The Evolution of Job Boards - What Monster’s Fall Tells Us About the Future
Monster and CareerBuilder have filed for bankruptcy. A major moment - but not a sign that job boards are finished.
Let’s clear something up straight away: job boards aren’t dead. In fact, for many employers, they’re still a core part of a well-rounded attraction strategy - especially when combined with the right targeting, creative, and messaging.
But the industry is evolving. The recent collapse of Monster and CareerBuilder has prompted a lot of reflection - and a fair amount of “told you so” commentary. While it’s true they’ve been slipping from view for years, their fall doesn’t represent the death of job boards. It marks something else: a shift in expectations.
Because today’s hiring market demands more. More flexibility. More relevance. More performance. And those job boards that adapt - are already adapting - will still have a strong future.
It’s not about lack of innovation
Let’s give credit where it’s due. Plenty of job boards are innovating - evolving from flat-fee listings into smarter, performance-based models. They’re improving UX, integrating with employer tech stacks, and testing new ways to surface the right roles to the right people.
The challenge? Changing perceptions.
For years, many recruiters and employers have been used to pre-pay bundles and 30-day listings. It’s easy, it’s familiar - and on the surface, it feels cheaper. So when performance-based pricing started to emerge, it met resistance.
I remember when The Guardian tried to introduce a pay-for-performance model. Genuinely innovative. But it didn’t take off - not because it didn’t work, but because the market wasn’t ready to buy it.
Then Indeed came along, with the scale and simplicity to make it click. They showed the market what performance-based recruitment could look like - and that changed everything.
What this moment really signals (in my opinion)
The fall of Monster and CareerBuilder isn’t proof that job boards are broken — it’s a sign that the old rules no longer apply. You can’t just buy traffic anymore. You can’t rely on brand name or scale alone.
What works now is value. Transparency. Relevance. A frictionless experience for candidates and employers alike.
The job boards that will thrive are the ones that:
Tailor their models to how hiring really works today.
Invest in better UX, smarter search, and dynamic content.
Embrace performance pricing that feels fair and flexible.
Build trust — especially with a new generation of jobseekers.
Because let’s be honest: most of Gen Z have never heard of Monster. These are digital natives raised on intuitive, app-first experiences. If your job platform feels clunky or outdated, they’ll swipe past it before the page loads.
Truth? Monster had its day years ago. It boomed, then bust. Boomed again, then disappeared. And all because it got complacent.
The Ageing Recruiter Dilemma
For some recruiters and resourcers - particularly those who’ve been in the game 10, 15, 20+ years - job boards were the golden goose. They built entire businesses on them. They made hires at scale. They generated wealth.
So it’s no surprise that trust still runs deep. When something worked that well for that long, why would you rush to change it?
But look at the next wave of talent professionals - they’re networking. They’re on LinkedIn, building communities, sending messages, making connections. They’re not posting and waiting. They’re proactive, social, and thinking in content, not just copy.
That generational divide is real - and it’s one more reason job boards can’t just be job boards anymore.
They need to:
Rebrand themselves as part of the modern sourcing toolkit.
Upgrade their visual identity and UX to feel as smooth and fresh as the platforms younger recruiters are already using.
Integrate seamlessly with the tools recruiters actually use daily.
This isn’t about replacing one generation with another. It’s about bringing both with you. And right now, too many boards still look and feel like something from a browser tab in 2011. And to me, who’s been in the game for quite a few years, it’s still familiar. And it shouldn’t be.
And then there’s AI
AI isn’t going to kill job boards - but it is going to change what we expect from them.
Imagine a world where a jobseeker simply tells their AI assistant what kind of role they want, and it delivers a shortlist with no need to scroll through listings or filter search results. Or a recruiter who relies on AI to write, optimise, and distribute their job ads in seconds, adapting in real-time based on performance.
In that world, job boards won’t disappear - they’ll become infrastructure. Quietly powering search, matching, and automation behind the scenes.
Boards that embrace this shift early - building in AI capability, partnering with smart tech, and staying open to change - will still have a vital role to play. Just not necessarily the same one they’ve always had.
So what now?
The headlines and LinkedIn posts and comments about Monster and CareerBuilder feel dramatic - but they’re also a bit misleading. This isn’t the end of job boards. It’s the end of the assumption that job boards can stay the same forever and still deliver results.
Recruitment is changing. And the platforms that connect people to opportunity need to change with it.
The future belongs to the boards that evolve - and the employers who are ready to evolve with them.
A final note:
I’ll still be recommending job boards where they make sense - they’re often a valuable part of the mix. But the days of large-scale, one-size-fits-all media contracts are fading. What works now is agility, smart spend, and platforms that earn their place on the plan.
