The Job Board Software Industry, a Q&A with one of the industries top providers

Sean Miles looks at the ins and outs of job board software providers, the competition, industry trends and what the industry holds for the future. In this 4 part Q&A, we talk to Benjamin Hurley, the Sales Director at xpandedmedia.com

Online recruitment is booming. Job boards are becoming part and parcel of any major online medium, whether its a social network, news provider or any large information / media resource. The ability of site owners to harness their audience demographics and apply these to a 'niche' or particular recruitment 'bracket' make job board software extremely sought after right now.

So where do site owners go when they want provide their audience with a job board?.

Basic research in the major search engines will show the usual handful of providers, around 10-20 firms located mostly in the UK and North America. The types of platforms they offer are varied, with everything from php MySQL applications to ASP and .NET. Price ranges too are varied, with some companies appearing to offer full source code applications for as low as $399 and the higher end of the scale starting at $6500

But one has to ask what to look for in a job board software solution, or the provider for that matter. To help us give some insight, we spoke to the senior sales manager for xpandedmedia.com , a job board software solutions provider based in Los Angeles, California.

Q: Firstly, what are the main factors that differentiate your job board solutions from those of your competitors?
A: It all depends where in the market your looking to take this type of online solution. While their is competition, and a handful of software providers, there is no real dominance in the market in terms of brand recognition or anything of that nature right now. As with any service, their are companies offering solutions for extremely low prices, and while that may suit individuals or small companies with little capital to invest, we don't really see this as competition. Where we come in is to offer our clients the full service. A form of consultancy, we not only offer them as robust job board solution as you can find anywhere, but we also consult on the business logic and effort required to turn sites profitable. This is really where we stand out, we are not looking to get a quick site up and run with it, we aim to establish business relationships with clients on a long term basis, where they prosper, we prosper, this is essentially what drives us.

Q: You don't see the low end providers as competition?, surely not.
A: No your right, we don't. We tend to look at it from a different level. While they may be offering their software for peanuts, this doesn't necessarily equate into a viable business platform. While the platform may look technically appealing from first glance, they don't have the necessary business logic to transform their software into sites that make significant revenue. I mean tell me one successful job board you know of that paid $399 for their source code?

Q: So you have clients that are making significant revenue from online recruitment?
A: We certainly do. We have 3 clients right now that are making close to 6 figure turn over from our online recruitment platforms and the consultancy that we provide them. Without claiming too much credit of course, these are extremely professional bunch of business men, but we honestly believe its our unique approach to this industry that has helped them get started.

Q: Can you name these big 3?
A; Unfortunately not, we are not inclined to disclose our clients names and turnover to the press, but i can tell you that they are up and coming names, do a little research on telco, international media and journalism jobs and you will soon get a gist of whom im talking about.

Q: So where do you see the job board software industry heading?
A: I see plenty of room right now for someone to pull ahead of the pack. While alot of the big newspapers and sites are currently inclined to commit to mergers and partnerships with some of the top end commercial job boards, this will soon reverse itself, right now these partnerships are based on revenue share and the need to not invest in their own online solutions,
but let me explain why this is going out of fashion

Q: Please do..
A: Right now online recruitment is potentially one of the most lucrative business formulas for online businesses. Its the only true service besides online commerce (product based) that really equates into a viable business model. To make it simple and avoid the jargon its something like this 'people need jobs, employers need talent, employers need talent from a specific demographic and in comes job board software, adapted to your sites target audience.

Q: That doesn't explain where you think the industry is going?
A: Hold on one second. As i was saying, while the high end job boards are stepping in to fill the gap for newspapers and high traffic sites that are created by the lack of any dominant, professional and reputable job board software providers, in we come.

Q: In you come?
A: Yes, in comes xpandedmedia.com . we offer robust recruitment solutions and business consultancy that enable site operators to no longer be dependent on the big job boards platforms. they in turn can increase profits, and manage their online recruitment initiatives as independent business units. This is potentially huge for them, and the more insight we can give them, the more receptive they become to this reality.

Author - Sean Miles
Title - Q&A with Benjamin Hurley, Sales Director at xpandedMedia.com

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Attend the Online Recruitment Conference & Exhibition on 3rd June 2008
www.onrec.com/june