|
We love big.
Cars. Houses. TVs. Boobs.
Whatever it is, super size it.
So it’s no surprise that Google desires to move past its search-only position and dive into e-mail, VoIP, classifieds, free WiFi and a plethora of other things.
Aspirations to be the jungle’s gorilla isn’t a bad thing, unless you’re the former gorilla, of course.
Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! delving further into the world of online job postings (and don’t forget Craigslist) puts Monster and CareerBuilder in precarious positions to say the least.
These once giants of the jungle suddenly don’t seem so big and scary after all. With the advent of vertical job search, it’s quite possible for an at-home business to provide more jobs than CareerBuilder and Monster combined.
(To my knowledge, WorkZoo (now Jobster) was a husband-and-wife team.)
Which makes me wonder, If you’re a job board, what is the key to surviving this brave new world?
Maybe the answer is to start thinking like an ant instead of a gorilla. Although much smaller, the ant thrives in numbers. Their community is tight, specialized and concise. Each member has a specific role that supports the good of the whole.
I have no doubt that for many job sites, the new year is bringing a lot of anxiety as to what their place is in a world where Google and Microsoft are known as competitors.
My answer: Think like an ant. Go small.
It’s time to throw away your aspirations of growing into new markets and "competing with the big boys" in return for being the best damn site in your little corner of the jungle, while energizing your core constituency.
It’s time to replace money-for-postings with money-for-value. It’s time to create an online destination focused on cultivating a village instead of providing a Convenient Store.
It’s time for the job board to become the job community.
It’s time to start thinking like an ant. Leave the gorilla to someone else.
Popularity: 2% [?]
December 20th, 2005 at 4:11 pm
yep, small is the new big
December 20th, 2005 at 4:12 pm
Interesting thoughts as always, though I think there will always be a place for the gorillas. Look at how many companies don’t even have an up-to-date list of job openings on their website. Monster/CB/HotJobs are the access path to the Web for many if not most employers. The same applies to jobseekers. True, if you want to hire (or are a) physicist or black-box econometrics specialist, the niche boards are the place to go. But that’s the far right end of the bell curve. There’s still a big mushy middle in which habits (for jobseekers and employers alike) will change very, very slowly if at all.
Plus, newspapers still get most of the money- that’s where Monster still has a lot of room to grow and their brand and sales resources will really help in that space.
December 28th, 2005 at 6:43 am
Indeed, small is beautiful …
The phrase http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html The Long Tail was first coined by Chris Anderson in a 2004 Wired Magazine article to describe certain business and economic models such as Amazon.com or Netflix. A former Amazon employee described the Long Tail as follows: “We sold more books today that didn’t sell at all yesterday than we sold today of all the books that did sell yesterday.” Hugh Hewitt says, the tail of the Blogosphere is a concept that the mainstream media simply does not understand. “They’ve never worried about the tail, ever. And now they’ve got the tail just eating them, all day, 24/7.”
July 30th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
Hi Joel,
Thanks for re-posting this entry since it certainly fits our little world at CoolWorks.com. Small is GOOD and being a niche job board is also GOOD.
If anyone is looking for a seasonal job, we’re the place to find it and a cool place to hang out.
BTW, Chili, your IT Director is really cute.
Cheers,
Kari