I recently came across the founder of a new, different type of Vertical (that is, a site that takes job postings from many sources and aggregates them all into one place) and wanted to pick his brain. Below you’ll see responses to some questions that I shot him. In the spirit if “disclaiming” you should know that Jeff and I are moving down a path together which will provide a tighter integration between “the job board” and “the JibberJobber” — that means that soon you’ll be able to click a button from the search results to create a new “job” record in JibberJobber, where you’ll be able to then track that job as much as you want (even when the job gets filled you may have some excellent info that you want to keep on record). Ah, wouldn’t it be nice if all job boards allowed you to do this? We’ll see what the future has in store 😉
For now, here are the questions I presented to Jeff Tokarz, CEO and Founder of Just-Posted.com, and new blogger (mozy on over to see an interview he did with me :p):
Why are you doing this? Aren’t there already 40,000 job boards out there?
Great question, Jason. The answer, quite simply, is this; we are passionate about giving job seekers more of what they want and less of what they don’t want. Searching for the ‘perfect’ job online using job boards and job search engines is like trying to find a parking space in New York City – nearly impossible. The volume of information on the Internet is growing exponentially. Users (job seekers) of the Just-Posted.com job search engine have complete control over their online job search experience; 
immediate access to the ‘most’ relevant job opportunities available from among millions of jobs on thousands of Web properties. (jason: I think this is what the Job Relevance box is for – so somehow they are rating the relevency of the results based on what you put in, this is how they are giving you control – correct me if I’m wrong. Looks similiar to the the new TagJungle stuff, which is supposed to give Technorati a run for its money – but in the end, should make “the experience” better for the user.)
How does your site differ than SimplyHired and Indeed.com?
Speed, coverage and most importantly, relevance are what make Just-Posted.com unique. Competing job search engines do a masterful job aggregating content from disparate Web properties, and appealing to various candidate and employer interests such as retirees, pet lovers, etc. We aim to make the online job search process less cumbersome, less frustrating, and more responsive to the needs of job seekers. In a recent interview with Om Malik (GigaOM), Jim Lanzone, CEO of Ask.com said it well, “If we do a better job for users of our local search, hopefully they’ll use us more often …†We agree.
With your 20+ years experience as a recruiter, what needs to be improved for job seekers?
The job market is dynamic – in a constant state of contraction and expansion. Job seekers, active and passive, demand access to career management tools that provide timely, relevant information. The Internet, given its vast potential to engage job seekers and employers, has enormous potential. JibberJobber.com is a great example of technology designed to enhance a job seeker’s job market visibility and potency.
What are some of the “revolutionary†changes that you’ve seen in recruiting/employment over the last 5 or 10 years?
The Internet and Web services have forever changed the recruitment and employment landscape. Job seekers have immediate access to information about jobs, employers, career resource services, etc. Employers and recruiters now have the ability to reach, identify, qualify and select the best talent available. The Internet … it’s the death of distance and time.
Any predictions for the next 5 years?
We predict that job seekers will create online communities of like-minded individuals – each willing to share information about employers, employment opportunities, etc. – to the benefit of the entire community. User generated content, similar to ‘citizen journalism’, will allow job seekers to get behind actual recruitment advertising, sales pitches and collateral material to more fully evaluate a prospective employer’s culture, growth opportunities, etc. I kind of see this happening in other places, but Jeff didn’t know that in JibberJobber we are already providing this with a “global companies” where you can go see companies that other users are putting in their system, and have the ability to leave comments on and rate these companies … pretty cool stuff!
What is your favorite career management toolset/organizational tool?
(my disclaimer: I asked the question but just expected a ‘JibberJobber, of course!’ answer… I did not feed this to Jeff at all, but considering his history as a headhunter I can’t dispute it!) Quite candidly, the JibberJobber.com ‘career toolkit’ is, by an order of magnitude, our favorite career management tool. It successfully brings order to the chaotic job search process. It’s no surprise that users of the Just-Posted.com job search engine ask for JibberJobber.com.
Thanks Jeff, for taking time to think about and respond to my probing questions 😉 Note that in a search result there is an RSS button (see orange button below?), just click on that, and that’s what you put into the JibberJobber “custom feed” to add that saved search in JibberJobber (when you click you’ll see the URL/feed to paste into JibberJobber, like this):
https://www.just-posted.com/rss.aspx?keywords=teacher&City=rochester&State=NY&JobType=&Education=&SalaryRange=).
Job board experts (I seem to remember reading something here, I think, but can’t find it now – nonetheless, if you are interested in this subject, Bob is THE EXPERT) seem to think there is certainly room for more – what do you think? And, if you have just 4 minutes move on over to Carl Chapman’s survey about job boards and give your 2 cents on what is working well and what needs to be improved.