In February 2006 a Booz Allen Hamilton survey conducted for the DirectEmployers Association as reported by marketingvox.com reported U.S. companies' primary source for hiring employees is the internet, producing 51 percent of all hires. According to the report, some 74 percent of U.S. companies expected to increase their spending on corporate employment websites in 2006, and general job boards accounted for the highest recruitment-spending category for corporations, taking up 27 percent of the recruiting advertising budget.

A 2007 outlook on online recruitment advertising in a recent report from Borrell Associates found that online help wanted advertising is expected to grow to $10 billion by 2011.

How does the landscape look in the Middle East? No less rosy for the internet job boards or their users. A pan-regional poll conducted by bayt.com in January 2007 revealed that over 22% of polled applicants found their last job through an internet job site such as bayt.com compared to 11% through a recruitment company and 30% through a newspaper advertisement.

With more and more traditional recruitment companies posting the bulk of their jobs on local jobsites such as bayt.com which have the local reach, commitment and market expertise as well as a track record for lavish regional marketing and R&D spend, prospects for online jobseekers look even brighter in 2007!

This year we can all expect time-to-hire and costs-per-hire to be reduced dramatically with the new technologies and we can look forward to even more of what the most successful job boards have always delivered on: Choice! Choice! Choice!