Q: The NORAs have been running for 25 years. How has candidate behaviour evolved online in that time?
SO: The past 25 years of online recruitment technology advancement have directly led to a far better informed and educated population, and much more empowered in their activities as candidates. In almost all recruitment (until recently) jobseekers have felt compelled to jump through whatever hoops were required to find and apply for a job. Now they have much higher expectations, and are able to pushback on illogical and unfair hiring practices. People expect more. They don’t always get it, but progressive employers and technology firms are empowering them.
Q: What do you look for when judging the NORAs?
SO: From the beginning, the National Online Recruitment Awards has always been about the candidate experience. We get nominations from the public, and companies don’t have to formally enter to be considered. I ask our judges to assess every recruitment website from the perspective of the jobseeker, so we are looking for transparency of the process, simplicity, great design, and above all a hiring process which feels fair.
Q: Are traditional job boards still relevant in 2025?
SO: Traditional job boards are evolving faster than ever, and those that do the best job will be very relevant indeed. Legacy job boards that don’t evolve are already finding candidates and advertisers voting with the wallets and absence of visits.
Q: You've seen a lot of recruitment sites. Any memorable shockers?
SO: For the 13th NORAs in 2013 (unlucky for some) we had a unique Wooden NORA, to be presented to the worst recruitment website we could find. This was awarded to Universal JobMatch, a job board built specifically for the UK Department For Work & Pensions. Jobseekers claiming benefits were compelled to use it to search for jobs, and could lose their benefits if they didn’t hit activity targets. Not only was this exceptionally unfair, but it failed on almost all counts, and was quickly shelved. No one from the government turned up to accept the award – which is still on my shelf.
Q: Where do you see the biggest innovation opportunities in online recruitment?
SO: There are always fresh innovations in our sector, but the one I am particularly excited about is the growth of Candidate-Centric recruitment platforms. These are not job boards, and are specifically designed to help jobseekers research, find, and apply for jobs, presenting themselves in the best possible way, logging all their application and interview activities, and developing a career plan using predictive AI. We have a new award for this in the 25th NORAs in November.
Q: Transparency is a hot topic. What should recruitment sites be doing to build trust with users?
SO: As a jobseeker, I want to see a few things:
A timeline for what will happen when I apply for a job – how long each step will take.
I expect to see a realistic salary and location on every vacancy
I want to know the employer behind every vacancy advertised by a recruitment agency.
I expect a notification of who accessed my CV on a job board database, and when.
I want to be able to set an expiry date on my registration with a job board, after which all my data is removed.
I expect every advert to have links to the employer profile on their site or LinkedIn, and key employees of the company. I need to research before applying.
I want to be able to notify my interest, without making a formal application.
Q: What advice would you give to new recruitment tech startups?
SO: Research your market thoroughly before spending a penny.
Don’t build a product on the hope that someone will buy it. Identify the customers, and build what they need.
Research potential competitors, and really understand what they do.
Quickfire Round
Most underrated trend in recruitment? Candidates are not looking for work in the same way – they expect employers to come looking for them.
Biggest red flag on a careers site? An absence of contact information.
Favourite NORA winner? I’m going to mention 2: Firstly Vercida, who have built the most progressive and intuitive DEI friendly recruitment platform. They were a Best Newcomer, and later won our NORA Academy Award, and I got a bit emotional at Morgan Lobb’s acceptance speech. Secondly, BBC Bitesize Careers, who for years have provided a phenomenal guidance for early careers jobseekers.
Favourite website (not recruitment related)? YouTube – I watch more YouTube content on my regular TV than any TV or streaming channel. I love the immediacy of random creators in music, politics, and technologies.
