If your association or chamber has a job board on its website, then you probably already know just how much value it can add to membership engagement and non-dues revenue.

Your advantage over generic job recruiting sites like Indeed, Monster, and ZipRecruiter is that your job board is industry specific. That means that employers are likely to find candidates with experience in your industry, and similarly those candidates are likely to find industry employers who are hiring.

Let’s face it, recruiting and finding a job is all about targeted search. Your job board is the next best thing to a recruiter. Furthermore, your career center has the potential to generate significant non-dues revenue for your organization at no cost and with very little effort.  

That all said — employers have to know that your job board exists first! So how do you promote your association job board to relevant employers? We have some ideas:

  • First of all, definitely put your association job board in your website’s main navigation so it’s one of the first things that anyone who visits will see.
  • Tell your members so they’ll tell their employer. (Or come to you directly, if they’re a hiring manager!) Mention it frequently in your newsletter, at meetings, in emails, etc.
  • Any time you post a listing from your job board on social media, include a line about how employers can publish their listing with you, too.
  • Research the Twitter and LinkedIn hashtags that employers in your industry are using, and then start including those hashtags in your job-related posts.
  • Take a peek at other association job boards and other similar sites for listings that would make sense on yours. If there’s a contact associated with the listing…well, no harm in making a phone call, right?
  • Use LinkedIn to connect with hiring managers and HR professionals in your industry — especially those with employers you’re targeting, if possible.
  • A little advertising can go a long way to generating awareness. For an inexpensive option that’ll get great reach, experiment with Google or LinkedIn ads.
  • How often do you (or your colleagues) attend trade shows, conferences, and other industry events? Make job board listings a part of your networking conversations!

The good news is, once an employer sees the value of putting their listing on your association job board (and trust us, they WILL see it), you won’t have to promote it to them much again. And the BEST part is, none of these ideas are particularly time consuming, either.

Are you looking to learn exactly how to get the most value out of your association job board — for job seekers, employers, and your organization? Then you HAVE to download our newest guide, How to Get Up and Running with a Job Board. It’ll help you learn more about how to hone in on that value, and make your online career center a place where everyone can connect and find success. Download your own copy of it here!

This article was originally published on 8/20/19; updated on 9/8/20 with added value.