getthejob.com going social?
January 17th, 2008
With Monster throwing money at them, there are bound to be more job sites adding a little social networking flavor to their usual offerings. Vertical job search engine GetTheJob.com may be next on the bandwagon.
Says CEO Chris Amato:
Our profiles encourage users to add some personal information about their background without adding any information that could pose a security issue. We are fostering an open environment while capturing important categorization data to be used for more targeted advertising in the future. We will be launching a full social platform in the spring and profiles will be migrated to the new platform after we roll it out.
Highlighted on the homepage, profiles add ongoing content for search spiders to consume. To date, Google shows over 2,000 records. Some profiles are private with little information and photos are optional.
Each profile has its own URL and inbound links within each page are aplenty, no doubt at least partially for SEO purposes. Contact information is freely available on public resumes if included.
Although these profiles have few markings of a social network at the moment (publicly showcasing “friends,” for example), the ability to grow into one is certainly an easier option with the infrastructure in place and as users get used to their mugs being showcased across cyberspace.
I expect to see more of this Jobsterization of job boards to continue through 2008, particularly if revenues dry-up in light of a hardened economy and more traffic and pageviews for advertising dollars are needed.
Additionally, with social networking as hot as ever, adding such technology to a site - regardless of what it does - helps make the dream of cashing out a little more real.
January 17th, 2008 at 11:23 am
I’m completely with you on this one. Online recruitment is going social, but I feel that Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com need to integrate these strategies within their sites, not just purchase other sites.
January 17th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Even integrating their purchases doesn’t guarantee success.
I would question the success for Jobster in pursuing this twin tower strategy.
There needs to be a compelling reason to “go social” and not make it appear as an integrated after thought or a “me too” attempt, but a compelling value. It’s tougher than it looks.
January 17th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
GetTheJob has changed their focus more times than most people change their underwear. First it was Pay Per Click, then it was job postings that cost $200, then they dropped it down to $25.00. Then it was an SEO product utilizing scraped job content to create SEO friendly career sites and now it’s developing a social network for job seekers. Even Jobster didn’t change their focus this many times this fast.
January 17th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
It’s great to see that Steven has nothing better to do than keep his eye on GetTheJob. I guess they are good at staying fresh and adapting to their surroundings and where the market is moving. SEO, social networking, and cheaper and more accessable job postings seem to be where the internet is going, so the offerings seem pretty good. I can’t wait for a full report on Jobster tomorrow.
Editor’s note: This comment is attached to a GetTheJob IP address.
January 17th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
I agree with Will that there needs to be a compelling reason to go social or anything else for that matter. That is precisely why the top level “profile” functionality needed to be tested. It has been embraced and now we feel strongly that opening this thing up is good move. It is tougher than it looks, we’ll see how it goes, I have a lot of underwear left!
It is apparent that Steven, whoever he is, has never had start up experience or he would understand that businesses must have the ability to adapt and change or they will fail. I have yet to meet an entrepreneur that started and exited without changing his/her original plans to some degree.
Thanks for the support Herm.
January 22nd, 2008 at 8:33 am
Job Sites do not have a future if they do not ‘upgrade’ in the ‘Web 2.0 Recruitment’ the recruiters are embracing on today. Going Social is the natural thing. Just tried to define the future of the recruitment under the Web 2.0 aspect at:
http://www.jobsblog.ie/Jobs/2008/01/22/web-20-recruitment/
Job boards as such do not have the healthy future in the RSS, blog, ping, track back, social networking mashup.
Ivan | www.JobsBlog.ie