Remember Full service Petrol Stations? They still have them in US and SA.
The attendant fills up your tank, checks oil, water, tyres cleans your windscreen etc... these died out in 70s in the UK when self-serve pumps came along as petrol prices escalated to keep costs down.
Job boards are the 'self-serve' pumps of recruiting.
Before they came along, a school had to advertise with local or national newspapers (expensive) or use a recruitment agency (more expensive) or hang signs on school gates or telephone poles (not expensive but time consuming and maybe a little embarrassing). JobBoardDoctor.com compares this process to online job sites, and it is particularly true of education job sites.
Early self-serve school vacancy advertising
In 2001, Eteach arrived as the UK’s first dedicated teacher recruitment website enabling schools to place and pay for the ad online (self service), with little interaction and a friendly virtual attendant. The cost was much lower. The effectiveness seemed similar to previous methods, or maybe even better. And the employer could do everything from the comfort of their own desk.
Needless to say, the job board model has now flourished with all media groups copying this self-service model.
Just as it took self-serve pumps about 20 years to become ubiquitous, it also took job boards about 20 years to become the primary paid recruitment marketing tool for most employers.
Evolving in the age of Big Data
But...we are now going through another step change, job boards need to do more and spread the campaigns to other channels using social media, blogs, hubs, and portals to attract viable candidates from a shrinking global teaching talent pool.
Schools now want/need more than 'just a job posting service' - and they need to find providers who can provide these additional services.
Sites like eteach.com are again working hard to stay ahead of the game and like the generalist giants like LinkedIn provide recruiter-focused search tools and recruitment support to their customers. Aggregators like Google and Indeed provide pay per click and analytics FREE at the moment.
And sites like TheMuse provided the amorphous 'employer branding' visual tools that were seen as the next step in recruitment marketing. More tools, more services better results...
So are we moving back to full serve?
I don't think so...but I think sites and tools that incorporate features mimicking 'full serve', either in reality or feel, have become more popular with employers whose inhouse recruitment teams are looking for better ways to find talent and maximise their budget.
Customers want more for less - they don't however want to feel like they're poking around in the bargain basement when looking for candidates, and they almost always need help as they build their own in-house expertise.
Anything a recruiting site can do to provide schools with more service - and results - is a differentiator. In other words, 'no, we don't just offer job posts, we also provide analytics, assessment, targeted emails, etc., etc., etc.'. i.e. 'You can get the petrol as well as the oil, tyres checked, windscreen cleaned, car washed'.
So...fill her up?
About the author
Paul Howells
After working as a PE teacher in London, Paul started the first London supply teacher agency, LHR Education, in 1990, which soon became one of the fastest growing businesses in the UK. In 2001, Paul launched the visionary eteach.com which has evolved into a world-leading portal of school recruitment innovation, and FEjobs.com in 2004 which is now the market leading job board for further education across the UK. Today, Paul’s websites, Eteach and FEjobs have become synonymous with teacher-centric, value-driven, ground-breaking and proactive recruitment methods. Paul has a wealth of knowledge and experience of education recruitment and is passionate about using effective online strategies to optimist school recruitment.