The real reason that I created FindAJobAlready.com is to be a real alternative to the big bloated and expensive job boards. When people ask me, “how come it took you a year and a half to build the site?”, my answer is because this is a real alternative to the expensive paid job boards on the Internet right now. There are a lot of throwaway free garbage job boards on the Internet right now. When we talk about the number of 50,000 plus job boards out there, most of them are really useless. Either at they are pulling data from Indeed.com and just throwing it out there to make it seem like there are a lot of jobs. Or they’re using some white label application that anybody could buy for $50 or $500. Or it’s some type of affiliate program where they make a percentage by putting a job board automatically on your blog or your website. If it is just a matter of inserting some code and voilà you have a job board, sure anybody can do that.
FindAJobAlready.com is not that. It is a real alternative to Monster.com or Careerbuilder.com or any of the other paid job boards out there. My challenge of course, as I mentioned in a previous blog, is getting the masses to come use my site. It’s just a matter of time. What I want to address here is that the paid job boards that are currently online are only continuing to survive because of the sheer mass of people that are using the sites. It’s not because the sites are such good quality. It’s not because people are happy with the user experience. It’s simply that if you lost your job, G-d forbid, and you have a family to support and bills to pay, all your concerned about this finding another job (already!). And if Monster.com has millions of jobs available, by golly, you’re going to post your resume there. The same in the other direction, if your an employer, and you’re looking to hire and Monster.com has 50 million plus resumes, where are you going to go? Of course, you’re going to go to the big bloated expensive job boards. Eventually though, these big job boards are going to go the way of the dinosaur. The reason they don’t, however, is simply because of the sheer mass of people that use it.
So how can I predicting the end of their big bloated expense of job boards? By saying that the free alternatives will eventually outpace them. Right now, everybody likes to talk about LinkedIn. I have over 10,000 connections on LinkedIn, so I know how powerful of a tool it can be. There’s definitely a level of magic about LinkedIn. You can find the most amazing people using it. However, not everybody is receptive. Some people find you annoying, especially the more influential people. And also, even though everybody talks about finding passive candidates there, what about the people who aren’t passive candidates? What about the people who want to be contacted, who are looking for work? Those people there are going to go to a job board.
I really believe that humans are creatures of habit. Job boards have been around forever, and there is no reason for them not to stick around forever. I think they will! And not just that, I think that they will get better, more efficient, faster and… cheaper. I think eventually the get so cheap that they are actually free. I think that’s the direction the Internet is heading right now. Free. How many people want to spend money? Nobody wants to spend money! Sure, people say they would rather spend money to get a quality product rather than not spend any money and have a garbage product for free. But what if you get a quality product for free? Then there’s no reason to spend any money.
And that’s where FindAJobAlready (http://www.findajobalready.com) comes in. I plan on building this site into one of the most effective and efficient recruiting tools on the Internet and offer it 100% for free. The version that’s already out there is fantastic. I have a whole roadmap of where I want to take the site. First I have to get the jobs on the site. Then the resumes will come. Then begins the end of the big bloated and expensive job boards. Because once you reach critical mass, and you’re offering the same high quality product for free, there is no reason for the big bloated and expensive job boards and more. Its just a matter of time.