A job board used to refer to a physical board or case, often located in an employment center or agency. People looking for work might check the job board every few days to see hand posted offers of work. Today you may find a few of these job boards still, especially in universities, and occasionally at an employment office. More commonly, the job board is now job listings on the Internet, similar to classified ads for jobs.
You’ll find a variety of job board types of the Internet. Companies like Monster.com and craigslist can help you view job boards of all kinds. They may be organized around specific occupations, locations, or some companies actually search jobs for you if you have filled out applications for them. Some job boards are devoted to certain types of work. For instance, if you want to be a freelance writer, you can find numerous job board sites, which allow you to apply for jobs or to bid for work. In most major fields, you’ll find websites devoted specifically to searches within that profession.
Job boards tend to make money for people who are willing to post jobs on the Internet. Companies like craigslist and Monster charge companies who want to place ads for jobs on the board. They do not charge people who want to search these sites and look for work. There are a few job boards which will charge you to search for jobs, and these may not be good investments. Generally companies list in multiple locations, and what you can find on one site, you can find on another that doesn’t charge you to look or apply.
One thing made clear by job board listings on the Internet is that they are taking business from the other main source for job searches, classified ads in newspapers. In larger cities, you may see fewer and fewer want ads since it may be more cost-effective to list jobs with Internet companies. Since they deal with high volumes of ads, Internet companies can usually charge less than do newspapers, and still make a tidy profit. Because the old standby of want ads is changing, it makes sense when you’re looking for employment, to check Internet job boards first. You’ll usually find the most jobs in your profession online instead of in the paper.
All who seek employment, except on a very casual basis, should add basic familiarity of computers and the Internet to their skill set. This can make navigating a job board, or multiple ones much simpler. To help people with this, many government run employment centers now offer computers, Internet access, and computer training, so people can more effectively look for employment.