Comments on: Mike DeLuca, VP of Sales, shares some insight

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By: Matt Martone

Matt Martone — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 19:53:28 +0000

Hi Steven. FYI, HotJobs does not offer free job postings.
Regardless, I do think its a good move for Jobster. They are already aggregating job content from across the web. Now they are offering free postings which, from what I can tell, get premium placement on a job search results page.
The good. Jobster could develop some awareness and build a lead list of recruiters and their contact info from which Jobster sales reps can call on later to sell Jobster’s paid services.
The bad. I don’t see much of a bad side as it seems like Jobster has little to lose.
Regarding your misunderstanding of our job posting business…
We do not offer free postings.
At times, if it creates a better user experience for our job seekers and a better opportunity for our paying customers, we will leverage our Yahoo search technology, aggregate job content from across the web and display it under paid listings.

By: Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com

Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 20:58:37 +0000

Given the recent news of Jobster following the HotJobs free job posting model, it would be interesting to read from people at HotJobs about the good, the bad, and the ugly of that strategy.

By: Mike Deluca

Mike Deluca — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 22:47:14 +0000

DT, all great points, thanks! If you can believe it, every once in awhile I get a complaint that our service isn’t meeting a need for a recruiter. Whenever I hear this my first question is “are you enhancing your postings with any SEM or media offerings?” which the response is always predictably “no”. Like in any industry, there will be first movers and laggards when it comes to change and new ideas. Just because something is new doesn’t mean it is necessarily good but in order to gain first mover advantage, you have to be at least willing to try. Doing a decent SEM trial is not going to break the bank for any reasonable business. I think fear of the unknown is what is holding these concepts back at this point but I believe it is just a matter of time and when that time arrives, the early adopters will be the ones who reap the largest rewards.

By: DT

DT — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 21:09:54 +0000

Thanks for this article Mike (and Matt), and I think some very good points are raised herein. This actually ties back to a bell curve theory that I’ve applied to people in my previous recruiting experience. Meaning, that with all passive candidates there is a certain threshold of job seeking activity.
On a day when person A had a good day at work, was a part of a success, etc., their aptitude to be a casual candidate is low, conversely, if they’ve been yelled at by the boss, the commute was horrible, etc., they then cross over this threshold, and become a passive/active candidate for employment.
At this point, SEM becomes very valuable to a recruiter, as this is the tipping point at which getting the right message, in front of the right person, at the right time, is the golden ticket to finding that high quality candidate they’ve been searching for.
Perhaps matching up a search of what someone above the threshold might be searching for that evening while they’re at home that night, might lead to positive matches with SEM. For example, by yahoo searching “making a commute less stressful” brings up only results for a moving company, while searching “my boss sucks” does bring up one targeted response from simplyhired.
To pick up on Chad’s point, agreed that the (in my opinion) highly overinflated prices on job boards are certainly driving employers to seek alternative methods in their recruitment strategies. I don’t see why employers/recruiters are not utilizing the power of SEM and buying up the same slots to advertise their products: a desirable position within their organization.

By: Jim Durbin

Jim Durbin — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 16:47:56 +0000

The capability is there, but what is missing is the public component. I still get lots of resumes from people who read a post I made a year or two ago, and want to apply for a job based on an industry term they searched that landed at my site.
The goal now is to get lots of stories into the press about successful placements made from SEM – until they are looking for it, the average job-seeker is still going to be stumbling around in the dark looking for the light switch.

By: Mike DeLuca

Mike DeLuca — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 21:19:28 +0000

Thanks Chad, I agree. As you noted, traditional “Job Boards” will increase price but I believe in the not too distant future, you’ll see a migration to Search Engines as the de facto standard place to start a job search. When that happens, the core listings/resume search piece of the puzzle will end up being the least costly and the real dollars will go to SEM and targeted media.

By: Chad Sowash

Chad Sowash — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 20:28:07 +0000

Price increases, from the major boards, is literally pushing more hiring companies to, at the very least, “test” SEM avenues. Mainstream adoption is just a matter of time, and I believe ‘07 will be a break out year for SEM(r).
Thanks for the knowledge Michael.