This article was contributed by Friddy Hoegener, Co-Founder & Head of Recruiter at SCOPE Recruiting

Why Your Job Boards Aren’t Working: How to Fix It Before Your Next Post

Job boards work for some companies and not for others. The difference is what happens before you hit “post.”

I talk to hiring managers every week who are frustrated with the quality of candidates coming from LinkedIn, Indeed, and niche job boards. They’re getting hundreds of applications, but none seem like the right fit.

Most hiring challenges don’t start with sourcing. They start with preparation. When stakeholders aren’t aligned, job descriptions are vague, and evaluation criteria don’t exist, it doesn’t matter how many people apply. You’ll still struggle to identify good candidates and make decisions quickly.

Table of Contents

• Why Your Job Boards Aren’t Working
• Before Posting a Role, Do This
• What a Modern Recruiting Strategy Looks Like

Why Your Job Boards Aren’t Working

Before you switch platforms or blame the candidate pool, look at what’s actually going wrong.

Your job description is too vague.

When the posting says “looking for a self-starter who thrives in a fast-paced environment,” you’re not filtering for anything specific. That language attracts everyone and no one. The result is a flood of applications from people who don’t actually match what you need.

Stakeholders aren’t aligned on what the role requires.

The hiring manager wants someone with ERP implementation experience. Finance approved a salary for someone more junior. The VP expects the person to be strategic while the team needs tactical execution. Your job posting reflects this confusion, and candidates can tell.

You don’t have clear evaluation criteria.

Even when qualified people apply, you can’t identify them quickly because no one defined what “qualified” means. You’re sorting through resumes hoping something jumps out, then conducting interviews without a clear framework for assessment.

You’re only recruiting when you have an opening.

Job boards capture active job seekers. The strongest candidates are often passive – happily employed and not checking job boards. By the time you post, you’re already limited to whoever happens to be actively looking that week.

Your process moves too slowly.

You get good applications, but your review process takes two weeks. By the time you reach out, strong candidates have already moved forward with other opportunities or accepted offers.

Before Posting a Role, Do This

The work that makes hiring successful happens before you write the job description.

Get Clear on the Role

Before anything else, you need clarity about what you’re actually hiring for. Most companies skip this step and figure it out during interviews. That’s why hiring takes so long.

• What does this person do in the first 90 days? Not the long-term vision. The actual work.
• What problems will they solve? Be specific. “Improve efficiency” is vague. “Reduce procurement cycle time from 45 to 30 days” is clear.
• What skills are truly required versus nice-to-have? If you’ve never hired someone with an MBA, it’s probably not actually required.
• What does success look like in 6 months? This forces you to define what you’re really measuring.
• What’s realistic for the market? If you need 10 years of experience but can only pay for 5, your expectations and budget don’t match reality.

Align Stakeholders

Get everyone who has input on this hire in one meeting. This includes the hiring manager, their manager, HR, finance, and anyone else who needs to approve.

Cover these points:

• Role requirements. Everyone agrees on must-haves versus nice-to-haves.
• Salary range. Finance and the hiring manager align on a number that will actually attract qualified candidates.
• Decision-making authority. Who makes the final call? Who provides input? Who just needs to be informed?
• Success criteria. What does this person need to accomplish in the first year?
• Interview process. How many rounds? Who interviews when? What’s the timeline from first interview to offer?

Build a Scorecard

Before you see any candidates, define how you’ll evaluate them.

• Identify the top 3-5 competencies this role needs. These might be technical skills, soft skills, or specific experiences. Be specific. “Strong communicator” is vague. “Able to present complex supply chain data to non-technical executives” is clear.
• Define what “strong” looks like for each competency. Give examples. What does great problem-solving look like in this role specifically?
• Decide how you’ll assess each competency. Which interview round? What questions? What work samples or exercises?
• Create a rating system. A simple 1-5 scale works. After each interview, interviewers score the candidate on each criterion.

Scorecards force clarity. They make it easy to compare candidates objectively instead of relying on “I liked them” or “they reminded me of someone who worked out.”

Write a Clear Job Description

Your job description should attract the right candidates and deter the wrong ones.

• Start with what makes the role interesting. What will they actually do? Why does it matter?
• Be specific about requirements. “5 years in procurement” is clearer than “experienced supply chain professional.”
• Include salary range or at least a floor. Research shows postings with compensation information get more qualified applicants. Hiding it wastes time for everyone.
• Describe your actual work environment. Remote? Hybrid? Startup pace or established company? Help people self-select out if they’re not a fit.
• Keep it under 500 words. Longer descriptions don’t get read.

Have the hiring manager write the first draft. They know the role best. Then have someone outside your team read it and tell you if it’s clear.

Structure Your Interview Process

Map out your process before you start interviewing:

• How many rounds? Entry-level: 3-4 max. Mid-level: 4-5 max. Executive: 5-7 max.
• Who interviews at each stage? What is each person specifically assessing? Don’t have three people all ask the same questions.
• What’s your timeline? From application to offer, how many weeks? If it’s more than 3 weeks for most roles, you need to move faster.
• Who’s the main point of contact for candidates? Usually the recruiter or hiring manager. Candidates should know who to reach out to.
• How will you communicate? How often will you update candidates? What happens if timelines change?

Start Your Search

Only after all of this should you post the job. When you’ve done this preparation, job boards become much more effective because you know what you’re looking for and can identify it quickly.

What a Modern Recruiting Strategy Looks Like

Job boards are one piece of a hiring strategy. They shouldn’t be the only piece.

Combine Active and Passive Sourcing

Job boards capture active candidates. People who are actively looking and ready to move quickly. This works well for entry-level roles, high-volume hiring, or situations where you can train for the specific skills you need.

Direct outreach captures passive candidates. The supply chain manager who’s doing great work at their current company and would consider the right opportunity if someone reached out. These candidates aren’t on job boards.

A complete strategy uses both. Post the role, but also identify strong potential candidates on LinkedIn and reach out directly. Don’t just wait for applications.

Build Relationships Before You Need Them

The best hires often come from relationships you built months or years before you had an opening.

Connect with people in your industry. When you meet impressive people at conferences, through projects, or in your network, stay in touch even when you’re not hiring.

Keep a talent pipeline. When you interview someone who’s strong but not right for the current role, maintain the relationship. Six months later, they might be perfect for something else.

Make referrals a real channel. Your best employees know other strong people. Make it easy for them to refer candidates and follow up when they do.

Move Quickly

Speed matters more than you think. Strong candidates are off the market in 10-14 days.

• Review applications within 48 hours. If you wait a week, good candidates are already in final rounds elsewhere.
• Keep interview rounds tight. Three weeks from first interview to offer is reasonable. Two months is too long.
• Communicate constantly. Even when there’s no update, tell candidates where things stand and when they’ll hear from you next.
• Empower hiring managers to make decisions. If every hire needs approval from four people, you’ve created a bottleneck that loses candidates.

Track What Works

After every hire, review what worked and what didn’t:

• Where did this candidate come from? Job board? Referral? Direct outreach? Track your sources.
• How long did the process take? Could you have made the decision sooner?
• What almost went wrong? Did you nearly lose them? Why?
• How’s the hire performing? This tells you if your evaluation process is working.

What to Remember

Job boards aren’t the problem. The problem is starting to recruit before you’re ready.

When you skip the preparation work – aligning stakeholders, defining clear criteria, building scorecards – you’ll struggle to hire well no matter which platform you use. The applications will feel random, interviews will be inconsistent, and decisions will take too long.

The companies that hire successfully do the hard work first. They get clear on what they need, align everyone involved, and structure their process before they post anything. Then job boards work fine as one part of their overall strategy.

If you’re struggling to fill roles or the candidates from job boards aren’t working out, step back and ask: did we do the preparation work? Most of the time, that’s where the real problem lives.

About the author: Friddy Hoegener is the Co-Founder and Head of Recruiting at SCOPE Recruiting, a boutique firm specialising in supply chain and manufacturing talent. As a former supply chain professional himself, he now connects companies with the right talent to solve critical operational challenges.