I had a consulting call this week with a new job board coming online soon in another country. The founders were newbies in the space and wondered how to get started. In order to “jumpstart” their new site this is what I told them;
1. Think longterm. Give away free postings for 1 year in order to attract enough job seekers. If you cant get enough postings through free jobs go and copy them from the company career site and link back to them. (they wont mind the free traffic)
2. Be prepared to spend money on marketing. Once you get enough ads (50-100) in your site start buying job search traffic on google, twitter, facebook and the job search engines. Use the ads to drive candidates right to your jobs so you can prove to those employers that your site works!
3. After 1 year start exploring monetization. Instead of going straight from free to paid postings consider a hybrid approach. Keep the free postings and upsell premium job ads. Charge for bolding the listing or adding a logo. Think of products to upsell. Like a space on your homepage for added exposure.
Remember a new job board needs BOTH job seekers and employers to succeed. So get the jobs and then advertise to get candidates. Concentrate the first year on getting them in the door to ensure better chance of succeeding in year two.
