Will 2026 differ from 2025 for job boards?

Each month, Steven Rothberg of College Recruiter job search site hosts the Job Board Leaders’ Roundtable, a collaborative, collegial, and free meeting of leaders of job boards, recruitment marketplaces, and related organizations from around the world.

As usual, the December meeting was sponsored by Louise Triance and Louise Grant‘s Job Boards Connect, which hosts in-person events twice a year and a number of virtual events.

This month, we talked about how to close 2025 strong, how to open 2026 strong, and whether we felt 2026 would be a lot different from 2025. Along the way, we talked about some related issues, such as how best to communicate our value to our customers.

AI-generated summary:

• End-of-Year Business Challenges and Personal News Steven Rothberg opened the discussion on ending the year strong by acknowledging the busy and challenging nature of the time of year for customers, noting some are reluctant to spend due to exhausted budgets, while others are anxious to finalize things He also congratulated Ethan Bloomfield on landing a new job with Bold. Terry Baker, located in San Diego, mentioned experiencing 88-degree weather.
• Ethan Bloomfield’s New Role at Bold Ethan Bloomfield shared that they are working with Bold, which acquired the remaining parts of Monster and CareerBuilder after their bankruptcy. Ethan Bloomfield’s role involves looking at how the Monster, CareerBuilder, and Bold ecosystems can fit into the marketplace, noting opportunities, especially given perceived weaknesses in Indeed’s offerings and LinkedIn’s increased resume seat renewals. Ethan Bloomfield will spend time examining the sales organizations, process, product, pitch, and price for Monster and CareerBuilder.
• The Importance of Professional Networks and Industry Expertise Ethan Bloomfield secured their new role through their long-standing network, having known Jaime for 20 years and Thad Price (former CEO of Taloo) for a long time. Jeff Taylor emphasized that deep industry expertise is the real power behind a network, as opposed to simply having connections. Ethan Bloomfield acknowledged that Peter Weddle, via IAEWS, created an environment where deep competitors could network and share for 20 years.
• Advice for Personal Growth and Professional Opportunities Steven Rothberg invited participants to share insights on personal growth, such as new jobs or promotions, at the end of the year. Jim Durbin from Respondable introduced their company, which focuses on helping vendors and Talent Acquisition (TA) departments improve their operations, especially concerning AI. Jim Durbin is actively reaching out to contacts to understand how TA departments are doing, noting two types of people: those frozen with fear of spending, and those who want to act but are unsure what to do.
• Strategies for Ending the Year Strong and Generating Sales Steven Rothberg shared a tip from college recruiter regarding closing deals at year-end, stressing the importance of having at least one person available to sign contracts on the last day of the year, as they often secure a sizable sale then. Mark Belaiche from torontojobs.ca introduced their platform, Gahuza, and is looking for job board owners with resume databases to integrate with their network. Jim Durbin also mentioned Tom Chevalier, former product head at AppCast, who launched a new company called Tink, which focuses on improving the candidate experience through “agentic applying”.
• Recent Success Stories and Focus on Product Infrastructure Matt Farrah from nurses.co.uk shared success stories of three major client renewals, emphasizing that driving decent applications is crucial for long-term renewals. Matt Farrah is excited about their recent migration to the Jobico platform and the implementation of a “job data pipeline” developed by Alex Chukovski, which uses AI to automate and nicely classify job postings for better organic search structure. They noted that they spent a year focusing on product and are now set to focus on marketing in 2026.
• Vendor and Job Board Migration Timing Samantha Leech with UBO suggested that the end of the year, when candidate applications tend to trough, is a great time to focus on development and moving forward with potential vendors. Marty Aghajanyan of JBoard agreed, stating that November and December are ideal for vendor conversations, as people postpone new launches for New Year’s goals, leading to a peak in leads in January. Thibault Blanchetière of Jabico noted that their typical sales cycles are longer (60 to 90 days), but Q4 has been strong, though they are delaying project kick-offs until January 5th to give the team a break.
• The Value Proposition of Niche Job Boards Jim Durbin raised a question about how to pitch individual niche job boards to clients who prefer a single supplier (or “one throat to choke”) over dealing with multiple vendors and finance issues. Mike Corso, who runs a niche job board (disableperson.com), emphasized that the difference is community and the ability to reach grassroots networks and community agencies. Matt Farrah added that specialist boards, when technologically set up for things like ATS integrations and automated posting, can match the ease of use of generalist boards.
• Deep Granularity and Customer Service in Niche Markets Thibault Blanchetière highlighted that niche boards can offer deep granularity and better taxonomy to compete against generalist sites like Indeed in specific sectors. Mike Corso provided an example of a niche board quickly delivering over 20 applications to a company with an urgent hiring need by reaching out to the grassroots. Matt Farrah stressed that niche boards often offer superior customer service and a personal touch, which is valued by clients.
• Cost Efficiency and Strategic Budgeting Jeff Taylor suggested creating a chart to show clients where their money goes with big players (e.g., AppCast spending 60% on Indeed) versus niche boards. He advocated for a strategy of combining volume from programmatic vendors with targeted budgets for specialties, viewing it as more transparent and beneficial, similar to donating to efficient charities. Steven Rothberg recalled an example from HCR Manorcare where they spent the bulk of their money with Monster, despite its high cost per application, because niche sites couldn’t drive the necessary volume.
• Leveraging Data and Networking for Business Advantage Terry Baker noted that PandoLogic’s successful transition to programmatic was based on using a huge amount of data to predict outcomes and set correct budgets, beating rules-based systems like AppCast’s. Jeff Taylor reiterated the value of networking and “coopetition,” emphasizing that getting to know each other’s businesses helps with sales and potential partnerships. He also noted that companies are open to new ideas, especially those driven by AI.
• Fraud and Partnering Opportunities Jeff Taylor raised the significant issue of fraud, including “fake applicants” and “cash stacking,” which has become a major panic for clients in the last few months. Steven Rothberg encouraged participants to use the chat to share their contact information to facilitate networking and partnerships. He concluded that tough economic times increase the opportunities for partnering to bring in new revenue and expand offerings, citing the concept of “coopetition”.
• Competitive Strategy in the Job Board Market Matt Farrah shared that he has learned that most generalist job boards, like Indeed, are not actually competitors, recognizing this realization came from a member of the group. Matt Farrah emphasized that sensible clients use a “chocolate box array” of platforms and social media for candidate sourcing, requiring him to differentiate his offerings rather than attempt to be everything to everyone. James Wood supported this by highlighting that specialist job boards can succeed by “delivering the applications that Indeed and LinkedIn can’t,” particularly by focusing on niche specialties and engaging with a passive audience that major platforms struggle to reach.
• Addressing Fraud and Identity Verification in Candidate Sourcing Terry Baker brought up the important topic of fraud, noting that candidates may use tools like ChatGPT to enhance resumes with inaccurate information, suggesting that “agentic agents” are key to engaging and validating applicants to ensure accuracy. David Morgan, a corporate recruiter, further detailed that the fraud issue goes beyond AI-enhanced resumes, including state actors such as North Korea co-opting LinkedIn profiles and participating in calls, which necessitates significant efforts to verify a person’s identity. Steven Rothberg shared a personal experience where a finalist for a staff accountant role was suspected of identity theft or fraud, potentially involving a foreign actor, and noted that relying on minor discrepancies like invalid addresses is not a sustainable solution against increasingly sophisticated processes.
• Strategic Approach to Competing with Industry Giants Steven Rothberg agreed with Matt Farrah’s observation that they do not truly compete directly with Indeed or LinkedIn, drawing a historical analogy from Napoleon’s successes and failures. Rothberg concluded that fighting head-to-head with major platforms on their existing products is a “losing battle,” but rather, they should focus on battles they can win by leveraging their own advantages.
• Upcoming Meeting Format Change and Discussion Topic Steven Rothberg announced a slight format change for the next monthly call, scheduled for the second Thursday of the month. The upcoming session will feature Ben Eubanks and Gerry Crispin in a panel discussion debating whether candidates hired through Agentic AI or other AI assistance are genuinely more productive, noting that the guests hold differing opinions on the matter.