Chris Russell is the founder of AllCountyJobs.com a fast growing network of local job boards in the Northeastern, US. Recently, he launched JobBoarders.com a social network for job board owners and employees. He also built and sold RecruitingFly.com a news site for the online recruiting industry.
AllCountyJobs.com is a regional job board network. This network of sites covering Connecticut, Southern New York, Western Mass & Eastern Mass and Rhode Island reaches over 125,000 monthly jobseekers. Their tagline is "Go local, get hired". AllCountyJobs.com is also the home of Jobs in Pods, the first ever audio job board.
Eric: Chris, first, congratulations on your successes, you have a very impressive portfolio of online employment businesses! What first got you interested in the employment industry?
Chris: Thanks for the kind words Eric. I’ve always been interested in job hunting ever since college. In fact I used to moonlight as a resume writer in the mid 90’s.
Eric: Where did the idea to start a job board come from?
Chris: I got my start in the online recruiting industry quite by accident. While working for a web design firm in 1999, I helped design a web site for a recruiter. He wanted a simple jobs database and after seeing how easy it was to build, I got the idea to start my first local site, FairfieldCountyJobs.com. Having just gone through a job search the previous year I was frustrated with sites like Monster who were lumping in results from my desired location with ones in Manhattan. Problem was I didn’t want to work in Mahattan. So I decided to start a job board focused on the area where I lived.
Eric: What was the first business you ever started?
Chris: the resume service was the first thing I ever did on my own.
Eric: Do you think of yourself as a serial entrepreneur? Hyperactive entrepreneur (lol)? Why do you keeping launching new projects? What do you hope to get out of running so many businesses?
Chris: Good question. Sometimes I think I have too many ideas. Yes I definitely am both a serial and hyperactive entrepreneur. I guess I’m looking to build a job search empire (lol)!
Eric: What does "Go local, get hired" mean to you? Why are local boards special? Did you consider launching any job-function or category type boards?
Chris: It means that all recruiting is local in my opinion…at least the vast majority of it is. Given the choice, most people would prefer to work near their home to make life more convenient and save time. Why commute if you don’t have too? I think local job boards are the gateway to that experience. They provide the user with only local jobs. Too many of the national sites don’t have that ‘local flavor’. I actually did launch some industry specific boards --- Allwebjobs.com and Admincareers.com which I have since sold off. Marketing a site nationwide is a more expensive to do vs local ones.
Eric: Your local sites don’t all have the same quality domain names, for example FairfieldCountyJobs.com vs NYCityWorks.com. Do you have an intuitive sense for the impact if at all this has had on the success of the sites?
Chris: Another good question. Since I advertise mostly online, the domain name is not as important as the content that site brings. It doesn’t really matter what the name is so long as it is relevant. People just have to click a link, not remember the name. Whenever possible, seek out keyword related domains. But sometimes you are forced to go with what’s available.
Eric: What is the most successful local advertising you do? Do you do any offline advertising in your communities?
Chris: I’ve done everything from billboards to TV. Two years ago I made a decision to only do online advertising since it’s the most easily trackable and you know what you’re paying for. I think link building and SEO are also imperative.
Eric: Why podcasting?
Chris: Podcasting, along with other new media such as blogs, rss and social networks are the next generation of recruiting for employers. By launching Jobs in Pods I hope to bring job seekers closer to employers by letting them hear directly from the people they’d be working with. It’s about going beyond a text job description. This type of on-demand advertising is something that companies will begin to expect from online recruiting sites. And I think job seekers will demand it also. The next generation workforce coming through college now are already using it, so employers must adapt.
Eric: With so many projects, how do you allocate your time? How much of your time does JobBoarders soak up on average every day?
Chris: Lately I’ve been trying to simplify my life and business. That’s a big reason I sold RecruitingFly. I use technology whenever possible to free up my time. For example I have an 800 number that routes calls. I use RSS feeds to stay informed. I outsource job board management to Jobtarget which frees up my time to do other things. I work on Job Boarders maybe 2 hrs a week. Fortunately it’s a user generated community so I don’t have to manage it on a daily basis. It pretty much runs itself. I spend a few hours a week writing for various blogs but most of my day-to-day activity is spent on Jobs in Pods.
Eric: How carefully have you studied SEO? What resources do you use?
Chris: I learned SEO on my own over the years. I attended a few conferences and just read a lot on the subject. The web is full of resources on the subject and it’s pretty easy to understand.
Eric: Do you outsource any work overseas?
Chris: I haven’t gone overseas yet. I do have an intern and a part-time marketing person. They shoulder some of the load.
Eric: With so many projects, has anything you’ve tried failed?
Chris: Sure, lots of sites. I had a healthcare site for Connecticut that never really took off and I started a career video thing which I quickly gave up on. But each time I learned something. One of my favorite quotes is “There is no such thing as failure, only feedback”.
Eric: What changes do you see coming to the job board industry?
Chris: Lots of consolidation for the niche players. And plenty of sites will fail. There are too many boards out there that offer nothing to the job seeker. I also think we’ll see more boards integrating some form of social media into themselves.
Eric: What do you enjoy most about your business?
Chris: Probably the fact that I’m helping people find a better job. It’s gratifying to know that my sites help improve their careers in some small way.
Eric: What websites do you visit everyday besides your own?
Chris: Facebook, Cheezhead, Recruiting.com and MyYahoo page. I’m also a car junkie so AutoBlog is always a daily read.
Eric: What advice would you give an entrepreneur about to launch a job board?
Chris: I’d say make a unique product. Your site has to be much different than your competitors in order to stand out. Or at the very least it has to prove more effective than the others at attracting job seekers. Also don’t ever launch a job board with no jobs. Get some in the database first.
Eric: What question were you expecting me to ask or hoping I’d ask you?
Chris: I was hoping you’d ask me what my favorite new toy is. Answer: my iPhone.
Eric: Thanks for your time Chris!
