The second speaker at European Job Board Summit 2013 was Lee Biggins, founder of leading UK job board CV Library and passionate believer in the KIS principle, Keep IT Simple…. and given the success Lee’s site has enjoyed over the last 10 years, who am I to disagree with him?
Lee initially shared some great tips for those considering launching a job board and it included these gems:
- Buy or build your platform? Today most people buy and “off the shelf” site and I would endorse this but use one that allows you to build on it and personalise it.
- How will you position your site, niche, regional or generalist?
- The barriers to entry: how much traffic do you need? What are the expectations of the job seeker and recruiter and how can you exceed them?
- Should you “go it alone” or find a partner?
Marketing was covered next and a back to the basic approach:
- You need jobs, traffic and then get them to meet at your board and match them – quality is more important and volume.
- PPC, SEO, Affiliate or strategic partners – keep a close eye on them all and measure all the time the volume, quality and conversion rates.
- Content is King – you need jobs but with Google’s new algorithms you need articles as well.
One final piece of great advice – you get one chance with a recruiter, don’t blow it.
Lee then looked at “your product” and shared the following:
- Don’t dilute with over analysis. Yes, understand your competition but don’t copy/follow what they do all the time, focus on your vision and your core product.
- Watch and ask from your clients what they want, this best piece of research you can do but then deliver and meet their expectations.
Lee’s final tip – don’t innovate for the sake of it.
Lee looked at technology and innovation and observed the following:
- Mobile is here today so focus on it.
- Keep up to date with all current APIs.
- Social Media will continue to evolve, embrace it but make it work for you.
The key tip is: innovation is moving so fast you need to be prepared to keep pace but you don’t need to use all of it, just what is relevant to you and your user and enhances the experience for both jobseekers and recruiters.
Finally, Lee shared what keeps him, a successful job board owner, awake at night:
- Driving the business forward
- Day to day operational issues (often people related)
- Updates in technology
- “Global” expansion plans
- Finally and with great humour… doing the presentation at the European Job Board Summit 2013.
Great stuff and that back to basic approach works every time.
Keith Robinson is a regular contributor to the Jobg8 blog, co-produces the Jobg8 Summits and works with a range of job boards advising on strategy, NPD, marketing and NBD across Europe.
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