at least, something that requires some effort on your part (e.g. writing targeted CV’s, cover letters, making follow-up’s etc.).

The trick then is to use all the methods available to you to find work (job boards and agencies included) and to be clever about the way you do it:

• Instead of just using job titles, try searching for specific skills or keywords when using a generalist job board
• Consider using specialist job boards too
• When making direct applications to employers, include a cover letter and follow up
• If using a recruitment agency make sure they have all the information they need to represent you in the best light
• Follow up if you haven’t heard back from a recruiter
• Ask the recruiter for their expertise: is there anything you can do to make your CV more attractive to the employer?
• Finally, keep going and don’t get too despondent if you're not getting the results you want to get. Think about tailoring your CV and job applications to highlight your experience, qualifications and enthusiasm for the role

Good luck!