Even the Dot-Com’s Aren’t Immune

We’re seeing the breakdown of the mass market all around us. TV shows, newspapers, magazines, etc., that used to cater to the masses are getting beaten up by more highly targeted offerings aimed at smaller audiences. One would think a fairly young and dynamic company like Monster could avoid the same phenomenon. Not so, according to this insightful article from The Motley Fool.

Will blogs cause a splintering effect for the major job boards?  I think so. It’s been a bit since I used Monster to search for candidates for openings in my group, but my experience was similar to Scott Teger’s, who is quoted in the article as having received 1,000 applications and zero qualified candidates. Just like the broadly focused TV shows, newspapers and magazines, Monster attracts one and all to their site for job opportunities.

A blog, on the other hand, especially a very focused one, would of course tend to attract a smaller but more tightly focused audience. Jobs posted on any given blog aren’t going to generate the sheer volume of applicants that Monster can, but wouldn’t you rather just get one or two highly qualified candidates out of 10 resumes rather than zero out of 1,000? I would.

The danger in this is that the more popular blogs decide to create a job board federation, with the hopes of creating a Monster competitor. Big mistake. All that does is replicate the broad, unfocused approach that already exists on all the big job boards. Keep it small and focused. Heck, use that logic to charge a premium. Recruiters should be willing to pay more for a posting on a targeted blog than they would pay for the same posting on Monster.

Comments

[Andrew]

I don't know if blogs are the answer, but I work in your industry, and we find all of our candidates through PublishersMarketplace.com or MediaBistro.com. Surely similar news/community sites exist in other industries and could add job-listing capabilities for all the reasons you list above.