I listed some Project Management specific job boards in an article last month and wanted to talk through the benefits of using such boards when you are looking for a new role. If you have heeded my previous advice about putting the work in before sending applications which includes:

• Researching the market for roles similar to your skill-set.
• Understanding salary grades pitched at your level.
• Working on your CV to ensure it is in peak condition.
• Creating a spreadsheet of all your applications to track where your CV is being sent to form a pattern for better results.

Then you are ready to start applying for jobs, it is important to make sure you are targeting the right places for jobs and if you are taking the recruitment agency route then the job boards you use can be your friend or can be a lost cause. Here are some benefits to using Project Management specific job boards:

• By applying through PM specific boards you are likely to send your CV to PM specific recruiters or ones who tend to mainly deal in your profession. Therefore you may not be quite right for that role (for many reasons such as being too late with an application – shortlists are usually filled within a few hours of the recruiter qualifying the role, or your skill-set may not be sufficient as the job adverts are too generic etc) but there may be a new role that recruiter is qualifying which you could be considered for.
• Employers who use these PM specific job boards will have a smaller pool of applications to choose from – as it is industry specific and considered niche then there will naturally be less people applying through these boards. This is a bonus for the employer as application lists can reach the hundreds on the generic job boards.
• Often roles posted on these smaller boards do not get published on the larger job boards; which means again that the pool of applications will be smaller.
• Recruiters are often swayed to open applications from specific job boards over the more generic job boards first – usually there is a better harvest from smaller specific board applications.
• Reputable job boards are the way to go, some of the larger boards have a great deal of advertised roles which aren’t real, it is a way to get hold of CVs for databases and increase traffic on the website to make money.

By keeping your applications down to a healthy load of say 4-6 per week you have a greater chance of yielding success – those who take a pepper gun spray approach find themselves being ignored by recruiters and employers as they tend to apply for anything with the word “project” in them and the roles vary massively, this does not demonstrate good attention to detail or a good understanding of where your skill-set sits. Make time to tailor your CV for a few roles and write a cover note matching up your core skills and experience to the role being advertised – trust me, it is a much better use of your time.