What's new?

It's been a postless couple of weeks, though actually we've been very busy - witness the fact that I'm doing this post around midnight.

So what's been happening? Well, in among a host of minor enhancements, two things stand out.

Firstly, we've been doing a lot of work to optimise the Jobshout system for faster performance, putting live a new release of the server about a week ago. So far we are very pleased with the results, with everything running quicker and fixing a strange problem which had suddenly appeared. Basically things which get requested all the time, like images, CSS and Javascript files are now being published by a separate server. It's a process which we are intending to continue over the months to come, gradually separating out the jobs of content publishing from the content management (back end) side of Jobshout.

Broadbean subscribers will also be pleased to hear that we are now at the stage where we are about to start beta testing the system, so hopefully we will be able to release it in a few weeks' time.

Basically, it works like this. You enter your jobs on Jobshout in the normal way. Everything is the same, except that, if the system knows that you are a Broadbean subscriber, you will see a "Post to Broadbean on Save" checkbox, which defaults to being on when the job is entered. There is also a "Broadbean" link, next to the "search optimisation" one at the top which opens up another area on the entry screen where you can specify the job boards that you want to advertise the job on. This area will also show the status of this job on each job board, as reported by the Broadbean system, and also has a link for you to remove a job from an individual job board. When the job is posted you can set individual setting for each job board.

So with Jobshout you will be able to enter once and publish many times - a potentially massive saving of time and money.

More soon. Sleep is starting to beckon...

Jobshout automatically publishes Jobs via RSS feed

Jobshout RSS feed link

Did you know this?

Whenever a Jobshout user signs up for new Jobshout account and starts publishing jobs on their web site, Jobshout also creates the HTML code which publishes current jobs via RSS. Most browsers will understand this code and will allow users to look and search jobs via RSS.
Jobshout's RSS server also creates the necessary RSS feed of current jobs ready to be served over the internet.

Please check out links below to see Jobshout RSS in action.

feed://jobs.workstation.co.uk/rss.xml
feed://genericsoftware.jobshout.co.uk/rss.xml

By the way, if you want to give others the RSS link for your Jobshout job board, so that candidates can get the latest jobs via RSS automatically, just remember that the RSS feed URL will be based on your job board web site address (URL) and/or unique job board account code as explained below:

If the address for your job board is http://jobs.xyz.co.uk/, the RSS feed will be at://jobs.xyz.co.uk/rss.xml

More information about Jobshout RSS feed URL

Jobshout RSS feed is published in many ways from Jobshout but two well known techniques are as follows:

If your job board is published on the jobshout.co.uk domain, the RSS link will be simply simply:

feed://{Your Jobshout Account Code}.jobshout.co.uk/rss.xml.

A working example RSS feed is feed://genericsoftware.jobshout.co.uk/rss.xml in which case genericsoftware is the unique Jobshout account code.

If your job board runs on your own domain, the link will be something like this: feed://jobs.xyz.co.uk/rss.xml. For example, the Workstation Jobshout job board is at http://jobs.workstation.co.uk. Its RSS feed is at feed://jobs.workstation.co.uk/rss.xml

Most RSS readers come with a scheduler, which will automatically update the jobs feed.

For more on Jobshout RSS technology please visit http://jobshout.co.uk/rss_feed.html &http://pages.workstation.co.uk/rss_feed.

Theg ood news is that most mobile phones (especially iPhone) have an RSS feed reader so users will be able to look at your on their mobiles.

Enjoy!

Job Board Mirroring

Jobshout Mirror technology will make sure your job board is available online 24/7: The Jobshout mirror technology is now under development.

Jobshout job boards run from a web server. All servers can face problems and may go down at times due to unavoidable circumstances. For example server disks can fail, air conditioning failure can cause server downtimes in big data centres, as servers can automatically switch off if the temperature goes really high because of insufficient cooling. Under these circumstances Jobshout clients could be affected. As it is critical that applicants can search and apply for jobs at any time, our number one priority is to make service available at all times. So we are adding mirror functionality, which will allow us to serve data from another server. If you want more information about this service or you have any ideas about it, please email support@jobshout.co.uk

Some Jobshout news and developments

Intelligent links from a job page to other similar jobs
Your Jobshout job details pages now have links to similar jobs. When job details page is drawn it now creates links to other jobs that have the same market sectors and skills specified. Previously links were random.

Jobshout goes wherever you go today
The Jobshout back-end system works fully on an iPhone, which means consultants can not only add/update jobs on their website and search/contact applicants from an iPhone but can also check the progress of their jobs and stats.

Jobshout stats work really well on the iPhone BTW.

The iPhone might well be a godsend for consultants who work from home. Time is critical and the quicker you can find an applicant for a job, the better.

Generic Software install Jobshout

Here is a bit of PR from a new client Generic Software announcing their adoption of the Jobshout system:
http://www.agi.org.uk/POOLED/articles/bf_newsart/view.asp?Q=bf_newsart_295942

Click here to look at their rather nice looking job board.

Announcing Broadbean compatilbility

Good news for lots of UK agencies out there - we will be adding compatibility with the popular Broadbean job posting system. This will mean that you will be able to post your job ad to Jobshout and, in the process post it as well to any of the 700-odd job boards serviced by Broadbean.

It's something we're quite excited about, because it potentially represents a massive time-saving for recruiters.

We've begun the development, and expect to start serious testing some time this year, with launch of the service in Q1 2008.

Back in action again

Well, this blog has been languishing for a while, suffering the fate of many blogs - in other words getting set up in a fit of enthusiasm, and then getting forgotten about in days. The good news is that we have made a definite decision to resurrect it.

We'll be announcing new features through the blog, as they come online - which means that there is going to be regular content posted. And, of course, you can look forward to news, views and other good things relating to Jobshout, content management, search engine optimization, analytics, web recruitment and more. At least, that's the determination. The proof of the
pudding, as always...

Back soon.

How to get your site found.

Businesses who want to get found on the web often spend lots of money trying to optimize their sites।

Getting to the top of relevant search engine page rankings is generally regarded as the holy grail of internet marketing, and search engine optimization (SEO) - the way you get there - as a black art practised by the web equivalent of a Jedi warrior. In fact it is not that complicated. Here's how you should start:

Optimize your pages:

When you put a job on your website, you need to make sure that search engines like the way it looks। Normally when you put a job on the web the hidden things that give your page the edge go unchanged. If you want to do the things that Jobshout does automatically, then you would pay attention to the page title, the page description, the page keywords and the page URL.Would you do that every time? Definitely not. But with Jobshout you don't have to - the system does it all by itself!

Have great content:

Search engines are looking for great content, so try to give it to them। As well as posting jobs on Jobshout, you could, for instance use Jobshout Pages to add other content to your site too. If you are a niche market agency, then make it relevant to the sectors you serve.

The more content you have, the more likely you are to get found। It's as simple as that।

Have internal link:

Get those search engines moving around your site by having lots of internal links. Relevant internal links give you rankings. Jobshout creates them automatically.

Let search engines navigate:

You can have a back-end database for your job site without your jobs being searchable. It's quite common to have lots of wonderful content that never gets found, because of your site navigation.

Needless to say that's a problem you will never have with Jobshout - we make sure your pages get found again and again.

Keep it simple:

Simplicity can often be the best policy, especially on the web. Smart techniques can often get in the way of search engine rankings. using JavaScript to control your menus, for instance, could well result in them not being crawlable, so beware. If in doubt, use a text browser such as Lynx to get a good idea of how your pages will look to the search engine spiders.

Tell the world about your site:

You can tell search engines that your site is there. Submit it to Google, MSN and other search engines. You should also submit it to directories such asthe Open Directory Project and Yahoo and other industry specific directories.

There may also be other sites out there who would be interested to know that your site is there. Let them know about you as well.

Now you can use Jobshout to get the ball rolling.

Choose your words carefully:

When you are adding jobs to your site, think about the words that your potential visitors might use when searching and include them prominently, and possibly more than once in your text. Put the most important terms in your page headings.

Once you have done this, Jobshout will ensure that these terms are made really prominent when search engine 'bots' come looking at your site.

Get linked up:

Each page that links to yours can count as a vote in favour of it, so it pays to get as many external links as you can. You can ask people to link to you, or to exchange links. You could also consider supplying other sites with content, such as articles, or press releases in return for a link.

You could also consider setting up a blog (weblog). This could contain lots of search-engine-tasty content, and, of course link to your website.

Text it:

Sites that rely on images or Flash to display important textual content don't do well - search engines can't read images. Make sure that your most significant content is in text form.

Jobshout uses best practice techniques to publish your content and have it look great.

Want to know more?

We are happy to answer any queries you may have about improving the performance of your recruitment site on the web. Email me steve.gibson@jobshout.co.uk. Please be patient if I don't reply immediately - I get a lot of mail! But I will get back to you, I promise.

How important is your website's content?

It is a mistake to think that applicants have to be people who are looking for jobs. Yet it is one that most recruiters make. Strange, when experience shows that the best candidates are often those who are doing well where they are, are getting well remunerated and are not actively looking for work. They might still be interested in a position you are handling - it's just that they are much less likely to find out about it.

Traditionally recruiters used printed media to find candidates, advertising in the local paper, the national press or trade magazines, depending on the vacancy. That still happens, of course, but the power of the printed job ad is getting slowly eroded, as more and more people switch to the internet as their preferred way to job hunt.

Thursday, the dog-day of the week, emerges as the prime day for jobseeker activity on the web, with another spike on the graph on Sundays. So how do todays folk jobseek?

Research shows that there are three main ways. Firstly we have the web equivalent of print media - going to the website of your favourite magazine or newspaper. What that might be clearly varies from sector to sector. A good example would the strong position occupied by the Guardian job site (jobs.guardian.co.uk) in fields like design, media, health and education. In sectors like these, this site would be the first port of call for many jobhunters.

Next we have job boards. There are many of these and they vary in size and focus - from the very general, like Monster to industry specific ones like www.myaccountancyjobs.com. They have grown massively over recent years, and have made a profound difference to the process of recruitment, but they can seem big and anonymous, and, as such, not too appealing.

Thirdly we have recruitment agency websites, where, hopefully a sense of personality shines through. The appeal of an agency is that you still get to deal with a person quite early on in the process.

How do you get to find an agency site if you don't already know that it's there? You could get referred from a paid ad that the agency has taken on another site you have visited - Guardian Jobs, for instance. Alternatively you might have dealt with that agency in the past, heard about it by reputation, or seen a print ad. Or maybe you just found it by doing a web search.

Getting found in web searches is a very critical topic for recruitment agencies. How often you are found is a reflection of the prominence of your site on the web. The more likely people are to stumble upon your site, the more applicants you will get. And, critically, some of them will be people who were not actively looking for jobs in the first place, people who, as we noted above, can be some of the best applicants that you get.

So how do you get this "accidental" traffic? By getting other sites to link to yours, and by having as much relevant content as possible.

As far as content is concerned, the most important thing that a recruitment agency can do is to have its job details online - both current ones and filled ones - and to make sure that they are all optimized for search engines. This is imply fantastic content which could well be found when people are trawling the web in search of content which is relevant to their job. Similarly, creating other pages with interesting content will tend to draw the right kind of people to your site. Jobshout makes content management easy for recruitment agencies.

So, the message is: make the most of your website and you will start to attract applicants who were not jobhunting in the first place, as well as those who were.