Why niche jobs boards are beneficial for scientific sector recruitment

There are likely thousands of online job boards internationally that employers can use to hire new talent, but using mainstream boards can limit the success of recruitment campaigns, for example, if hiring managers are required to sort through hundreds of less relevant applications. But it seems that there is not universal familiarity with the niche recruitment boards for specific sectors and disciplines and the benefits of posting roles on them.

Of course, in addition to catering for jobseekers regardless of gender, age, race, religion, sexuality and disability, and ensuring a common understanding when it comes to agreement on equality, diversity and inclusion, a niche board supports specialized job functions, qualifications and skills within particular industries.

Reasons to advertise on niche job boards

We hear that it can sometimes be quite challenging to attract and retain a diverse workforce but choosing a niche job board can help widen your talent pool and increase application levels. It allows you to attract the sometimes difficult to discover talent that are attracted to specialized boards catering to them - or indeed under-represented groups in less visible disciplines.

Wider reach and visibility on Nature Careers

Being part of the wider Springer Nature Group online ecosystem brings over 150 million monthly page views - and within Nature Careers there are over half a million views every month on job listings from researchers across the globe. It’s the best way to tap into an extensive pool of active jobseekers. Although in contrast to general job boards, the above Nature Careers traffic volume might seem quite low in comparison, the relevance of the audience is totally geared towards your recruitment needs. And what’s more there are many ways to attract candidates to your roles with employer branding opportunities and advertising to drive awareness.

Reaching a targeted, high-quality audience

When you post your role on a niche job board, you will reach a more targeted and relevant audience of candidates who are not only specially interested in working in the sector but are also qualified for the positions being advertised.

Using niche boards not only attracts more qualified candidates and better suited to your needs, it also greatly reduces or in fact eliminates unqualified jobseekers - especially those that lack sector-specific skills that you no doubt require. And deters the candidates that apply because of the salary and benefits rather than the sector and your organization.

Are candidates more attracted to niche job boards?

Having spent many years meeting researchers at all levels at international recruitment fairs I can say candidates see our jobs board as a real positive during their careers. Not only do they search for roles, they actively sign-up to receive job alerts (in the first quarter of this year over 20,000 candidates signed up) and consume the careers advice content in large numbers.

Cut your recruitment costs

Although placing a job ad on a niche board may cost a little more than advertising on a general jobs board, the time saving for the recruitment team with higher volumes of more accurately qualified candidates to interview, more than compensates. A faster and more efficient hiring process is a huge benefit to the whole organization.

In addition, many niche jobs boards will have different ad package and subscription offerings to appeal to both ad hoc recruiters and larger organizations needing to fill multiple positions on a frequent basis. As our niche jobs board represents careers in the scientific sector, there is also an option to highlight your organization’s capabilities fully by creating an employer hub.

To sum up, the key reasons to choose a niche jobs board for your next recruitment drive:

• Granular targeting to an appropriately qualified and interested talent pool - saving you advertising costs across multiple boards
• Saving recruitment team time on candidate application screening since jobseekers are self selecting to pursue a career in the sector
• Ability to showcase your organization successes and benefits
• Access to an international jobseeker audience by partnering with Nature Careers, and the wider Springer Nature universe

And I should also mention that we're delighted to announce that Nature Careers has been named a finalist in Job Board Connect’s 2024 Digital Job Advertising Excellence (DJAx) Awards, in the category of 'Outstanding Impact in a Niche Market - Established Job Board'.