Showbizjobs Blog

What defines a niche board is Targeted Reach.  Either geographically, by category of job disciplines, or as is the case of Showbizjobs…both.

Greater word-of-mouth within networks.  This is evidenced by a high percentage of ‘natural’ traffic (55% in the case of Showbizjobs) meaning people are aware of the site brand enough to enter and visit ‘www.showbizjobs.com’ directly over half of the time.

Saying to a friend “You should go over to Showbizjobs” has an underground, grass-roots feel to it over saying “Check out this job I and one million others saw on Monster”.  People know there is competition for jobs, and niche boards present a smaller, deeper pond to candidates who hate swimming in the ocean.

This lends to spontaneous discussions about a particular job posting within social media and networks.  The viral nature of social sites springboards the existing word-of-mouth attributes of how Showbizjobs is found.

We are a true job board, not a bulletin board or job posting distribution machine.  Our goal is to attract ‘A’ talent to client companies who have current and future staff needs.  This means our content is genuine, from the source, posted by recruiters who know what they need.  There is a large difference between this model and peer-postings found on social sites, free sites, Craigslist, and integration sites.

Search tools don’t have to be extravagant.  Regardless of the size of a job site (boards or company listings) candidates want to narrow their path.  There is a false belief out there that a one-field ‘keyword’ search is the silver bullet to direct talent to job listings.  This is the antithesis of what should be happening.  As job boards go, the larger the list of industries, locations, and job titles represented, the more homogenous a keyword search becomes, not the opposite.

While we have keyword searches it is always as a filter against target region and job category.  This has not changed on our site in over 14 years because it is simple and it works.  Job sites and applicant response systems seem to forget there is a human on the other end of the experience, and one who is becoming more impatient with non-intuitive systems.  They want an iPhone experience, not rotary-dial methods of inviting you to learn more about them.

Two more things then I’m done.

Showbizjobs is 40% less expensive than alternative candidate sources.  This number becomes even lower for clients who can make package commitments.  You should ask a few…you’d be surprised.

Lastly…we answer our phone.  Our clients don’t interface with business development reps or call centers, they talk (or email if they prefer) with the proprietor.  This is a massive comfort for busy recruiters, HR executives, and hiring managers who just need talent, not red tape.

If you are considering how to allocate what certainly may be narrowed budget resources for next year, consider loading-up on niche boards.  Consider what Showbizjobs can do for generating talented candidates at efficient prices.

Call us.  626 798-4533

We held an Entertainment Recruiter’s Confab last week and I wanted to thank everybody that dropped-by as well as our gracious hosts at The Falcon in Hollywood.  It is always fun to connect with folks that we’ve known for years via the site and over the phone…but finally meet face-to-face.

People routinely ping me about my view of the economy and business climate for our market.  From the many discussions with several market leaders who help their companies survive and grow, my take is that folks are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  Two months ago I’m not sure people had an idea how far out it was, but there are things happening.  Granted, things are slow but pieces of the Hollywood machinery are starting to move and as we all know, one move causes three others.  

My modest optimism is based on not only slightly increased staffing volume but in which market segments they are hiring in and what titles.  What I term the 'middle' of our industry which includes agencies, mid-size home entertainment, recording labels, moderate-size studios and services groups are picking up.  Folks have cut so deep that now that business is increasing on some fronts, plates are overloaded and quality is suffering...so they're hiring (some) to alleviate the pressure.   

The Confab format seems to work as a venue for recruiters and industry operators to get a pulse of what's happening.  So we do plan to continue them as the year progresses so stay tuned.   Plus we’re open to suggestions on format, location, partnerships, invite lists, etc.

Thanks again for everyone who helped make the evening happen.