[memobug]

Originally Posted by Oreamnos

thanks memobug
after thinking a lot about how i want to set things up, i believe i need to roll my own script, otherwise i would just be hacking and hacking away at the vB forum that wasn't set up for what i want to do, which is have job advertisements.

Do a mess of research

1. Check out your competition. Start with the big job listing sites and then look at the little ones.

2. Review available off-the-shelf solutions in great detail.
There are a lot of job listings scripts out there already. Try Googling Job Listing ScriptLook at all the demos and approach it both from an administrative side and from your prospective customers' perspective (as a lister and reviewer of ads). Make a list of the features you must have. You'll add to the list as you visit these sites and see features that you didn't know about that you must have! Include intangibles like ease of use, search and navigation along with your fixed requirements like price and functionality. Make a matrix and see how the available options stack up before you invest time and resources in coding your own. Remember when you review a site or option, look at every feature. Even if the software is a dog, it might have something that will be of interest to your featureset.

One thing I should say is if you go with off-the-shelf software, 1) avoid software that has been "optimised" or "encoded" to protect the source. Never buy it unless it does exactly 100% of your present and anticipated needs. Otherwise you are likely to be trapped without the features or bugfixes you need down the road. 2) avoid software that won't let you remove branding for a fixed price. Otherwise your new competitors can leverage easily off all that research you did.

3. Concentrate on features that will make your site unique and sticky. Differentiate it from others and address a specific need or general needs in a new way. Maybe you can add RSS feeds to news and information on the specific types of employment you offer, syndicated content and links to tips for job searchers, networking capabilities, etc.

4. See if you can partner with some job providers, find out their needs and give them free or low cost ad capabilities initially to get them on board. Unless your site has content, no job seekers will be visiting.

Summary: Only after you have done this research (and it might take weeks or months) and a lot of thinking will you have all the information to make a decision.


Regards,

Matt