(August 22, 2003) -  We're fond of pointing out that all websites compete with each other. Attention is the limiting commodity in the war for mind-share. Time spent looking a a new car website cannot be spent on our website.

When a company purchases candidates from a job board, the company is saying either:

• That it could never have reached those candidates at all or,
• That it is cheaper to reach them through the job board than through their own operation.

In other words, using a job board is an outsourcing decision. In some cases it's an appropriate decision, in others it isn't. Rarely, however, is the question treated as outsourcing.

Customers use job boards for different things.

Many big companies (and lots of staffing firms) simply want access to the resume database. That gives them the option to pick and choose from a range of viable candidates. These folks are best served with subscription packages that enable them to parse the data.

A similar group of big customers are really looking to purchase traffic. They'd prefer that the job board simply serve as a redirection point. They want a service that can bypass the resume database and cause the candidate to come through their website. Although it is still rare, these folks are best served by a pay per view or pay per click model.

The final group of large customers use the job board the way you'd expect. They post jobs and examine the responses. Although this is a lot like buying a lottery ticket, the results are currently good enough to support their needs.

At the far end of the spectrum are the 6.5 Million small business customers with organizations of 100 or less. They all tend to use the job boards in precisely the way you'd expect....one job, lots of responses.

It's clear that some services help some customers better than other at some of these things.

John Sumser

Deploy Solutions delivers talent optimization software that helps large companies maximize staffing performance.

Deploy uniquely equips customers with applicant tracking, electronic recruiting and talent management technology to support exemplary user experiences for recruiters, HR executives, hiring managers and candidates.

The company draws upon flexible technology, deep domain experience and a comprehensive approach to HR metrics & analytics to drive measurable results for customers like Exult (also a distribution partner), Southwest Airlines, NASA's Jet Propulsion Labs, Advocate Healthcare, Bank of America, Prudential, British Petroleum, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, FedEx, FleetBoston Financial, Synopsys, Fresenius Medical Care N.A., Square D, and Zimmer.

Our solutions are facilitating unprecedented returns for visionary, multi-national corporations including slashing cost-per-hire by up to 70%, boosting retention by up to 10% and decreasing time-to-hire by up to 50%, and simultaneously improving quality of hire.

Recently recognized as the #2 best place to work in Massachusetts, our commitment to best practice is evident in the way we leverage our own solutions to recruit, hire and retain top-notch talent.

Register today for access to our web site's Knowledge Center to learn more about Deploy and to download free best-practice reports from industry luminaries like John Sumser, Dr. John Sullivan, and others.

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