Comparing hiring platforms versus job boards is like choosing between a supercomputer and a smartphone – you might be able to use both for the same purpose, but one is going to handle that purpose a lot better than the other.
Job search engines and career websites are useful for finding a wide range of candidates in a short span, but less so for actually sourcing a unicorn that has the right level of experience and the right skill sets to help you scale your go-to-market (GTM) strategy.
This blog will cover the key differences between hiring platforms and job boards when it comes to choosing the right recruiting software:
What is Recruitment Software?
Recruitment software is a broad term that is applied to nearly every solution in a recruit-tech stack. This typically includes everything from job search engines to applicant tracking systems (ATS), and sometimes even to apps that bundle onboarding and payroll together. What is important to note is the level of functionality each delivers – some are almost ‘jacks of all trades’ with features in many camps, others are single-purpose, but the best usually help you manage the key aspects of talent acquisition in your market.
Hiring Platforms – True Recruitment Software
A hiring platform is recruitment software that allows you to directly source, engage with and onboard candidates for open positions. Where it differs from a simple job listings aggregator like a career site is in the breadth and complexity of its features – employers are not just regulated to posting a job and can take advantage of much more to source, communicate with and engage with top talent. Depending on the recruiting platform, this can include everything from leveraging analytics to scheduling interviews directly through the software.
Job Boards – Quick, Cheap & Inefficient
A job board is typically what its name implies – a virtual open board of listed jobs posted by an employer or outsourced recruiting firm. Some websites have been adding to their feature list to remain competitive against the rise of new recruit-tech, but the core functionality has always remained the same since the times of Monster.com. You post an open job, maybe pay to sponsor it and increase your coverage, but in the end you eventually sit back and pray that the right candidate will just happen across your post and apply.
Betts Connect – The Hiring Platform for Tech Sales
Betts Connect, our proprietary solution, is the best example of a hiring platform focused for an industry and role type. Employers gain access to the entire Betts candidate pool, which features one of the largest networks of sales, marketing and customer success professionals with backgrounds in tech. Connect also differs from other recruitment platforms in that it has been designed for recruiters and non-recruiters alike, streamlining your talent acquisition and providing your team with flexibility while hiring.
Betts Connect vs. Job Boards
Compare Betts Connect with these popular job boards to see how true hiring platform features stand up against the traditional job search engine:
Betts Connect vs. ZipRecruiter
ZipRecruiter is the standard job board site, functioning as a collection of open job listings posted by employers or their outsourced recruiters looking to expand their search recruiting coverage. It is better suited to sourcing candidates for entry-level roles at higher volumes, since there is no real built-in method to vet applicants prior to engagement.
Compared to ZipRecruiter, Betts Connect is both much more advanced and makes it a lot easier to track down unicorn talent. Every profile in the Connect network has already been pre-vetted, with automated search features that help you gain a better ROI on your talent acquisition.
Betts Connect vs. Indeed
Indeed is a better option than most other job boards as they put a little more effort into their software value-add. However, their job search engine is still held back by the same limitations as every similar solution, which is something they have tried to get past by launching the Indeed Hiring Platform. Despite its name, this “matching and hiring platform” remains for the most part a career site, with the only real addition being an interview function integrated into the job posting workflow.
Betts Connect has a much more data-driven sourcing functionality than Indeed – job board or Hiring Platform – with search functions that let you filter through the candidate pool by tangible KPIs (key performance indicators) that can be augmented with AI tools to scale up as needed. Once you have identified talent that meets your requirements, Connect also allows you to engage directly with the candidate via the platform, with the screening already handled by the Betts team.
Betts Connect vs. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is in a bit of a weird place when it comes to recruitment software, occupying a spot between hiring platform and job search engine. It has way more features and value-added services than most job boards offer, but still suffers from many of the same roadblocks, and upgrading your solutions or plan often becomes prohibitively expensive over time. In the end, your recruiters or hiring managers are still going to be relying on posted job listings and a broad applicant pool.
Unlike LinkedIn, Betts Connect seeks to cut out the guessing games and noise when it comes to sourcing quality talent. In addition to being pre-vetted, the platform’s filters allow you to quickly narrow down your search to candidates who are actively seeking a new role, which is displayed alongside their technical and operational proficiencies relevant to your requirements. Most importantly, these features are part of your Connect subscription, so you won’t have to keep paying bigger and bigger fees just to access core functionality that is actually useful.
When to Bring on a Recruiting Agency – Hiring Platforms vs. Job Boards
There is often an unspoken reality when relying on job boards to source candidates, which creates an often unspoken cost. Few of these job search engines have any real automation for managing listings or applications, so of course it requires devoting a human to overseeing the whole process from end to end. Many companies will contract an RPO (recruitment process outsourcing) firm or a recruiting agency to handle this.
The inadequacies of career sites and job boards inevitably slow down your recruiting search, dragging on for months at a time – and all the while you pay fees for both the software and your outsourced recruiters. Betts is changing this approach with a new way to bridge the gap between technology and talent acquisition at scale.
The RaaS Difference – Cost-effective Recruitment as a Service
In 2023, Betts launched a new model for hiring at scale – RaaS, or Recruitment as a Service, bundles our Connect platform with end-to-end recruiter support. This means that you not only get access to the Betts Connect platform, but also the same service you would from an outsourced recruiting agency or RPO firm all for the same price as your hiring platform subscription.
Learn more about RaaS here, and discover how to get the best ROI on your recruitment software subscription with quality service and end-to-end support on-demand.