Creating a Job Portal: 10 Tips for Creating a Professional Job Board

Job platforms have evolved into an important companion on the internet. Whether it is internal job portals from large companies that make open positions accessible to the public, or public portals such as Job.de or the employment agency’s job portal where all companies can post job listings. Such portals primarily serve visitors or users to find a new job, while companies can present open positions cost-effectively to a large audience.

Furthermore, private job boards often generate revenue through advertising or by offering additional packages that posting companies can purchase. But how do you proceed if you want to successfully develop your own job portal? In this article, we will show you seven expert tips to help you succeed with your portal.

The Most Important in Brief

Which Online Portal Would You Like to Create?

Examples of Well-Known Job Portals

What Exactly Is a Job Portal?

A job portal is a website or an internet application designed to connect employers and employees. On private job boards, employers can post open positions while job seekers looking for a new job can search, view, and apply for these openings. Additionally, job portals are also used by public authorities, such as the employment agency. Internal job boards are managed by the companies themselves to recruit employees or to advertise internal positions. 

A job platform offers job seekers the opportunity to create a profile, upload references and certificates, and apply directly for a desired position. Furthermore, some job portals also offer the option to contact the desired employer directly via a messaging function. On the other hand, employers have the ability to publish job listings, review applicant profiles and documents, and shortlist candidates. Depending on the platform, additional options may also be available. 

Nowadays, job portals are an important and cost-effective way to bring employers and employees together. This eliminates paper costs and postage, and updating profiles is simple and convenient online.

Tips for the Successful Development of a Job Platform

There are many reasons to create your own job platform. You have already learned some of them in this article. You have also discovered that this undertaking is a very complex and demanding project. Thorough planning and preparation, as well as sufficient capital, are important factors. In this section, we present our expert tips to help you succeed in the development and planning of your online portal.

1. What Type of Job Portal Do You Need?

There is a multitude of different job portals. They differ in functions as well as in complexity. In addition, there are differences in how the platforms are structured. Many simple portals can be found, for example, as plugins for popular CMS such as WordPress or Drupal, while more complex systems often have to be custom developed.  

The first decision you must make when creating a job platform is determining the type of platform. Should it be a basic platform with simple functions? Or do you perhaps need a platform that is more sophisticated? For professional and paid portals, you generally cannot avoid a costly and complex platform, as ready-made solutions and plugins are usually insufficient in terms of functionality and flexibility.

You must therefore consider in advance what goals you want to achieve with your job portal and which functions the platform should or must fulfill. The decision you make here also has a lasting impact on the costs. 

The more complex and extensive the job platform, the higher the effort and the greater the required capital. If you plan thoroughly at this stage, you can save money right from the start of the development of your job portal.

Before proceeding with the development of a job platform, you need to be clear about what type of platform you want to create and where it will be used. In many cases, a simple or medium-level platform is sufficient. Only in truly special cases is it necessary to develop a complex job platform from scratch.

2. Financing Your Job Portal

The next important step, which is directly related to the point mentioned above, is the financing of your job platform. The development of your portal is cost-intensive and requires expenses that you must cover, usually before your platform generates any income. Financing is therefore an important factor to consider. 

In principle, there are two options. Either you have the capital to have a platform of this kind developed and pay the resulting costs out of your own pocket, in which case you can start immediately and begin the development of the platform, clearing the way for your project launch. 

This means you present your project on a crowdfunding platform such as Patreon or Kickstarter and have the development financed by interested parties in the form of pledges. For this option to work, you need a certain amount of equity and must create a prototype of your platform. Additionally, you must use information, videos, and marketing to draw the attention of potential investors to your project and convince them to support you financially. In return, the backers receive something from you. This could be a free membership or a free advertisement on your platform, or something else entirely. Here, your creativity is key. Essentially, anything that can excite customers or investors is possible.

3. Let’s Get Started – The Kickoff for Your Job Portal

Once you have developed a concept for your online portal and secured financing, the kickoff can take place. It’s time to get down to business, and the development of your job platform begins. It is important to collaborate with a professional agency, such as Shopboostr. We have accompanied the development of job platforms, online shops, and other applications several times and have been experts in this field for many years. However, for the development of your online platform to be successful, you must consider a few key factors. The most important of these are: 

• An excellent idea: Why should someone invest in your project? 
• A strong development team to program the platform.
• A team for community management and for building a community.
• Cooperation with companies and firms that will use your platform.
• A well-written white paper that details your project
• Professional marketing on specialized portals and on social media
• A strong management team
• A professional agency that implements your ideas and concepts.

4. Your Idea and Its Implementation

For your project to succeed, it needs an idea. This means you must solve a problem or offer a service that is interesting to customers and convinces investors to invest in your venture. In doing so, you must also consider that there are now many competing platforms of this kind on the market. These competitors have been active for a long time and offer a wide range of services and functions. Often, many ideas already exist. Your idea is almost certainly already represented, so you must make it clear to investors why they should invest in your platform and not in a competitor’s project, or why they should choose you.

5. Start Small with the Programming

The development of a complete online platform is very complex and extensive. This is especially true if you want to have an advanced online portal custom-built. In this case, you cannot use a CMS or existing software and simply adapt it for your needs. This means that sometimes very high costs arise. Moreover, many CMS are open-source software and can therefore be used free of charge; you only pay for the individual customization. In contrast, with an advanced platform, everything must be created from scratch. The programming thus consumes a large part of the budget.

6. Assemble a Team of Professional Programmers

The development of an online platform is quite complex and requires an experienced development team. The programmers must also bring considerable experience with online platforms, as their development involves a number of specific challenges.

7. Assemble a Team of Partners and Experts

Before your platform can go live, you need to build a professional team. You require administrators to handle new members, registrations, and possibly certificates, etc. You need IT personnel to maintain the platform and address security and technical issues. Additionally, you may need community managers, etc. Most importantly, you must have a competent network of experts. This includes, for example, companies that advertise on your site, advertising partners for financing, employment agencies, and job centers, etc.

The Best-Known Job Portals

Simple, Complex, or Advanced? What Makes Sense?

 We recommend that you seek expert advice on this decision at an early stage. Shopboostr is your expert for job portals, online shops, and other online platforms. Our team is happy to provide individual, non-binding advice, and if desired, we are also ready to accompany you throughout your project. Simple, straightforward, and from the very beginning.

Conclusion and Summary

Free Consultation