Dear Rohan,

Yes, the debate over the effectiveness of job boards is not dying down anytime soon. However, as a job seeker, your best rule of thumb is to use all your job search techniques – which most certainly should include job boards. Online recruitment is a $6 billion industry so it certainly must have some level of effectiveness.

Most job seekers use an average of five different job boards to look for their next opportunity, and that should include using a couple “big boards” like CareerBuilder.com or Monster.com, as well as specialty or niche boards within your profession.

Also, keep in mind that not all job boards are considered equal. Here are the results of a recent survey by Weddles, a major U.S. publisher of print guides to Internet job hunting, where actual job hunters, employers and recruiters rank their favorite job boards:

General Purpose:
• CareerBuilder.com
• CareerJournal.com
• Craigslist.org
• Indeed.com
• Job.com
• Monster.com
• SimplyHired.com
• Workopolis.com
• Yahoo! HotJobs

For a ranking of niche job boards, visit www.weddles.com.

So remember, job boards should definitely be on your “job search” to do list. Just be sure to avoid putting all of your eggs in one basket. In addition to job boards, you should also be networking, seeking employee referrals, contacting recruiters, and scouring print classifieds.

Good luck!
Seymour