This is the 2009 guide to the top 100 US job board niches. For each top employment category it lists the top 3 or 4 niche job sites. This report excludes:
- job sites that lack top Google rankings
- sites with high Google rankings but low credibility, authenticity or integrity.
- sites which require registration or paid membership to be useful
The point of this list is to avoid looking at the same jobs or job seekers that everyone else is looking at. Yes, you should use one of the largest general-purpose job boards and a job search engine. There, you will find the greatest numbers -- and you will be competing with everyone and their brother.
But, if you are looking for something harder to find, this report may be helpful. It relies on my 12 years of experience running a top niche job board and dozens of hours of research. If you are deeply interested in the job board industry, you may also like to read my methods and observations companion to this report.
Here are the Cliff notes for anyone in a rush - there's a flood of search engine spam out there. So avoid posting your job or resume the first place you come to. Remember the old saying "measure twice, cut once". Look for websites with personality, that win meaningful awards, that are in the news, that publish a blog - whose credibility is clearly high.First then, the top 30 job site niches. These rankings represent an average of 12 months search data at Google and are influenced by seasonal considerations as well as the recession -- so take this top 30 for what it is, just a snapshot in time. the number in parentheses shows how the category moved up or down from 2008 to 2009.
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1. management jobs (na) |
16. warehouse jobs (-6)
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If this is in any way useful or interesting to you, please share it with your friends or readers if you're a blogger or use Twitter (link HTML / graphics here)! If the response is good, you might encourage me to publish more research. Without further ado, here are all 100 categories and their job boards arranged alphabetically:
Legend
- association - site is operated by an association and/or nonprofit
- free - free for employers
- growing! - compete.com shows significant and consistent traffic growth
- IAEWS - displays International Association of Employment Web Sites logo
- accountingjobstoday IAEWS
- careerbank.com owned by OnTargetJobs.com
- jobsinthemoney.com owned by Dice.com
advertising 
airport
- artjob.org association
- artsusa.org association
attorney
automotive
- bankjobs.com
- careerbank.com owned by OnTargetJobs.com
- jobsinthemoney.com owned by Dice.com
callcenter
ceo
clerical
- prsa.org association
- computerjobs.com owned by JobServe.com
- computerwork.com owned by JobServe.com
- dice.com
construction
consulting
contract
- computerwork.com owned by JobServe.com
- net-temps.com
corporate
- see also management
creative
customer service
data entry
dental
director
- jobsinlogistics.com IAEWS owned by Don Firth
- see also logistics
- bubbajunk.com
- classadrivers.com
- jobsintrucks.com IAEWS owned by Don Firth
education
- higheredjobs.com
- nationjob.com
- see also teaching
- asce.org association
- engcen.com
- engineer.net
- mechanicalengineer.com
environmental
executive
facilities
fashion
- brokerhunter.com
- careerbank.com owned by OnTargetJobs.com
- jobsinthemoney.com owned by Dice.com
- efinancialcareers.com owned by Dice.com
government
- allhealthcarejobs.com
- healthecareers.com owned by OnTargetJobs.com
- healthjobsusa.com IAEWS
- medhunters.com owned by OnTargetJobs.com
- medicalworkers.com
- see also medical
- see also healthcare
- hcareers.com owned by OnTargetJobs.com
hr
- jobs.shrm.org association
- workforcehrjobs.com
insurance
international & overseas
it
- computerwork.com owned by JobServe.com
- dice.com
- lawenforcementjobs.com
- see also police
law
- jobsinlogistics.com IAEWS owned by Don Firth
management
manufacturing
- jobsinmanufacturing.com IAEWS owned by Don Firth
- manufacturingjobs.com IAEWS
mechanic
- allhealthcarejobs.com
- medhunters.com owned by OnTargetJobs.com
- medhunting.com
- see also healthcare
merchandising
- see retail
non profit
oil and gas
- oilandgasjobsonline.com owned by EnergyJobSites.com
part-time
pharmaceutical
pharmacy
- careerpharm.com association
- healthecareers.com owned by OnTargetJobs.com
- rxcareercenter.com
police
- policeone.com
- see also law enforcement
project
public relations
- jobs.prsa.org association
- talentzoo.com
qa
radio
receptionist & secretary
- see administrative
restaurant
- foodservice.com
- hcareers.com owned by OnTargetJobs.com
- see also food
- allretailjobs.com IAEWS owned by Don Firth
safety
science
- nature.com magazine / journal
- sciencejobs.org
- scjobs.sciencemag.org
seasonal
- see administrative
- clearancejobs.com owned by Dice.com
senior and retirement
social work
software
student
summer
supply
- jobsinlogistics.com IAEWS owned by Don Firth
- see computer
teaching
- schoolspring.com
- teacherjobs.com
- see also education
- computerwork.com owned by JobServe.com
- dice.com
technician
- computerwork.com owned by JobServe.com
- dice.com
- see also laboratory
technology
temporary
- astd.org association
transportation
- jobsinlogistics.com IAEWS owned by Don Firth
warehouse
non profit
- idealist.org wow!
- nonprofitjobs.org
- nonprofit-jobs.org owned by ExecSearches.com
- opportunitynocs.org
- philanthropy.com
volunteer
- backdoorjobs.com
- idealist.org wow!
- volunteermatch.org wow!
Qestions or suggestions? Please read how this report was put together first... this is a difficult exercise and I welcome your questions and suggestions!
Eric, Great work - a huge service to the job board industry. I can't imagine how many hours this must gobble up of your time. Thanks! Jeff
**es** lots, but it keeps me on my toes. thanks Jeff
You never cease to amaze me Eric. What an incredible job, and as always, highly interesting and informative. Thanks!
**es** Amy, you are very kind and I am so glad to see you here!
Thanks Eric. Good job! But I think you've missed one niche which is getting popular in our days. It's Renewable (Green) Energy industry. There are lots of job boards have been launched in this segment recently.
**es** thank you Rodion. this list is based on the number of searches happening on Google for each keyword. the number of job boards that are launched in a category does not affect keyword search volumes much... so at this point, 'environmental jobs' is still much more popular than 'renewable energy jobs' or 'green jobs'...
Wow! This has to be the best list of job boards I've ever seen and a tremendous job Eric. Thanks from all of us.
**es** very kind of you Bill, thanks!
I really enjoy your posting, would you mine reviewing mine and give me some feed back? www.momentumstaffing.wordpress.com
**es** I like your blog Michael and subscribed - keep up the good work!
I think your focus on credibility / authenticity / integrity is awesome and makes this a great list, but in clicking through to a lot of these sites, I see designs that detract from the site's credibility. I think so many job board sites are handicapped by people using old technology to save a buck or two. They need to realize that there's a huge connection between design and credibility as well. When I click onto a site that looks like a mess, I automatically start to doubt the value of its content. If the design is particularly bad, I might not even make it to the content.
**es** I share your sentiments about design. Still, some of those uglier sites are among the most successful businesses!
As a third-party recruiter, I often notice that my clients, who all are in a very small niche market, never use niche job boards, whether in Food & Beverage, Luxury Goods or Wine & Spirits. They either go through job board everyone knows (Careerbuilder, Monster...) or contact an recruitment firm. I might need to take a closer look at them, but so far I haven't been convinced. I am curious to hear other recruiters feedback too.
Hi Eric, I too appreciate the work you put in to developing this list. There are several job boards you've included that are IAEWS members, not notated; and I'm sure they would appreciate inclusion: Dice Holdings talentzoo.com allhealthcarejobs (just acquired by Dice) higheredjobs.com nationjob.com callcenterjobs.com pharmadiversityjobboard.com retirementjobs.com astd.org (jobs/astd.org)
Although I agree with the comments regarding design (you look at some of these sites and go, huh?) I think those of us who "live" on the Net are more aware of this than say, a nurse looking for a job. Do active job seekers really care about design?
It seems to me what's most important to job seekers is:
1. Are these REAL jobs?
2. Are these CURRENT jobs, still available?
3. If I apply for a position on this job board, will my application be responded to? -- Even a simple "thank you."
4. Will the owner of this job board protect my privacy?
5. Does this job board sell my personal information to 3rd parties (not recruiters).
Although I have no stats to back this up, it seems the popularity and use of aggregrator sites like Simply Hired and Indeed have helped boost the popularity of these niche job boards. Keep up the good work!
Peter Clayton
Producer/Host Total Picture Radio
IAEWS Member
**es** thanks Peter! I agree with your list. The IAEWS designation is only for those sites that display the logo but I will review the ones you mention...
It's the best list of job boards I've ever seen on the Web. You provide huge service to the job search industry
**es** Thank you Dan.
I have to admit, I actually looked at this list prior to deciding which of our planned boards we'd launch first. Of course, we've launched according to our own research, but part of that research was this particular list. We veered off in some areas, and I've found that the "environmental" or "green" vertical is one that is extremely popular with job seekers lately. Sales jobs (in our network of sites) is the most popular for job posters (employers/recruiters). So, there's a bit more information for those looking into the top vertical. Anecdotal, of course, but the trends we're seeing are actually pretty strong. I would expect that if there is a 2010 list next year, that environmental/green jobs will be on the list.
**es** i'm glad it was helpful...
Eric, Thank you for putting your time and effort into compiling this tremendously useful list. I really like that it's not just a rehash of search results for niche job boards - it's got far more value than a 5-second search on Google for "niche job sites." I've incorporated it into a blog post on The Job Search Strategist blog, at http://jobs.therecruiterslounge.com and am happy to share it with my readers. All the best, David B. Wright Author, Get A Job! Your Guide to Making Successful Career Moves http://www.thegetajobbook.com
**es** thanks so much David!
Hi Eric-- We are a small professional development program in learning & organizational change at Northwestern University. Many of our students are "career switchers," who have on average 11 years of work experience from all walks of life but who have come to love the human capital side of business and want to have a hand in creating healthy, productive places to work. NU has a very undergrad-centric career center, so I consider this resource you've created to be gold for my students. I am posting this to our Linked In site RIGHT NOW! Thank you! Thank you! Terri C.
**es** thank you Terri!
Well done! This is the most comprehensive niche job listing I've yet to see. Will retweet this. Quick question: are any of these sites accessible to Canadians? Thank you. Melissa Martin bilingual career coach careercoachingbyphone.com
**es** thanks, I imagine they are all accessible to Canadians
are there any sites that offer REAL paying work at home positions?
**es** there are - but because of the imbalance in demand for these jobs, most are going to charge jobseekers. you might have a look at these and flexjobs.com