Which is the best choice for you will ultimately depend on your association's specific needs and available resources. However, we strongly believe that outsourcing your job board software to a fully-managed and hosted solution is the easiest way to go for most associations. Read on to learn why.
Understanding job board software models
But before diving into the benefits of fully-managed solutions, let's briefly examine the three most popular job board software models. Each has its advantages and disadvantages.
a. WordPress plug-in
These apps that integrate a job board on your WordPress site are usually available for a flat fee, making them very cost-effective to begin with.
Benefits:
- Cost-effective: Generally cheaper than fully-managed solutions, because you purchase the software through a one-time fee, instead of a recurring subscription payment.
- Control over design: Often offers more control over the job board’s design and customization compared to fully-managed solutions, but you need technical expertise to make changes.
Using such a self-hosted plug-in requires you to manage all technical aspects of hosting and provisioning the job board yourself. You will likely run into technical or design limitations as the underlying software can be slow and offer minimal help.
Drawbacks:
- No support: Due to their pricing structure, most plug-ins come with little to no support, meaning you will need to handle technical issues and updates independently. This can be very challenging without in-house expertise.
- Lack of updates: One-time payment solutions may not receive regular updates or new features, potentially leading to your job board becoming outdated over time. And you really don’t want to set yourself up to switch software again…
- Susceptibility to spam users: Due to less safety and control mechanisms, plug-ins are more susceptible to spam users, while providing limited capabilities to restrict and filter through them automatically.
"Probably the biggest issue was that we had 40,000 spam users… So on the previous job board with a WordPress plug-in I was spending a lot of time just trying to get rid of spam. It was a nightmare."
—Melissa Williams, Truckee Chamber of Commerce
b. Custom-built solution
This model involves hiring developers to create a tailored job board from scratch. While it offers complete control over features and design, it comes with high initial costs and ongoing maintenance challenges.
Benefits:
- Full control over design & features: If you have a very specific vision of what your job board needs to look like, this solution offers you complete control over every aspect of the job board's look and functionality.
- Ownership: No need to rely on a software vendor, meaning you own the entire solution.
Drawbacks:
- Very high initial costs: Setting up a custom solution requires a significant financial investment upfront and some patience to get the job board built.
- High maintenance cost & effort: Maintaining a custom solution can require significant time and money, since you'll need to pay developers.
- Difficult for non-technical users: Editing or updating the site can be challenging without technical expertise. Again, you will need to go back to the developers that built the solution in the first place to make any changes.
- Risk of becoming outdated: Custom-built solutions include no automatic updates, feature development or even support, meaning your job board will stay the same over years unless you hire someone to make changes. This can lead to your job board becoming outdated quickly.
Having built the software behind Niceboard, we know first-hand how much work is involved in setting up a fully custom job board from scratch, and have seen many potential customers choose to go the "custom" route, only to find that they've wasted months and the solution doesn't work well.
For this reason, we recommend skipping the headache and opting for a managed solution from the get-go.
"We had seriously considered building a custom job board before finding Niceboard. That's a huge task by the time you consider Stripe integration, email subscriptions, back-filling job listings, etc.
Out of the box Niceboard has all the features we would have spent weeks building and testing, now we can focus on the sales and marketing side of building a job board."
— Tony S, Co-Founder & CTO
c. Fully-managed and hosted solution
Arguably the easiest and fastest option to set up a job board for your association. It’s a one-stop shop that includes cloud-based hosting, data management and storage, SEO tools, mobile responsiveness, appearance customization, and an admin dashboard with detailed reporting.
One of the only drawback of this model is the ongoing subscription fee. Depending on the pricing plan, this expense can be substantial, especially if your job board isn’t generating significant revenue initially.
So let’s get into the details of this solution:
Benefits of fully-managed job board software
1. Quick launch and easy maintenance
One of the most significant advantages of fully-managed job board software is the speed at which you can get started. With a solution like Niceboard, you can have your association's job board live within days. You simply upload your information and let the provider handle the rest. This quick launch is great for associations that want to provide immediate value to their members or for those having a tight timeline to launch before a specific event or conference.
And in case you need to change something, these solutions include an intuitive backend to edit elements without needing technical expertise.
Other solutions felt too technical than they needed to be. I appreciate that I didn’t have to go through a technical setup to get the job board launched. We got it launched in less than a week!
— Ryan O’Keefe, AICAD
2. Comprehensive support
When investing in job board software, it is essential to consider the level of customer support available to you. Providers of fully-managed solutions usually offer robust customer service, which includes technical assistance, troubleshooting, and guidance on maximizing the software’s potential. There is a reason these companies are called SaaS = software as a service. You’re not just paying for a product, but for the ongoing service.
To ensure you will receive great support, look for testimonials or reviews from other customers to get a sense of how satisfied they are with the help they received.
3. Continuous feature development
A provider committed to ongoing development and updates ensures you’ll have access to the latest features and improvements. This allows you to stay ahead of the competition by offering cutting-edge features that enhance the user experience and streamline your association’s processes.
It also means you’ll always have access to the latest features without needing to worry about manual updates or technical issues.
Since fully-hosted job boards are incentivized to cater to your needs as a subscription customer, they often gather and implement customer feedback. They are more committed to understanding their customers' needs and preferences than any other solution. This feedback-driven approach ensures that new features and updates align with the requirements of you, their customer.
Our committed developer team at Niceboard takes feature updates and customer requests seriously. We release software updates in our changelog based on feature requests from customers.
There have been improvements to the job board that we haven’t had to build. So we kind of get a built-in engineering team with Niceboard. The product improves as we go along.
— Eliot Jackson, Grow Cycling Foundation
4. Intuitive user experience for members & employers
Fully-managed solutions are designed with user experience in mind. They typically offer mobile responsiveness, SEO tools, and customizable appearance options that enhance usability for both employers posting jobs and candidates searching for opportunities.
Due to the continuous improvements, these platforms are optimized to be incredibly intuitive, minimizing bugs and technical issues that can frustrate users. When members find it easy to navigate the platform and apply for jobs directly through login with Google or LinkedIn, they are more likely to return regularly to your job board.
With an increasing number of users accessing job boards via mobile devices, a fully-managed solution ensures that your platform is responsive and easy to navigate on phone as well as on a computer.
What I like about our job board is that for our members it looks and feels like AIA Colorado but we’re not hosting it. It takes a lot of technical work off my hands.
—Jon Bell, AIA Colorado
5. Simple admin & reporting dashboard
To simplify job board administration, fully-hosted software usually provides you with a real-time reporting dashboard to stay on top of your job board's newest sales, jobs, and employers at-a-glance. Even non-technical staff can easily manage job postings, track applications, and analyze performance metrics effortlessly; and it only takes a few minutes per day.
This simplicity means that your staff can focus on what they do best—serving your association's members—rather than getting bogged down in technical details or troubleshooting issues associated with other job board solutions.
Access to your job board’s data also makes it easier to report to superiors or board members, so you can clearly demonstrate the value of your job board.
I maybe spend 10-15 minutes a day on the job board right now, whereas previously it was probably two to three hours a week. It's probably three to four times less time spent now than we did before, which is a significant improvement.
— David Tierney, Medical Alley Association
Regardless of the software business model, it’s crucial to ensure that your job board software integrates with a trusted payment provider like Stripe. A reliable payment gateway provides secure transactions for employers and simplifies the payment process. This not only builds trust but also creates a seamless experience for employers.
Another important consideration is scalability. Assess how each software pricing model will support your job board as it grows. A model that works well initially might become less advantageous as your user base expands.
While there are various job board software models available—fully-managed solutions like Niceboard stand out as the most effective choice due to their quick launch times, comprehensive support, superior user experience, and ability to allow your association to focus on their core mission.
By investing in a fully-managed and hosted job board software, your association can provide valuable resources to its members while ensuring long-term success and easy non-dues revenue generation.