Highlight #6 The Rise of AI in Job Boards

AI's integration into job boards has rapidly transformed the recruitment industry. Alexander Chukovski's presentation highlighted the growing applications of Generative AI, which significantly lowers adoption barriers by automating processes like job description generation, CV parsing, and candidate screening. This reduces the need for extensive datasets and infrastructure, enabling even smaller job boards to leverage AI for efficiency.

The importance of extraction tasks such as retrieving salary data from job descriptions using generative AI models, and improving click-through rates and organic traffic​. The takeaway here - adopting AI for data extraction and enriching metadata can enhance job visibility and user engagement, particularly in search results.

Alexander Chukovski’s blog is an excellent resource for the job board industry

Highlight #5 Niche Job Board Growth Strategies

Ling Wu from Jobiqo hosted an all-female panel session with three job board founders. This discussion focused on strategies to grow within their niche. They delved into how niche sites must compete for talent and an overreliance on organic traffic is not enough. Diversifying your talent acquisition strategies and using programmatic tools to engage with relevant passive candidates is of utmost importance. They spoke about how important it is to use the right technology and partners to support their efforts in growing their job board, for example, Jobiqo AIR helps to automate the creation, distribution and bidding of ads across a plurality of channels. This has been a game changer helping them to drive performance and reach, growing their candidate pool without additional resources needed.

Using the tools that are readily available on the market should not be overlooked. Technology is solving traditional problems that we face in talent acquisition, especially for niche sites helping niche sites to compete and do more with less.

Learn more about Jobiqo AIR here. 

Highlight #4 Emerging Trends and Challenges

Rob Brouwer (Jobrapido) outlined key trends such as the rise of programmatic recruitment, the gig economy, and the impact of Generative AI on long-term staffing​. The need for job boards to evolve in response to these changes, particularly with the transition from Cost Per Click (CPC) to Cost Per Qualified Application (CPQA) has been discussed​. Employers increasingly value the relevance and quality of candidates over sheer numbers, creating an opportunity for job boards to differentiate themselves through more advanced filtering and screening technologies.

Ongoing consolidation in the industry is expected, with major players like LinkedIn and Indeed capturing a significant portion of the market​. Job boards outside the top tier will need to innovate and offer genuine value to stay competitive in an increasingly crowded space.

Highlight #3 Data Analytics for Performance Optimization

Barny Ritchley (CV Library) underscored the power of data analytics in enhancing performance for both recruiters and job seekers. AI has revolutionised the ability to analyse vast amounts of data to derive deeper insights, allowing job boards to identify pain points and improve matching accuracy​.

Quality over quantity should be the focus of job boards. Rather than overwhelming recruiters with thousands of irrelevant applications, analytics can help refine candidate search criteria to deliver better matches​. Job boards can adopt AI-driven tools to assist recruiters in targeting qualified candidates more effectively, reducing the risk of losing high-potential hires due to overwhelming volumes of unsuitable applications.

Highlight #2 Generative AI and Its Impact on HR & Recruitment

James Neave (Adzuna) discussed how generative AI is reshaping HR practices and job boards by automating job applications, video-based interviews, and job description creation​. The rise of automated job applications has shifted the focus from quantity to quality, making it essential for job boards to filter and rank candidates based on relevance and suitability, rather than just driving traffic​.

Adzuna’s use of AI tools, such as ValueMyCV and Prepper, exemplifies how AI can personalise the candidate experience by providing salary estimates, job preparation insights, and enhanced job matching. Job boards that adopt similar AI tools can enhance their service offerings by providing more personalised job searches and automated candidate screening.

Highlight #1 Enhancing User Experience (UX)

Jennifer Johansson (Placed) underlines how job boards must prioritise user experience (UX) to meet the expectations of modern candidates, particularly Gen Z and Millennials, who now constitute the majority of the global workforce.​ These users prefer personalised, mobile-optimized job search experiences and are more likely to engage with visual content.

The dual-sided nature of job boards, catering to both employers and job seekers, means optimising the experience for both is critical. Jennifer stressed the importance of quality data and ensuring candidates can quickly and easily apply to roles​. For job boards, focusing on tailored, efficient application processes is key to retaining users and boosting conversion rates.

Conclusion: What This Means for Job Boards

AI and data are the future of job boards. From optimising user experience to improving candidate matching and recruitment efficiency, job boards must embrace these technologies to stay relevant and competitive.

Key action points for job boards:

• Invest in AI for automation, candidate engagement, and metadata enrichment.
• Use quality programmatic tools for talent acquisition that are readily available like Jobiqo AIR
• Prioritise quality over quantity by using data analytics to deliver more relevant matches.
• Enhance the user experience with mobile-optimised, personalised job search journeys (If you are not mobile-first google will not even index you)
• Stay informed on emerging trends, such as the shift from CPC to CPQA and the rise of programmatic recruitment.

About Job Boards Connect: a dedicated event series for the Job Board industry -  hosted bi-annually in the beautiful city of London. The event brings industry experts and technology leaders together to collaborate, discuss trends, learn and discover innovation in this space.