Changeboard rides the online wave

Following its recent October 2008 ABCe audit, official figures just released show that Changeboard, the HR specialist jobs site, has almost doubled its monthly unique users to 64,204 (from 35,070 in October 2007). Page impressions also leapt from 373,809 to 545,343 a month.

Sales director Richard Bray comments: ìLast year, we witnessed incredible growth by 300%, and this year our figures continue to prove that we are still expanding our traffic figures at a phenomenal rate putting us ahead of our competitors in terms of HR visitors.

The shift away from print to online media is a major factor accelerating the increase in traffic for Changeboard.

ìIn light of the credit crunch, there is no question that the HR recruitment market is tighter and as a consequence, recruiters have become much more aggressive about shifting their job advertising spend onlineî. He argues that as budgets continue to be cut, the web is proving its worth over print advertising, as recruiters are demanding more flexible and cost-efficient packages.

ìToday, weíre also seeing a surge of new recruiters contact us on a daily basis because they realise that in order to keep up with their competitors, they canít afford to ignore specialist job sites any longer. The tide has been changing over the past couple of years, but now the credit crunch has pushed web to the forefront as recruiters become more digitally savvy and aware. Weíre now in a fortunate position to be riding that waveî, says Bray.

In-house recruiters are waking up to the fact that they are able to make the most of this buyers market by advertising directly via online media channels to a wide pool of experienced HR professionals at a fraction of the cost they are used to paying in the offline trade and national press. He says the latter seem to be moving ìfrom long term decline into a terminal nose diveî.

ìWe have seen a dramatic increase in interest for 2009 from companies looking for packages to place all of their HR jobs directly on the site,î he says. ìNot only is it cheaper, it also enables them to take up enhanced branding options and be more innovative in the war for talent.î

This pronounced trend in the UK is also rippling out internationally.

He continues: ìWhen we launched in 2004 we were UK focused, but the web has allowed us to seamlessly open doors to new HR markets. Our international traffic currently stands at 17% - around 50% of this traffic is from the Gulf, especially Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar. Weíre also seeing an increase in HR roles in mainland Europe and Asia Pacific.î

The UK has been at the forefront of online advertising, keeping pace with the US. We expect this international growth to continue in 2009 and 2010 as other parts of the world embrace online advertising.î

When it comes to speed of service and delivery - online is a clear winner. As soon as any roles are sent through to Changeboard they can be live on the site almost immediately. Quite often they appear on the site in as little as 10 minutes. ìThis is a world away from the copy deadlines of traditional offline media with their weekly, fortnightly, or even monthly cycles,î states Bray. ìLack of relevant and accurate metrics for offline media also make traditional media seem prehistoric compared to the web.î

In January of this year the site evolved to include article content. Now there is an area on the site where experts can create their own member profiles and provide 100% user generated article content so HR professionals can keep up with all the current trends.

When we first started out, recruiters tended to be more sceptical of the web because it wasnít a proven medium but those that did sign up havenít looked back. The wave looks set to continue rolling.