From Bob Wilson's Search Engine Guide, comes this surprising gem on relevance:
Relevance … specifically job search relevance … and the lack thereof on most commercial job boards … is one of the reasons I blog. The technology exists to return more relevant job search results, yet the market does not seem to care. Why?
He points to Just-Posted.com as leading the way with job search relevancy. I'm sure Bob is right, we owe relevancy more attention! As for the reasons job boards are complacent, Bob lists:
- better search reduces page-views per user, and sites are measured by traffic metrics rather than customer outcomes;
- the less efficient the search process, the more advertisers are willing to spend to be heard above the noise;
- the most profitable player in the market … Monster … does not deliver superior search results; or perhaps,
- market participants … jobseekers, employers and recruiters … don’t care about search relevance.
I don't think any of these explain our own inattention. I'd say it's rather that the war is not yet won or lost on the battlefield of relevancy. For niche job boards, it's a high-level refinement and most job board owners are busy dealing with survival issues like how to hire and manage a sales team, how to finance growth of the company, product pricing, etc.
But perhaps for both niche and big players, it's also about our DNA. Successful job boards grew because they were marketing oriented companies, not product engineering oriented companies. It's in our DNA to think about marketing first and the mouse trap second. The product focused companies made complex systems and went out of business. Well, that's my humble opinion anyway.
