Dive Brief:

• It's time to apply a more modern, consistent strategy when it comes to creating and sharing online job postings, says The Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank. Many job postings are hard to find or contain outdated or incorrect information, given the use of third-party applications. Advertisements found on job search sites also muddle results.
• To remedy these issues, employers should adopt data quality management protocols, CAP says in a report, Modernizing America’s Workforce Data Architecture. Doing so can improve the performance of job postings so they are in line with labor market data. 
• The report calls on governments to lead the way. "Following in the footsteps of the U.K. government, federal, state, and local U.S. governments should apply the industry-led job posting standard to their own postings," it says. "The sheer size of the public sector workforce could spur broader adoption of the schema within the private sector."

Dive Insight:

Data management is increasingly a large part of HR's duties, particularly when it comes to recruiting and retention. Online job posting guidelines that ensure accurate and quality information could help recruiters in the long run.

Some of the problem lies within the online posting systems themselves, which include varying categories of required information. Many job postings are not search friendly, or they quickly become out of date. With the advent of Google for Jobs, however, companies are paying more attention to online postings. For example, some are improving the accessibility of their job sites to ensure everyone can apply successfully.

Improved data standards have the potential to benefit companies in many ways, including fresh job leads, better quality of candidates and the ability to share postings with a wider network.