Are social media threatening job portals to become obsolete? It could be, but not if job boards change their approach to the recruitment market.
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Social Media are getting into recruitment
It took a while before social media giants noticed that the recruitment market could be very profitable. But they discovered it is not easy as well. Even a company like Google was not able to capture the recruitment market with Google Hire, which they will shut down in 2020. They still have Google Job Search available in the US and UK, and perhaps this attempt will be more successful.
It is not easy for them. GDPR is not helping them, even as the many languages in the world, and matching their user’s profiles with vacancies is complex. As far as we know, there is only one recruitment application which can match vacancies with resumes in a wide variety of languages, regardless of the structure of the vacancy data and CV data (and they don’t have that application).
LinkedIn is, by far, the most popular source for recruiters. But, the price per InMail is exceptionally high compared to job portals. Next to that, LinkedIn makes the entire recruitment process is time-consuming, and it provides no possibility for automation. Unless LinkedIn offers more automation, it might lose its popularity amongst recruiters. Why? Because recruitment applications are being launched, which give mind-blowing possibilities.
How do Facebook and LinkedIn recruit, and why are social media threatening job portals?
Job boards built on old technology and might maintain an obsolete vision of the recruitment market. And this is why they don’t adapt fast enough to the wishes of their clients, job seekers, and companies looking for staff.
If job portals don’t take massive action, they will be outsmarted and outperformed by social media and other recruitment applications. Social media meets the wishes of job seekers much better than any job portal does because it is much more fun; it entertains its audience and now offers jobs. And that is how social media are threatening job portals. But the enormous disadvantages for social media are: incomplete data given by their users, the time-consuming manual screening and communication, and the high fees. Their advantage is that they know their users in another way than a job portal does; they know what the users like, what they write, what they read. And based on this, they make assumptions on what kind of jobs they would like. But these assumptions can be far from accurate.
What does a job seeker want?
First: what is it a job seeker DOES NOT want? A lengthy registration process; spending more than 3 minutes on filling a form. They don’t want to spend more than a couple of minutes for their job search. And they instead use their smartphone than a tablet or PC. If applying takes more than a minute, the chance candidates lose interest is vast.
So, what is it a job seeker wants? To receive desired jobs on their smartphone without any effort and to apply with one click. That’s it. And the question is which application will be the first who can just do this. And as far as we know, there is only one application which can do so.
What is it hiring managers and recruiters want?
Recruiters want to upload a vacancy in their format without having to complete any data fields and immediately get an overview of long-listed candidates. And what they also want is their vacancy directly communicated to these candidates, so that they all can apply with one click.
And it should be flexible, without long-term commitments. Just use it when you need it. And this should be at the cost of fewer than 50 euros. And not more. Do you agree that this is what a hiring manager and recruiter want? Welcome to the new recruitment era! Because this is possible today.
Will job seekers and companies still use job portals next year?
Not if it depends on Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. But don’t underestimate the strengths of the numerous job portals of this world. Because they have one thing, social media platforms don’t have. And if they will use this one feature intelligently, they can outsmart them. But will they?
Which are the features making it possible for job portals to outsmart social media?
For all the job portals in the world, it is dying or change. And most job portals are heading for a deadly collision with social media and disruptive recruitment applications. And most job portals don’t see it, don’t feel it. The moment they start to feel it will be the moment they have lost the game.
So, what can save the job portal? It is something they regard as their primary asset, but they have no idea and no vision of how to use it to the full extent. And even if they would have the proper vision, they don’t have the technology.
The main asset and the only way to survival are by using smartly the database of CV’s most job portals have. To become faster, better, and cheaper. Every job portal in any country has the opportunity to dominate the online recruitment market in a country if they take action.
The thing is that job portals have top quality CV’s. They have GDPR consent and have a legitimate interest in contacting the people in their database with job offers. Also, it is the excellent quality of their CV database, which is their path to market domination and avoiding being diminished by social media. But job portals can’t do this on their own. They need to cooperate with the newest disruptive recruitment applications, and they need to understand how they should use their only asset in a much smarter way.
Social media companies don’t have this. Social media have no or incomplete candidate data, and this makes a fast and effective search extremely challenging.
Job portals monetize only a tiny part of their CV database.
Job portals only monetize a tiny percentage of their CV database. An inquiry from us amongst dozens of job portals in Europe, Asia, Australia, South, and North America tells us that less than 10% of all CV’s in their databases is monetized. If you take into account that a small job portal has 1.000.000 CV’s it means that 900.000 CVs are attracted to expensive marketing campaigns, and with substantial investments in technology, storage and security, and NO return is made. It means that they have to bill their clients ten times more than strictly necessary. Because you, as a client, should also cover 90% of waste. And you don’t like that.
New recruitment applications can rescue job portals.
The rescue for job portals comes from an unexpected source. Today’s newest recruitment applications can be the savior for the job portal. They can monetize every CV from a job portal’s database hundreds of times per year. And every time a CV is being used, the job portal gets paid. And because of this, recruiters can get faster long-listed qualifying candidates at a lower price. The new era of recruitment starts now.
Questions?
If you have questions, require more information, then please write to gerard.koolen@lugera.com or call him on +31622959248. Gerard is the Group Managing Partner of the Lugera Group of Companies operating in AM, AT, AU, CZ, DE, IN, MA, NL, RO, RU, SK, SU, UA, UK.
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