Workforce Magazine has a new article out in which I'm quoted for Jobs in Pods.

Job Boards Tap Facebook For Gen Y Workers

Recruiters are getting a vital new tool to hire Generation Y workers as major job boards such as CareerBuilder, Jobster, Yahoo HotJobs, and begin linking to the social networking site Facebook.

Read it here >>

Labels: Job boards, Podcast

Luck of the Irish?

Michele Neylon, a blogger from Ireland says Monster is spamming him. Worse, now they're trying to cover their tracks.

I guess there's no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow.

(ok that was lame, but I couldn't think of another anecdote!)

Labels: Job boards

I see that Cheezhead mentioned JobFox today. But a larger, more prestigious publication also has featured the new job hunting upstart: Forbes Magazine.

Some interesting quotes by founder Rob McGovern (former CareerBuilder exec) caught my eye. He says among other things;

"The idea of staying with a company and getting promoted from within is becoming the exceptional case. More and more people are finding that you have to leave your present company to go up to the next higher rung on the ladder."

I would agree.

"Based on the migration of users leaving job boards and coming to us I think yeah, it's a trend."

I wouldn't go that far.

"Clearly Monster and CareerBuilder are competitors. We found in our test market that we put a huge dent in their traffic at a fraction of their advertising expense."

How does he know what their traffic was in those markets? That's virtually impossible to tell.

On Craigslist: "I think that five years from now we're all going to look back and say that the idea--call it a "dumb classified"--is dead."

Take that CL!

"The inspiration for Jobfox really takes me back to CareerBuilder. We were seeing that only 5% of the job listings on the site were resulting in a hire. In other words, that's a 95% failure rate. "

Well that bridge has been burned.

Labels: Job boards

It looks as though other job boards were affected by the recent hack of Monster.com. Just found this on Federaltimes.com. And David Manaster of ere just posted this note indicating job seeker theft is bigger than first anticipated.

Labels: Job boards

With all the talk surrounding hackers stealing job seeker data from Monster's resume database, one company actually has a refreshing approach to keeping it safe. Jobtarget. Their resume database was built with the job seeker in mind and gives them control over who can get their contact information.

Here's how it works:

Search hundreds of thousands of candidate profiles from nearly 1,000 job sites! All profiles are anonymous. Send contact requests to your chosen candidates. If a candidate is interested in your opportunity, you can purchase access to their contact information for $30. If the candidate is not interested, we don’t release their information and you will not be charged a fee.

It's pay-per-contact. But the refreshing part is that it gives the jobseeker control over who gets to contact them. Not many job boards give this much protection. Employers who want resume access also have to be validated by the individual job boards (powered by Jobtarget) or by faxing in a request on company letterhead.

The first time I used it on my own job boards, employers balked at how hard it was to get through to a candidate. I even found it annoying because I began fielding calls complaining about it. But in a world of increasing identity theft, I've come to appreciate it much more as strong approach to protecting job seeker privacy.

It's time for all job boards to take note.

Labels: Job boards

I was asking myself this question the other day when I came across this article. The third paragraph is the most interesting one. I'll let it speak for itself.

"To sustain online revenue growth, newspaper publishers have begun striking deals with each other, as well as established online players, to share content and Web traffic. Of course, classifieds are a major focus, as newspapers try to rebuild their old profit centers online. This category proves especially well-suited to economies of scale. (Simply put, the more listings, the better).

CareerBuilder, a joint venture between Tribune, Gannett, and McClatchy, is a good example of a newspaper-dominated network; meanwhile, strategic partnerships with Yahoo's HotJobs, or Monster.com, fall into the hybrid category.

However, the basic obstacle to growth in online newspaper classifieds is how they are sold--usually as "upsells" bundled with print classified listings for an extra fee. This strategy has worked to drive strong online growth until now, with online classifieds representing as much as 70% of newspapers' total online revenues. But the system is obviously vulnerable to the accelerating decline in print classifieds. As it falls, the number of opportunities for online "upsells" decreases, too."

For the full scoop, click here.

Labels: Industry News, Job boards

I always thought these newspaper-job board partnerships were exclusive, apparently not.

The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News are the latest newspapers to join the Yahoo alliance. With the addition of Philly.com, the online home to both newspapers, the partnership with the portal consists of 19 publishing companies representing close to 400 newspapers.

Indeed, the Philly papers are also aligned with Monster.com, the online recruitment board that competes with Yahoo's HotJobs and the newspaper-owned CareerBuilder.

McClatchy is also part of the Yahoo partnership though it has an ownership stake in CareerBuilder.

As part of the Yahoo alliance, the Philadelphia papers will have access to display advertising and paid search technology, the Yahoo national online ad sales force, and content distribution through the portal.

Oh, what a tangled web they weave.

Full story >>

Labels: Job boards

Alumwire is a social networking job site for college grads and alumni. It's been under the radar for a while but they are starting to make some noise. Check out this video from CNET.

The site has a lot of features similar to Jobster. Including;

• Integration with Facebook
• Social Networking capabilities
• Ability to upload videos (they call it video handshake)

Their 'About Us' page says this:

Alumwire, Inc. (http://www.alumwire.com) is a professional network with the mission to effectively consolidate the most important career resources for college alumni, students, and faculty, maximizing the career opportunities in the college market. Our unique content and partnerships with CareerBuilder and The Dow Jones allow us to be at the forefront of career resources. The only requirement to access Alumwire is an e-mail address with a ".edu" suffix or an invitation from an existing user. Alumwire's vision is to be the one-stop shop in career resources for the college network beginning in the United States and eventually globally.

Jobster describes themselves as:

Jobster is the career network for the digital generation. We build audiences in the careers space and provide access to those audiences. Jobster integrates social networking, job search and targeted advertising technologies to connect users with people, information, and opportunities to further their careers.

Sound similar? The only major difference I see is that Jobster has more jobs to search through. Although Alumwire appears to have integration with CareerBuilder.com listings. They're both targeting the same audience. Jobster has a big head start but look out for the newbies. Alumwire is one to watch.

Labels: Job boards, Recruitment Advertising

On a clear, warm evening in New York City, Indeed.com, the popular job search engine threw a party for some of its clients. Held in a rooftop bar overlooking the NY skyline, about 70 or so industry professionals showed up to dish the dirt about online job hunting.

Indeed's come a long way. They are now the 6th most popular job site according to Nielsen/NetRatings. The Indeed team tells me that unique monthly visitors is up to about 3 million. Last year at this time they were at about 1 million uniques. Not bad. I got a chance to meet many of Indeed's team including co-Founder Rony Kahan. Rony is the CTO and runs the development team down in Austin. Indeed seems to have assembled a crack staff to take on the industry. But they're not done yet. They are hiring too.

Enjoy the pics....the sign.

Chris Campbell of Indeed and Walter Kvinge, TMP

Steve Marsden, Ethan Bloomfield of Jobtarget. Jason Neubauer, formerly of CTjobs.

Hotjobs' Matt Martone

Group shots.

Labels: Events, Job boards

There are certain questions to ask a job board before your uses them to post jobs. Find out what the key questions are to ask them in this short video.

Labels: Job boards, Videos

Calling All Job Boards!

New social network emerges for job boards and their employees.

TRUMBULL, CT (July 17, 2007) – Workers from the estimated 40,000 online job boards now have their own social networking site. It’s called JobBoarders.com. The site is powered by Ning’s social network technology.

Started by veteran job board owner Chris Russell, President of AllCountyJobs.com LLC, the site aims to create a community among the vast array of employment web site professionals. Users can post press releases, create their own groups, upload videos or just meet other job board people.

“The job board community is such a diverse and dynamic group of professionals and entrepreneurs that I wanted to give them an online forum”, says Russell. “We get to meet each other at industry events but nothing existed online for us to continue our relationships. JobBoarders.com solves that problem.

Online job boards employ more than 100,000 people across the globe. By some estimates there are more than 40,000 sites dedicated to jobs and new ones are launching everyday. Russell himself, owns more than a dozen of them.

JobBoarders.com is free to join and open to all types of job boards and their employees.

Labels: Job boards

Successful recruiting starts with a good job board strategy.

Labels: Job boards

Of the 3 major job boards, HotJobs has the most upside. The niche sites have really cut into the growth and allure of Monster/CareerBuilder while HotJobs has stagnated over the past few years. That could be changing. Yahoo is finally integrating HotJobs into more of the Yahoo user experience. (i.e. Hotjobs Direct) This integration will provide more value for employers. While at SHRM two weeks ago I caught HotJobs resident blogger Matt Martone at the Hotjobs booth. Here's a brief look at his presentation.

Labels: Job boards, SHRM

CareerBuilder & HotJobs



Dice & Jobing

Labels: Job boards, SHRM

Monster usually had some big parties at past SHRM conferences. This year that honor goes to Jobing who made a big splash while hosting parties on several floors of the Palms hotel & casino.

According to an article in the latest Workforce Magazine, Monster wanted to lay low this year and concentrate on its booth. Director of Marketing, Kerry Talbot was quoted saying, "We decided to focus on deepened conversations at our booth. (Attendees) have expressed demand for more product focus."

The article goes on to speculate that perhaps Monster is feeling pressure from niche job boards and is cutting back while prepping for a sale of the company. Their new president, Sal Iannuzzi, just guided a previous company, Symbol Technologies, through a sale. Monster's new CFO is also from Symbol Tech. Hmmm. I smell 4 sale signs...Monster of course, declined to comment on the rumours.

Great San Francisco jobs await you at San Fran Jobs.

Labels: Job boards, SHRM

I had the chance to talk with Ethan Bloomfield of Jobtarget at this weeks SHRM conference. In this video he'll explain their new relationship with SHRM.org and give you a glimpse at the future of this job board technology company. Jobtarget is based in New London, Connecticut. (3:43)

Labels: Events, Job boards, SHRM, Videos

Jobing.com, a popular job site out west just purchased Wisconsin based LocalCareers.com. Local Careers has over 400 related job domains in its portfolio so not only do they get a new customer base, they get a suite of domain names for further expansion.

Story link

Labels: Job boards

So the newspapers appear to be selling out to the big guys. Hotjobs, CB, & Monster are all scrambling to add as many print pubs as possible to their roster. My feeling is that this relationship dilutes the appeal of the newspaper sites for job seekers. They already use the Big 3 to search so where's the value to them in all this?

Companies to Deliver Unrivaled Combination of Online and Print Recruitment Products for the Greater Milwaukee Market

MILWAUKEE & MAYNARD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Journal Sentinel Inc. and Monster® announced today an agreement to offer combined online and print recruitment services via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Journal Sentinel Inc. is a Journal Communications' (NYSE: JRN) company, and Monster is the leading global online careers and recruitment resource and flagship brand of Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ: MNST).

“This strategic alliance between the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Monster enables both partners to increase consumer and employer market share,” commented Sharon. J. Prill, senior vice president, interactive media and audience development for Journal Sentinel. “Working together, Journal Sentinel and Monster will offer a powerful combination of recruitment classified advertising, certain to appeal to southeastern Wisconsin employers and job seekers alike.”

Prill added, “Central to the alliance is our soon-to-be-launched co-branded recruitment website. This online destination will combine the local audience strength of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – Wisconsin's largest daily circulation newspaper – and its award-winning website, JSOnline.com, with Monster's deep product portfolio and brand. We are confident that this alliance uniquely positions us to provide southeastern Wisconsin businesses and job seekers with the most effective and efficient recruitment services available. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel will truly become a one-stop shop for all recruiting needs.”

“Milwaukee Journal Sentinel readers will soon have easier access to Monster's industry-leading job search and match technology, while regional employers will be able to better leverage Monster's expansive resume database, national reach and unparalleled recruitment services,” said Peter Newton, senior vice president and general manager of media alliances, Monster. “Our relationships with local media outlets, such as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, underscores our commitment to serving small and medium-sized businesses – helping deliver the quality candidates they need to maintain a competitive edge,” added Newton.

Through the alliance, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel readers will get a complete online career search and management solution, with a local focus and industry-leading search and match technology. In addition, readers can utilize award-winning expert advice regarding a range of career-related topics to help them advance their lives, whether they are looking for a new job or not. A host of other tools will also be at their disposal, including a resume builder and salary information center.

Employers will benefit from the easy availability of a more comprehensive recruitment solution that utilizes print and online advertising components as well as access to the leading resume database, which grows by more than 40,000 resumes each day.

The co-branded site is expected to launch later this summer.

Labels: Job boards

Slowly but surely, Craigslist is adding fees to its job listings. This article points out that the next cities on the list are: Sacramento, Orange County, Chicago and Portland, Oregon.

Craigslist, a popular online network of free classified advertisements, has proposed a $25 fee to post an opening on its job postings page in Sacramento and three other metropolitan areas.
The 12-year-old company first charged a $25 fee in San Francisco in 1998, adding the fee in Los Angeles and New York in 2004. It has since added the fee in Boston, San Diego, Seattle and Washington, D.C. The fee has climbed to $75 in San Francisco and remains $25 in the other six cities.

The Sacramento site first launched in October 2000 and is among the company's busiest sites. Sacramento ranks 13th by number of page views. The city ranks sixth based on page views per capita, Buckmaster said.

In each case, craigslist proposed the fee after receiving requests from users who were concerned about the quality of some of the job ads on a particular site, he said.

"A big part of it is when we start hearing complaints from users and requests that a fee be considered," Buckmaster said.

Get-rich-quick schemes, multilevel marketing and "various things that look like job postings but really aren't" are mostly absent from job boards on sites with a fee, he said.

Since craigslist started charging for job postings in other cities, company officials say they consistently hear that the paid job boards are more useful for employers and job-seekers. In each case when fees were instituted, job ads dropped significantly initially, but the volume quickly rebounded, doubling and in some cases tripling, according to craigslist.

One can only expect fees for job listings to extend to many other cities over the next few years. The allure of $$$ is just too great for any online classified site.

Labels: Job boards

GateHouse Media, Inc. announced today that it has partnered with Yahoo! HotJobs as part of a larger local media consortium to provide recruitment advertising services to its daily and more than 160 weekly newspapers nationwide. The addition of GateHouse to the consortium of newspapers significantly expands the number of local newspapers that have teamed with Yahoo! to advance this leading recruitment brand, and it brings the first participating weeklies to the network.

GateHouse Media, Inc., headquartered in Fairport, New York, is one of the largest publishers of locally based print and online media in the United States as measured by its 87 daily publications. GateHouse Media currently serves local audiences of more than 10 million per week across 20 states through hundreds of community publications and local websites.

Press release

Labels: Job boards