A few emails from eagle eyed industry watchers this morning have pointed out that Jobs.com.au no longer appears to be powered by JobX.   It is possible that this is a temporary thing however it does appear to be for real.

The Jobs.com.au site has gone back to a Google adwords powered traffic generation site.

Rumours from industry bods are that the Jobs.com.au domain leases out at $40,000 - $50,000 per month.  That sounds like an outrageous amount of money to me but then again everyone was stunned when the domain sold for what was believed to be around $1m.

I wonder what the next big adventure will be for this well traveled domain name?

Here are some of the best job board ads you are ever likely to see.  They feature a little Gordon Ramsay and are done by Caterer.com - a job board for the hospitality industry.

We are pleased to announce the addition of PropertyRoles.com as a job board partner on JobAdder.  You can now post your property related vacancies to this site through JobAdder.

Property Roles is a new site so here is some info about them from their press release:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

propertyroles.com, a new global online jobs board, has officially been launched and is dedicated to the property industry and tomorrow's property leaders.

With major employers and recruiters already on board and more joining everyday, propertyroles.com is fast becoming the place for tomorrow's property leaders to find their next property role, get daily industry news, make contact with global industry bodies and stay connected with their industry.

Job seekers can search for specific, industry termed property jobs easily and quickly. By accessing the Global Resource Centre they can view tips and information that will help their job search, they can find out more about global industry bodies and their events and they can download daily industry news.
For job seekers, loading a Resume couldn't be easier and it's fast, straight forward and lets employers search for them. 

Using the latest online recruitment technology propertyroles.com allows job seekers to choose who sees their profile and contact details, when their Resume is searchable and how potential employers can contact them. 
Their name and contact details are always completely confidential, totally secure and controlled by the job seeker.  Everything on the site is automated so they can sit back and let the employers and jobs come to them.
For employers and recruiters, propertyroles.com offers an employment solution that is fast, easy, cost effective and dedicated to their industry and target market. 

propertyroles.com is a place where their target market will return and connect enabling employers and recruiters to actively and passively source the most relevant and qualified candidates for their property jobs.  And with cost effective job advertising options propertyroles.com has solutions for major corporate employers to boutique recruitment agencies. 
As with the job seeker functionality everything on propertyroles.com is automated, tracked and logged within the advertiser's secure account.

These pics were sent in tonight from a mobile phone in North Sydney train station.  This is the main billboard as you get off the platform.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the train station up pops our old mate Axel from Jobs.com.au....

The person who sent this in asked "I wonder how far in advance they pre booked this slot?", but our feeling is they have probably just scraped off a few old ads and accidentally unveiled this old beauty.








(for those who missed this ad campaign first time around this was a series of TV, radio and outdoor ads run by the then Jobs.com.au web site.  The site didn't last long but the ads hold a very special place in history...)

Has anyone else noticed the irony of the recently tangled Ninemsn/SEEK/eBay/CareerOne web?

- Ninemsn and SEEK are CML stable mates

- eBay sits right beside Jobs in the menu bar on Ninemsn

- eBay is in bed CareerOne.

In short we have one of Australia's largest online portals enjoying a threesome with 2 of Australia's largest job boards. 

Perfectly acceptable if not a little bemusing.

As always we have been busy integrating new job boards into JobAdder.

The latest batch off the production line are:

		Expat Jobs consists of 9 separate job boards covering engineering, mining, teaching, medical, IT and finance
		TotallyLegal.com.au is a leading legal and law recruitment website specialising in legal jobs for professionals in Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
		Brand Republic Asia Jobs is the leading specialist jobsite for marketing, advertising and media jobs.  Brand Republic Asia Jobs has positions available across all levels from marketing director to media sales, from account manager to copywriter

There is some confusion in the job-board-in-a-box market at the moment over the similarities in name between Jobbex.com, a leading job board software solution in the US, and JobX.com.au's white label job board brand. 

There are huge differences between the products but the names are almost identical, especially when pronounced.

The JobX.com.au solution is really just mini branded versions of JobX.com.au, whereas the Jobbex.com solution is a true configurable job board in a box product.  A nice example of an Australian careers site using Jobbex.com is www.hrcareers.com.au.

This tinytinytiny JobsJobsJobs car....

This week Jobserve have announced the launch of their new JobG8 job distribution system.

Founder Robbie Cowling says "In a nut shell JobG8 creates a network of job boards who whilst retaining their complete autonomy are able to harness the combined effect of all of the job boards in the network. And, it operates a true Pay for Performance business model so whoever it is in the network who adds the value, get the reward."

As I understand it JobG8 allows job boards to distribute their client's jobs to a range of other job boards and other web sites that jobs are advertised on.  The job advertiser pays their job board to list the job in the normal way and the job board then has the option to have the job ad sent to a broader range of job boards to increase the job's exposure.  The original job board then pays for each applicant received through the network. 

I quite like Robbie's idea in principle but there is some serious rocket science required to make this work.  For example the P4P aspect is very complex as there are potentially multiple people in the job supply chain all with their hands out for a slice of the action.  From the tone of the press release they sound very confident in their product so I guess we will know more when we see it in action in our local market. 

The Australian newspaper reported yesterday that Monster is believed to be returning to Australia

"FIVE years after it pulled out of the Australian online job market, US giant Monster Worldwide is understood to be assessing a return to Australian shores.

The company, which is in the middle of a fierce rearguard action in the US and Europe to protect its interests, is believed to have begun looking at a return to the Australian market in a bid to help its operations in Asia, where it has maintained a presence."

This rumour has been going around for a long time now and we haven't seen any real evidence that it could be true.  Nor has anyone with any credibility been quoted in support of the story.  Part of me feels this is just industry gossip that someone stirs up every few months for a bit of a laugh.

I think Monster can make a profit in Australia and I think all positions except # 1 are vulnerable.  (I know my opinion on that will be howled down but that's ok).   If Monster are happy with position 2 or 3 and believe they can run a profitable business here from that position then the rumours might just be true.  The biggest issue I see for them is pricing.  Monster's pricing in many of their overseas markets is way above what the Australian market will wear.  If they can get their prices in line with the standard $150 (ish) per job here then there is chance it could work. 

One of the biggest assets Monster have is their international network and I think there is a real interest in leveraging that here in Australia.  With candidates in most markets in high demand Australian recruiters desparately need reliable avenues for sourcing overseas candidates.  If Monster are willing to invest in this market and can get their prices right then it could be interesting....

May was a very interesting month in JobAdder as numbers of jobs, users and jobs boards continue to grow strongly across the site.  Here are a few random interesting stats.

74,560 job ads were posted through JobAdder in May

63% of all applications received came from SEEK

Job boards with the highest average number of applications per job were (in order)
1  SEEK
2  JobsJobsJobs
3  MyCareer

The job boards with highest month on month growth in average number of candidate apps per job were:
1  JobsJobsJobs
2  Linkme
3  FinancialPlanningJobs.com.au
4  Gurus.com.au

Best day for ad response : Tuesday

19 % more people applied for jobs on Sunday than on Saturday.

23 % more people applied for a job on the weekend than on a Friday

More people applied for a job between 11am and midday than in any other hour

Between 10am and 10pm the WORST time to list a job is 6pm

In what appears to be a very big move away from their original generalist job board strategy JobX are going all out with a new white label job board network.  This appears to be a move to broaden their job distribution network and apparently not so much about generating revenue as they are only charging a few hundred dollars a month for the service. 

Under the heading "What’s in it for JOBX?" in the slide show they say "We believe our technology is the best in its breed.  Sharing our leading technology with our White Label partners increases JOBX’s profile and ability to promote our jobs to a wider audience."

This is an interesting strategy and time will tell if it will pay dividends.  White label job boards are an extremely support intensive and complex business (if done properly) and I wonder what the potential impact of this could be on a startup business. 

JobX are up to some interesting stuff lately. This white label strategy appears to go hand in hand with their recent partnership with Adlogic to create a network of niche job boards that all cross post to each and share revenue.  If the concept gets off the ground job advertisers will be able to post job ads on multiple job boards from within any of the participating niche sites.  Eg from within JobX you would be able to post a job to JobX as well as to a handful of other niche sites.  This seems remarkably similar to Jobserve's JobG8 product which is also launching in June.  It will be fascinating to see how that all plays out. 

The answer of course is yes, but check out these numbers to get an idea of just how much potential there still is:

There are currently estimated to be around 40,000 employment sites in the US.  The US has a poulation of around 304,000,000 meaning there is 1 job site for every 7600 people in the US.

Applying the same ratios to Asia, Australia and New Zealand we get the following:

Australia
Population 21,000,000 - so if we had a job board for every 7600 people we should have 2763 sites.

Asia
Population 373,000,000,000 therefore > 49,000,000 employment sites

New Zealand
Population 4,500,000 therefore 592 employment sites.

I don't want to hear 101 reasons from the big job board players about why these stats don't hold up.  My point is simply this:

If you assume Australia is a similar market to the US (albeit obviously smaller) and experiences similar demographics, employment conditions, internet connectivity etc,  then statistically speaking Australia can support more than 2700 job boards.  By our estimations there are currently less than 150 job boards in Australia.

Can we support more job boards in Australia?  Heck yes.

Much maligned job board / social networking / whatever else is cool site Jobster.com has scored a big thumbs down in an article titled "10 'Net services that will succeed, and 10 that will probably fail".

You can read the article here.

Jobster has had $18m+ in investment, has all the you beaut web 2.0 features you could ever want and has had endless press coverage in the US (although not all of it good).  Yet here they are 2 years down the track and they have barely made a dent in the job board space.  And if this article is to be believed then they are not looking like they will in future.

So why has Jobster not been a runaway success?  In my opinion it is simple.  If you are looking for a job then you don't care less about social networking, videos, pictures etc.  You are there to find a job. 
It baffles me why some job boards want to pile all the extraneous functionality on their sites.  Can you imagine if Google started trying to sell you a house or a car when you went do a search?  Imagine if you had to watch a video ad or scroll past "hot girls seeking hot guys" pictures when you go to do a Google search.  It wouldn't happen - you would quickly find another search site to use.

This is not something we need to worry about in Australia just yet however prudent recruiters will be starting to consider these things in light of trends in the US.

We are so used to a booming job market in Australia that many people may not have given much thought to how you evaluate recruitment sources in a down market.

An interesting blog post in the US this month shows huge increases in applicants per job for online job boards from Q1 2007 to Q4 2007.  Apps per job ad at Monster for example were up 1275%.

A down or declining job market in Australia would have the same effect.  Does this mean the dominance of the top 3 job boards in "apps per job ad" would be watered down relative to other sources?  Very likely.  So how then do recruiters decide where to spend their ad budgets in a down market?

Some of the key metrics that recruiters will need to be thinking about are:

- cost per placement
- cost per quality applicant (cost of job ad / # of applicants per ad per job board that make it into the database)
- ratio of keepers vs non keepers (apps per ad per job board that make it into the database vs ones that don't)
- cost of doing business.  Overall return from a job board vs the cost to your business of working with them.  During a down market things like ease of use, customer support, account management, flexibility and minimum length of contract can become important considerations when choosing job board partners.

Do you measure these things now?  Do you plan to?

The dust seems to be settling in job board land as established players and newcomers settle into their respective positions in the market.  Aside from a little jostling for second and third there isn't much new or interesting to report.  JJJ and JobX seem to have eased up on their gorilla poking, no-one has gone broke yet this year, the top end of town is settling back into normality, there doesn't seem to be anything new or exciting and all is calm.

So what is next?  Will it be something new?  Will we see consolidation?  Will MyCareer and Careerone join forces?  Will JJJ buy JobX or other tier 3s to strengthen their bid for outright 4th?  Or is everyone battoning down the hatches to see what happens in the US?

I was doing my blog reading this morning and noticed an impressively sized JobsJobsJobs banner ad on Techcrunch.com this morning.  This seems to be a nice choice and while I am sure it is pricey it is far more targeted option than billboards and buses.

JJJ continue to spend money on promoting their site and have also done a pretty good job of keeping up with development and enhancements on their web site.  Their applications per job ad stats are quite solid too so who knows - maybe there is a bit more life left in JJJ than some people are giving them credit for?

Sources today are reporting that News Ltd and Fairfax Digital are joining forces to form a new job board called MyOne.com.au.  MyOne will bring together all the best features of CareerOne and MyCareer to form a potent combination.  The new business is rumoured to be adopting the slogan "simply second" - a humorous but appropriate spin on MyCareer's "simply jobs" tag line.

Recruiters are today breathing a collective sigh of relief as the new site will put to bed the endless squabbles over who is in second place and who is third.  MyOne will be in an unassailable second position and are said to be happy to accept that position till death do they part.

Sources say job listings on the new web site are expected to be priced at around $1 an ad. 








(this story may or may not be fictitious. Please do not stampede us with requests to have the new job board enabled on your JobAdder account)

Job Portals has just rolled out another 26 jobs domain names.  These sites are integrated into JobAdder so if you are interested in using any of these sites via JobAdder just let Stuart know....

I came across this sandwich bag at my local takeaway today and had to smile.  It's hard to step outside at the moment without seeing job board advertising.  You have to give them all points for trying.  JJJ seem to have scaled back their ad spend at the moment (at least in Sydney) while Seek and CareerOne are going hammer and tongs.   Can't think when I last saw a MyCareer ad though....

There is an interesting post this morning on the Onrec blog about JobSpeed - a new IT job board run by a consortium of recruiters. 

Job boards with ties to recruitment agencies will always be treated with suspicion, especially in a market spoiled for choice.  It is not uncommon for a job board to have ties to a recruitment agency however for obvious reasons most normally go to great lengths to hide the fact.

Click here to read the conversation....

Would you fork over $250 or $500 for the right to interview a candidate?

This very interesting approach is being trialled by US site Notchup and from all accounts is generating quite a bit of interest.  The concept as I understand it is that the candidate registers their profile, specifies an amount that they would accept for an interview (generally a few hundred dollars) and then employers can get in touch and pay the fee if they would like to speak to the candidate.

Clearly there are a number of potential flaws in the system, such as candidates bonusing their experience to drive up the interview price, non genuine candidates interviewing for beer money, or genuine candidates who are no longer active.

Potential flaws aside this is a very interesting approach in a candidate short market.  Would you pay $250 to interview a candidate?  I think I would.  I would pay $250 without hesitation if I was sure that (a) the candidate was genuine and (b) that they knew enough about my company or role to be able to qualify their interest before I paid the fee.

If you have stepped outside of your house at any stage in the last few weeks you will have seen the Seek ads everywhere.  Seek are looking to consolidate their lead while CareerOne catches MyCareer (or overtakes them depending on who you listen to).

The pink colour is proving to be very effective as you can't help but notice it even from a distance.  One thing I found interesting about this billboard on the Pacific Highway in Sydney is that it doesn't even mention jobs.  Clearly Seek feel that the colours and the word "Seek" are enough to remind people of the web site.  In conjunction with their TV ads and huge outdoor advertising campaign I am sure they are right.

Such is the power of the brand.




(Please excuse the poor image quality.  Many laws were broken to obtain this photo)