Here’s a hint: It wasn’t the Budweiser horses (once again) making friends with a farm animal.  Seriously – fire your advertising group.  Like TODAY!!!

Another hint: it wasn’t the Sketchers ‘Shape-ups’ shoes.  I can’t believe they wasted their money advertising the ugliest shoes ever.

What I wish I had seen was the job boards doing something radically different – not trying to vy for the funniest commercial – but doing what people know them for – finding people jobs.   How much publicity, press and overall good will would it have made for them to use their slots to feature jobseekers that were looking for jobs – not sappy sad stories – but “Hey, I’m awesome – here’s why”

Not that the fiddling beaver wasn’t funny but…we all know my talking etrade babies are the funniest commercials ever. Seriously. I love them.

When Yahoo first announced last summer that they were looking at dropping selling HotJobs I was excited and thought – “its about time”.  Let me be blunt.  HotJobs sucked after Yahoo bought it.  As an outsider – Yahoo took what could have been a true competitor for the Monster’s and Careerbuilder’s (this was back in early 00′s, remember, market still open) and let it die amongst their land of “ooh, shiney’s”*

On the day after the announcement – Monster stock closed down about 12% – a sign that some of the other people that matter may have some questions about this deal – or more specifically how much was paid (A whopping $225million).  I can see where they are coming from, again, Yahoo made HotJobs suck.

Why didn’t I like YahooHotJobs?

As a jobseeker, it was the last place I would look.  While it seemed pretty straight forward, the search functionality was not very good.  I could search for a job in my town, select “local cities” and end up with jobs 2 states away.  Granted, that is only like 70 miles, but still – hardly what I would consider local!  If i wanted to refine, I could select individual cities…one by one…ugh.  Most of the jobs on there were also posted on Careerbuilder or on Monster.com and the site was a bit of a waste of time with limited to no new information.

As a recruiter, it was the last place we would ever post a job. With the exception of certain pockets of the country, quite honestly, we never got responses that were unique to hot jobs.  This was on all types of jobs – all different locations of the country – all different companies.   It was like the nice guy that everyone knew but no one ever asked out.

As a entrepreneurial spirit, I felt like they were wasting a good thing. In the land of google we now live in, lets think back to 2002 and remember how prevalent Yahoo was.  They were really positioned to really launch this and instead it got lost in Oooh Shineyland – which is where a lot of companies lose their way (seriously – focus on one thing well don’t try to do everything at once poorly)

Why do I like this acquisition?  

The job seekers Win!!

One less place to search.  One fewer job board that has bad technology fighting for the attention.  Combined forces could result in even more improvements to the product and in the long run.  Less competition for $$ means more jobs potentially being posted which means easier/faster response to getting a new job.

As a Recruiter, I am saving money!

For the most part – HotJobs was not as widely used of a product, and many of the companies who did use it were posting it in conjunction with something else – so a lot of them will be able to cut some $$ out of their budgets and reallocate it elsewhere (hmm…like a new ATS or the GenYUnconference…or whatever, just some ideas)

Because it was the right buyer…from a business perspective.

With Monster being the buyer – HotJobs will finally have someone that has an interest in the market and making it a better product.  I don’t know, but I would assume that “hotjobs” is just going away and Monster will integrate into all of the networks (including Yahoo.com) that HotJobs was a part of.

Also, this means we’ll get to see more of Trump.  (I hope it won’t be with drag queens on the streets of NYC though)

In a late night posting (10:49 pm) ERE released an article about the financial results of both Monster and Careerbuilder/  Both job boards saw major drops in revenue in the 2nd Quarter – Careerbuilder by an astonishing 31% but still looking better than Monster’s 37% drop.  On the plus side – even with the loss, Monster still beat analysts expectations.

Want to read more about the details and financial information – Click here to read the ERE article by John Zappe.

After reading the posting a few days ago on the HR Technology Vendors increase in revenues – it makes you wonder a little bit about what is going on with the job boards.  At first glance you can blame it on the basics – economy, high unemployment rates, companies not hiring…But the reality of the situation is that the traditional job board model is likely going to be phasing out in the coming years.

What makes me think that?

1.  Job Board Aggregators – If they can fix some of the ease of use issues they have – sites like indeed.com and simplyhired.com will undoubtedly be the best resource from a candidates perspective.  No more having to search a number of individual job boards and company career site.  Simple. Effective.  From a company perspective, these aggregators run on a more PPC cost model and so for many organization they can be listed on this site at no charge to their company.

2. Social Media -Sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn have become the new place where people can be found.  For companies, the cost to advertise & brand is next to nothing.  New middle-man products (and some ATS’s) that are on the market allow for quick distribution to a number various social media sites for less than a fraction of a traditional job board posting.  With this market (or any market, actually)  you are more likely to reach the passive candidates on this route than the traditional job board.  Why does that matter? Because you can target more specifically and waste less time on people you don’t really care to look at anyway.  (In the slightly further future – it will be transition to mobile recruiting and the interaction via SMS that will make the difference - read my thoughts on that here)

3.  Customer Experience – Just like with our own branding and candidate experience programs we implement in our organizations – the customer experience at some of the other, niche boards is well, better.  They are more responsive and more forward thinking than many of the big guys.  Stop focusing on how to add more sales and revenue – instead look at the value you can bring to the community you are working in.  Building the trust and value in your brand will lead to better sales.

Don’t believe me?  Lets take a look at Jobing. I first came across Jobing.com in Phoenix while I was working on a Consulting Project with a major Financial Institution.  I was brought in to design a recruiting process separate from human resources and roll it out to the various regional HQ’s.  My roll out in Phoenix happened to coincide with the Jobing.com job fair that attracted thousands upon thousands of candidates.  No big deal you are thinking – but at the time, the Phoenix market had close to a 2% unemployment rate.  So, how were they able to do that?  They provided value to attendees by offering interview training, resume review (complete with computers & printers to make new ones if needed) and more.   One thing I also was alway intrigued with by their strategic plans was to build a relationship with one market at a time – don’t try to take on the whole world at once.  It worked.

So – what else is Jobing doing that is keeping their clients coming back and using them as the main resource?  (Hey – Monster & Careerbuilder, you may want to take note)

1. Social Media – I think it is because of the nibleness and entreprenurial spirit of the company – but they adapted social media fast and furiously.  In fact they have close to 1000 twitter accounts – including the CEO @jobing, all 38 of the regional markets they are in, and a variety of other employees.  (I follow @thatpassionguy their social media manager, myself).  In itself – that is no so new and different – but this is:  They have created twitter accounts that tweet out jobs based on location & industry so confidential job seekers can just follow a particular twitter handle and get information real time!  (Ex. @phxhealthcare would be healthcare related jobs in Phoenix)
2. Blogs. Jobing.com offers members of the community the ability to blog on their website – creating a built in market for smaller organizations (the majority of ones that actually hire)
3. Superior Customer Service – They stay individual market focused with a full team at each location so you talk to people you may actually meet.  In today’s crazy online world – it is a unique characteristic.  They also LISTEN to suggestions from both their companies, employees and the candidates as to what they are looking for and then try to implement change QUICKLY.

But, if  you are so inclined – let’s keep up the conversation that the major job boards biggest issue right now is the economy.