blogs with jobs

Blog: Joel on Software
Category: technology
Alexa ranking: 3,078
Google Pagerank: 7/10
RSS: Yes
Cost: $350 per posting
Time: 21 days
Born: Sept., 2006

Introduction
Joel Spolsky is the founder of Joelonsoftware.com. He’s also CEO of Fog Creek Software, the makers of FogBugz, but in a sense, that’s almost irrelevant here. All of the content on the site is strictly Joel’s and one gets the distinct impression that if he were to leave Fog Creek tomorrow, he’d continue publishing his rants…and hundreds of thousands of software developers would continue tuning in.

Pros
The job board lists a total of 87 positions broken into 6 categories. The vast majority (66) are for Programmer/Developers. The other categories are Test/QA (3); Management (6); System/ Network Administration (1); UI/Web Design (9); and Miscellaneous (2). An Internships/Coop category is in the works. Postings within each category are laid out in date order. The available positions are geographically diverse, including a handful of overseas postings. Advertisers range from small companies to the Fortune 500, including McGraw-Hill, Bank of America and Google.

One great feature of the site is a “no questions asked” satisfaction guarantee. Anyone can request a full refund within 90 days of posting a position.

Cons
At $350 a pop, Joel’s guarantee is probably something of a necessity. Also, while the postings are currently easy to navigate due to the relatively small number of listings, a more powerful search mechanism is already needed. The ability to search by keyword is an absolute necessity! Being able to search by company would also be nice. The one useful option of being able to search jobs within a zip code radius was momentarily helpful, but once I used it, I couldn’t navigate back to being able to see all the listings worldwide. A number of broken links were also detected in the job listings themselves (although that may not be Joel’s fault).

Summary
Joel’s been steadily building a loyal following for six years. He’s got the traffic. He’s got the credibility. If you want to reach his audience, it’s probably worth your while to pony up the $350. After all, your satisfaction is guaranteed. Let’s see Monster or Craig do that!

review by michael wilder

Blog: 37signals
Category: technology
Alexa ranking: 3,227
Google Pagerank: 8/10
RSS: Yes
Cost: $300 per posting
Time: 30 days
Born: April, 2006

Introduction
37signals is more of a software maker than a blog, but it is recognized as widely for its content as its products. For this reason, it makes the cut for Blogs with Jobs. It’s also recognized as one of, if not the first, blog to provide job content in support of its published content. All professional categories are included - although the selection is limited - but the site relies heavily on technology and designer jobs. Unlike its competition, 37signals job board provides a wide array of content from many geographies.

Pros
The site offers its own positives, but clearly this is a popular destination for technology professionals, claiming 1 million pageviews every month. Approximately 100 job postings are visible at any given time. According to the site:

Most job boards are a crap shoot. You post an ad and face an email deluge from unqualified applicants. If you like collecting resumes, that’s fine. If you actually want to hire someone, it sucks. That’s why we created the 37signals Job Board — the best way to find designers and programmers who get it.

The job search interface is clean, taking its cue from Craiglist’s listing and category format. Adding jobs is equally easy, also taking a page from Craigslist’s playbook, asking employers to only fill out seven data fields. Jobs are posted in real time.

With approximately 125 jobs currently posted, organized by category. The content is easy to skim through to get the information you need quickly. RSS feeds, broken down by categories is a nice touch. Emphasis in the listings are focused on geographic location, with company name and job title following.

Cons
The site’s look-and-feel is skewed heavily toward the company’s software solutions. With the exception of a “New” highlight in the main navigation the job board and its jobs don’t get a ton of exposure. Users might pass over the job board quite easily if the highlight was to be removed. There is also no promotion of the job board in the company’s buzz section. There is no search box, which would make finding the right location, job specifics, company, etc. much quicker for many users.

As with many blogs with jobs, most employers won’t be fazed by the $300-per-job pricetag. However, for smaller companies, Craigslist’s pricetag (free to $75) will be easier to swallow and may deliver similar results, particularly in areas where Craigslist is strong like San Francisco and New York.

Job content is currently being spidered by vertical job search engines such as Simply Hired. For a job board promoting the fact of “less hay” with its listings, it’s interesting that they’d allow aggregators to publish their content. It does, however, look like 37signals Job Board is restricting its job content from being spidered by general search engines like Google.

Summary
What 37signals Job Board lacks in bells and whistles, it apparently makes up for in targeted, highly sought-after traffic. As one of their clients put it:

We posted on Dice, Craigslist, hell we even bought AdWords for keywords like MySQL. One of our engineers suggested we post on the 37signals Job Board. We didn’t get tons of resumes, but the one we did get was a keeper. He’s starting in a week, thanks for the help!

If you’re looking to hire programmers and designers from around the U.S., 37signals looks like a site worth dipping your feet into, but we’d recommend getting results before diving in, especially at the $300-per-posting price point.

Blog: Crunchboard
Category: technology
Alexa ranking: 231,169
Google Pagerank: 7/10
RSS: Yes
Cost: $200 per posting
Time: 30 days
Born: Aug., 2006

Introduction
Following the lead of Crunchboard, GigaOM Jobs hopes to cash in on the popularity of tech product and start-up business blogger and reporter, Om Malik. All professional categories are included, but the site skews heavily toward technology. Both California and New York opportunities are prominent.

Pros
As a well-known face and contributor to publications like Business 2.0, Om is a prominent go-to guy when it comes to tech, particularly when discussing start-ups and new product offerings from recognizable brands like Blackberry and Skype. As a result, his blog commands a readership of some of the best and brightest in the entrepreunurial set. Those hoping to conquer the world, or least go along for the ride.

The job search interface is clean. Postings are in date order and easily laid out via tab navigation. Adding jobs is equally easy, taking a page from Craigslist’s playbook. Interestingly, employers are asked to add a Skype username and AIM address as contact options. Jobs integrate LinkedIn data as well. Now that’s ‘Nu Skool.’

With approximately 50 jobs currently posted, the content is intimate in nature. Kind of like knowing a secret. This number, however, is sure to increase as the site grows into other markets and employers become more comfortable and aware of blogs with jobs.

Another nice feature is the fact that job listings are easy to find via site navigation, as well as the fact that more recent jobs are promoted on the blog’s homepage.

Cons
The site is currently heavy with job content from the Left and Right Coast. This may not be so great if you’re in Chicago or Austin, Texas. As with all new blogs with job offerings, we have to give the site the benefit of the doubt and believe this will balance out. We also hope the site will support HTML in job descriptions soon.

As with Crunchboard, most employers won’t be fazed by the $200-per-job pricetag, particularly to get in front of Om’s audience. However, for smaller companies, Craigslist’s pricetag (free - $75) will be easier to swallow and may deliver similar results, particularly on each Coast.

Jobs are currently being picked-up by vertical job search engines such as Indeed. This may or may not be a good thing, depending on how targeted you want your ad and how passive you want your traffic. From a search engine optimization perspective, GigaOM Jobs isn’t currently using a tag, so links are indexed to help with Google rankings. Considering the PageRank advantages alone, GigaOM Jobs may be a good investment.

Summary
GigaOM Jobs is an impressive offering. We love how it integrates the job content with the blog centerpiece. For finding professional go-getters and those who embrace a start-up mentality in havens like Silicon Valley and Alley, this blog with jobs gets two thumbs way up. Like the site itself says, “Want to hire amazing people for your awesome startup? Post a job listing and get in front of thousands of hi-tech professionals who read our site every day.”

Blog: Crunchboard
Category: technology
Alexa ranking: 29,552
Google Pagerank: 7/10
RSS: Yes
Cost: $200 per posting
Time: 30 days
Born: Aug. 3, 2006

Introduction
Crunchboard was born out of the very popular technology blog, Techcrunch, in Aug. 2006. The job content currently consists primarily of technology jobs on the West Coast.

Founder Michael Arrington says, “Our goal with CrunchBoard is to build the ultimate Web insider’s network. A thirty day ad costs $200. I’ll consider CrunchBoard a success if we manage to put the right people together and make the entire ecosystem a little more efficient. RSS feeds are available for all listings as well as for each category.”

Pros
There’s no doubting the popularity of Techcrunch with the technology set, particularly on the West Coast, where the blog was founded. As a result, the job board has hit the ground running in terms of targeted traffic and job postings. The blog also piggybacks on traffic generated by other Crunch properties, such as MobileCrunch.

The job search interface is clean and the search technology is adequate. Posting a job is equally easy, taking a queue from popular classifieds site Craigslist.

With approximately 100 - 150 jobs currently posted, the content is relatively fresh, particularly for a newer blog with jobs. This number is sure to increase as the site grows into other markets.

Cons
The site is currently heavy with job content from the West Coast and Silicon Valley. This isn’t so great if you’re in New York or Boston. We do, however, have to give the site the benefit of the doubt and believe that will balance itself over time.

For most employers, the $200-per-job pricetag won’t cause any concern, particularly to get in front of Techcrunch’s high-demand audience. However, for smaller companies, Craigslist’s pricetag (free - $75) will be easier to swallow and may deliver similar results, particularly in the Bay Area.

Jobs are currently being picked-up by vertical job search engines such as Indeed and SimplyHired. This may or may not be a good thing, depending on how targeted you want your ad and how passive you want your traffic.

Summary
If you’re looking to employ technology professionals on the West Coast, and particularly the Valley, Crunchboard looks like a sound investment of recruitment advertising dollars. The rest of the country will have to hold on.