Job Boards Connect Annual Conference 2025: Key Insights and Trends

Outside, London wore its autumn coat—crisp air, grey skies, and the hum of the city—but inside, the conference venue was alive with exchange. The Job Boards Connect Annual Conference 2025 showcased ideas, insights, and conversations that reflected a sector in motion. Leaders, innovators, and decision-makers from across the job board and recruitment market came together to explore the rapidly evolving world of job advertising, candidate engagement, and platform technology.

Throughout the full day of interactive panels, expert sessions, and hands-on discussions, the atmosphere was one of curiosity and collaboration. Topics ranged from Artificial Intelligence’s (AI’s) growing role in recruitment to SEO, monetisation models, and the future of candidate experience. The diversity of perspectives reflected a sector in transformation, navigating new challenges while exploring fresh opportunities for growth and differentiation.

The conference shared a range of insights, sparking ideas to improve strategies, explore new approaches, and pursue fresh opportunities in the year ahead. The event highlighted 5 key trends and perspectives that can help guide smarter decisions and inspire experimentation across the job board and recruitment landscape.

As recruiters increasingly struggle with too many unqualified candidates, job boards are being called to adapt to new priorities—focusing on quality rather than just volume. While both job boards and recruitment agencies are tackling similar challenges, they often speak different languages: recruiters prioritise quality hires, while job boards traditionally emphasise traffic and clicks.

iHire, The State of Online Recruiting 2025

The real opportunity now lies in bridging quality and scale. Platforms that can deliver both high application volumes and help recruiters surface the right talent faster will hold a clear competitive edge. This could come through advanced AI-driven matching, verified candidate profiles, skills-based filtering, and continuous talent pipelines that go beyond one-off applications. Job boards that evolve into trusted, data-driven hiring partners, rather than just traffic generators, will be best positioned to lead the next phase of recruitment.

AI featured prominently in nearly every discussion at the conference, though adoption remains limited—only nearly 26% of survey respondents in the iHire’s State of Online Recruiting Report claim to have AI integrated into their recruiting processes. Despite this, the interest and conversation around AI were impossible to ignore, reflecting its growing role as a potential game-changer in recruitment.

AI holds enormous promise: it can help craft sharper job descriptions, streamline communication with candidates, and enhance candidate engagement—directly addressing persistent pain points like ghosting, which occurs on both sides of the hiring equation.

Yet significant challenges remain. AI-generated CVs, a flood of seemingly “perfect” candidates, and high volumes of irrelevant applications can actually make recruiting harder, not easier. The paradox is clear: recruiters want AI to simplify their work, but if not managed carefully, it can amplify the very issues it is meant to solve.

The risk isn’t too many applications—it’s too many irrelevant ones. AI should help surface the right candidates, not create more noise and slow down decision-making.

The discussions underscored that AI should be a complement to human judgment, not a replacement. Tools that help surface the right candidates, validate skills, and support smarter matching are most effective. Striking this balance—enhancing efficiency without sacrificing control or candidate quality—is what will turn AI from a buzzword into a real competitive advantage. While AI adoption is still in its early stages, the sessions highlighted that those who integrate it wisely will likely see the greatest benefits in both speeding up recruitment and enhancing candidate satisfaction.

Across the UK and EU, the jobs market is feeling the strain—tight budgets, slower growth, and cautious hiring have become the new normal. Economic uncertainty, inflationary pressures, and fluctuating demand are shaping hiring strategies across sectors, forcing companies to navigate this environment. But where conditions are tough, opportunity often follows. Success now depends not on doing more, but on doing better. Now it is time to focus strategically, prioritise ruthlessly, and operate efficiently. 

By understanding their ideal customers’ challenges, leveraging data effectively, and communicating value clearly, job boards can turn obstacles into opportunities. This includes knowing which roles are hardest to fill, tracking candidate behavior, and tailoring offerings to meet the specific needs of both recruiters and job seekers.

Building on this foundation, many job boards are exploring new ways to monetise their services, aiming to align revenue models more closely with the value they deliver. Emerging approaches include subscriptions that give candidates access to premium listings, pay-for-placement models that charge only when a hire is made, and hybrid models combining multiple revenue streams. These shifts signal a growing focus on linking pricing directly to measurable hiring outcomes.

At the same time, most job boards remain cautious, choosing to refine familiar models, subscriptions, performance-based pricing, and employer-branding packages, rather than taking radical risks.

Overall, the industry is evolving steadily, but transformation remains more evolutionary than disruptive. Job boards that embrace strategic focus, experiment thoughtfully, and clearly demonstrate the value they deliver are the ones most likely to thrive, even in a challenging economic climate.

SEO has evolved—it’s no longer just about keywords. Today, credibility, trustworthiness, and clean data structures drive visibility. Platforms that invest in high-quality, structured content position themselves as reliable sources for both human users and AI-driven search systems.

What matters now is consistent authority and structured content. Guides, career tools, detailed job descriptions, and accurate metadata are now essential components of a strong content strategy. Simply posting a high number of jobs or sprinkling in keywords is no longer enough. Search engines, and the AI systems that now shape results, reward platforms that provide meaningful, trustworthy, and well-organized information that meets the needs of users at every stage of their job search journey.

At the same time, AI-driven changes like Google’s AI Overviews are reshaping how users access information. These summaries appear at the top of search results and reduce clicks to traditional informational content. 

Soulo, T. (2023, June 7). AI overviews reduce clicks: What we found in Ahrefs data. Ahrefs.

The good news? According to Alexander Chukovski, transactional searches, such as specific job listings, remain relatively safe from AI disruption. Job seekers still need to click through to view and apply, giving job boards a defensible position. 

By investing in credibility, structured data, and authoritative content, while leveraging the inherently transactional nature of their listings, platforms can not only maintain visibility but also strengthen trust with both recruiters and candidates. Ultimately, visibility in an AI-driven search world depends on more than keywords—it depends on authority, structure, and value.

The candidate experience remains a critical opportunity. Traditional application processes are often slow, fragmented, and misaligned with younger generations’ expectations, causing frustration for both candidates and recruiters. Lengthy forms, multiple redirects, and unclear communication can easily lead to drop-offs, and disengaged candidates. While AI can streamline applications, it can also increase screening burdens if not paired with intelligent matching.

Emerging trends include keeping applications entirely on the platform, avoiding redirects to external sites. This reduces drop-off, keeps candidates engaged, and allows platforms to collect richer data, which in turn enables better matching and insights. Other features that enhance the journey include AI-driven suggestions, simplified application process, personalized dashboards, and timely notifications—all helping candidates move seamlessly from discovery to application. Addressing persistent pain points like ghosting and ensuring transparency at every step further strengthens trust and engagement on both sides.

iHire, The State of Online Recruiting 2025

Simplifying and optimizing the candidate journey is therefore not just a nice-to-have, it is a major opportunity for innovation and differentiation. Platforms that streamline processes, personalize experiences, and provide meaningful engagement not only attract top talent but also strengthen relationships with employers, creating a competitive edge that goes beyond technology or traffic. By focusing on efficiency, engagement, and transparency, job boards can transform the candidate experience from a pain point into a strategic advantage.

Know Your Audience and Adapt Strategically
Analyze client and traffic data to understand what candidates and recruiters truly need. Look beyond surface metrics, talk to your clients to identify which roles are hardest to fill, which candidates drop off most often, and which features drive engagement. Use these insights to prioritize resources effectively, communicate clear value, and refine your offerings. Experiment with different monetization models to discover what aligns best with your audience and drives measurable results. By staying adaptable and focused, job boards can remain resilient and competitive even in a rapidly changing market.

Leverage AI and Build Credibility
Use AI to enhance job descriptions, recommendations, and engagement—without replacing human judgment.  At the same time, invest in structured, high-quality content: organize listings, enrich metadata, and provide helpful resources to build trust, improve visibility, and establish your platform as a credible authority. Together, thoughtful AI use and a strong content foundation can strengthen both recruiter and candidate confidence in your platform.

Simplify and Diversify Applications
Make the application process as simple, mobile-friendly, and frictionless as possible. Streamline forms, reduce unnecessary steps, and offer multiple ways for candidates to apply—such as one-click applications, social logins, or messaging platforms—to meet candidates where they are. A smooth and flexible application process minimizes drop-off and keeps candidates engaged.

The Job Boards Connect Annual Conference 2025 highlighted how the job board landscape is evolving, showing that challenges—from AI adoption to economic pressures and changing candidate expectations—also present real opportunities for innovation and growth. The event underscored that success no longer comes from doing more, but from doing better: focusing on quality, using AI thoughtfully, understanding audiences, and building credible content.

By embracing these priorities, job boards can differentiate themselves, deliver tangible hiring impact, and maintain a central role in recruitment. Platforms that take a strategic approach today will be the ones best positioned to thrive tomorrow, navigating a rapidly changing market while building stronger relationships with both recruiters and candidates.