Job Board ROI

March 17, 2010

A great blog post by whatjobsite has us talking about the survival of job boards at born today.

There’s little doubt that the days of Launch (site), Load (up on users) and Laugh (as you sell for millions) are over for job boards; new sites have to have a solid offering (usually niche) and be ready for the long term. There’ll be some quick winners, but these are likely to be the boards with innovating technology.

Given the figures quoted in whatjobsite’s post (up to £40 to attract a registered candidate), it’s hard to see how new job boards can make a solid profit nowadays. What’s more, in the heyday of job board acquisitions the average ‘cost per unique users’ was as little as £27 (and it’s likely to be far less now), so making money out of ’selling the job board’ seems less feasible.

However, there are some positive options for new job site launches. If the job site is attached to a web presence that already has traffic (say a membership based site or technical forum), there is an opportunity to use a job board to get extra benefit from existing traffic.

We’ve noticed more and more specialist IT sites doing this (take 37Signals for example), the site already exists and a job board pop-ups as another navigation tab. Using this approach the expense of running the job board are often absorbed into the company’s existing infrastructure, reducing overhead and overall costs.

The case for launching a new job board may be difficult, but the case for launching a job board as an extension to an existing site is still very much worth arguing. Worth millions - no, but a worthwhile extra revenue stream none-the-less.

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© Photographer:Craig Mckay | Agency: Dreamstime.com

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A Click Too Far (The Painful Recruitment Process)

March 11, 2010

Recently, while deeply engaged in one of my typical “the Internet has revolutionised recruitment” rants, I was cut off mid-sentence by the comment “yes, but not all revolutions are for the better”.

Despite my protests, my Job Seeking Friend (JSF) quickly demonstrated one of the problems online recruitment has brought to the process.  Let me lead you through the conversation:

JSF: “I want a PHP developer role in London”

Me: “Workhound is a good place to start, try that”

JSF: “Ok, here’s what I get”

Me: “The second one looks good, click on that”

JSF: “Ok, but now I’m on another site”

Me: “That’s because workhound is an aggregator”

JSF: “I thought I was on a job site”

Me: “No, we’re using an aggregator so we can look at jobs on lots of sites, like you would with Google or GoCompare – do you really work in IT?”

JSF: “OK that makes sense.  I want to apply for this job, I click on Apply…”

JSF: “…now I’m on another site, and there’s another Apply button” (looking smug)

Me: “That’s because JobSearch is also an aggregator (sort of), you’ve not reached the original advert yet” (looking like it should be obvious)

JSF: “So one alligator searches another alligator?”

Me: “It’s aggregator not alligator, and yes that’s right, keep going …”

JSF: “Look, there’s an ASP Web Developer role for 40k” (moving mouse towards the More Jobs Like These Box with clear intent to click)

Me: “Stay focused, your trying to apply for the PHP job”

JSF: “Fine, I’ll click on Apply again”

JSF: “Still no application form, just the job advert again, great this Internet recruiting” (smirks)

Me: “Click on the apply button” (frustrated)

JSF: “Oh look, the job advert again, another alligator?” (poor attempt at humour)

Me (triumphantly): “No, you’re into the Application Tracking System now, click on Apply and you’ll be able to put in your details” (punches the air)

JSF: “No, it originally had a salary of 45k now its 25k – 45k”

Me: “Oh go and see a recruitment consultant!”

In the space of a five minute conversation I was forced to accept the fact that for all of the good online recruitment brings, from a job seeker’s perspective it can be a painful process.  And that’s before the application process has even started.

Try it yourself with a Job Seeking Friend (one that’s not got aspirations of being a comedy stand-up), it’s an education.

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© Ingrid Prats | Dreamstime.com

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Monster Hotjobs

February 4, 2010

In case you’ve missed it, something big has happened across-the-pond in the world of digital recruiting.  Two of the big players in the sector, have now become one, with Monster buying Yahoo Hotjobs for USD 225 million (GBP 143 million).

It’s an interesting development, particularly given the ill health of the recruitment sector both home and abroad, but the deal is unlikely to have much to do with the economics of the sector.  Yahoo, who have had a history of bold acquisitions, are clearly “tidying shop” at the moment.

Some might see the deal as a cost effective purchase for Monster, after all Yahoo paid $436 million for HotJobs in 2001, after Monster’s parent company TMP Worldwide stepped out of the acquisition race.  Others will see it as a defensive move, to prevent a competitor (CareerBuilder for example) snapping up the company, with it’s important newspaper consortium.

We’re asking the question, if Monster’s got the cheque book out in the states, is it looking for acquisitions in the UK also?