While this recession has affected many Americans, it has been especially hard for certain segments of the U.S. workforce. Diversity groups have lost more jobs than the average, and unemployment went up for veterans, older workers and workers with disabilities. It has also been very difficult for recent college graduates to find suitable employment.
The statistics are alarming. In July 2009, while the national unemployment rate was 9.7%, unemployment rate among American’s with disabilities was 15.1%, and among returning veterans it was 9.8%. As of July, less than one in five got a proper job after graduation from college this year – a stark contrast to the 68% of China’s 2009 college graduates who have become employed. Latinos have a 12.2% unemployment rate, and the number of unemployed African-Americans in New York City rose four times faster than their white counterparts.
Clearly, there is an urgent need to cater to these special segments of job seekers with relevant job posting content and with the proper tools to find a job. However, there is no clear dominant player to help all these special groups in a meaningful way.
The big three of the traditional job boards continue to follow a ‘one size fits all’ model and have very little to offer to these segments. The so-called ‘aggregator’ search players have also not shown much interest on these fronts.
It is the smaller niche sites that have dedicated their efforts to help these special groups. These leading niche sites have gained important ground in serving their relevant audiences, however critical mass in any area has yet to be reached.
What can work is a model where a cooperative network of smaller sites can be pulled together under a common framework to reach these special groups. Essentially, the market needs a destination where these groups can come together. It needs a place where the right jobs for the right audiences can be searched. It needs a place where employers who want to reach all of these audiences can do so with a single click of the mouse.
In this day and age, employers need to watch their time as much as they watch their budgets. Being able to access this type of network in one place will help them all around.
In this sea of the growing unemployed, members of these diverse and unique groups can lose even more ground in the race to find the next job, as the latest statistics have indicated. Also, if a candidate falls into more than one of these groups, they need to easily see every job opportunity that is available to them in one place. A network of smaller sites can help achieve this experience.
Yes, there are networks of job sites out in the marketplace right now. But many of these are mere domain names bundled into a group. It is only if the current leading niche career sites come together under one platform will true value for candidates and employers of these special groups be achieved.
The conditions of the current economy have brought these issues to the forefront, and now is the time to for such a network or ‘exchange’ to develop.
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August 31st, 2009 at 12:43 pm
“The big three of the traditional job boards… have very little to offer to these segments.”
CareerBuilder’s Diversity Partner List:
http://www.careerbuilder.com/jobposter/partners/partnerlist.aspx?id=diversity
August 31st, 2009 at 12:51 pm
[Tony Lee of Adicio asked that I publish this comment:]
Rathin, you make a strong argument, and fortunately the network of sites that you suggest already exists. The Adicio National Network includes more than 500 niche sites across the U.S. and Canada, including many of the largest job sites dedicated to helping diverse job seekers, older workers and new college grads. The Adicio network also includes some of the most active online job sites that target such industries as engineering, construction, consulting, law, fashion, food service, retailing, the media business and a wide range of health care specialties.
Employers can post a single job listing on any of these sites and include all 500+ national network sites for an additional $200 or so, depending on the originating site. To see a complete list, visit http://www.careercast.com/jobs/employer.
August 31st, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Vanessa, Thanks for sharing the info with our readers. There is definitely a growing awareness of the model and Careercast is one of the initial approaches in the market. If I am not mistaken, Adicio is powering and hosting individual sites for a fee and then listing their content in one place. What I am referring to is a need for a more holistic approach that not only shows jobs and content from partners, but also creates brand and relevant user experience to make a meaningful difference to these audience segments. Some work has been done but there is lot more to do.
August 31st, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Sounds like you are suggesting an overlay onto of other commercial niche sites. Are you are advocating an open standard where niche job post sites could inter-collaborate and share their listings back and forth? Like an MLS of sorts? This would mean standardizing on an XML format which could be pretty straightforward, but the bigger challenge would be revenue sharing across portals.
August 31st, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Nice list Zach – Monster has a comparable list. Rathin have you looked at these 2 combined lists? clearly over 100 of the biggest diversity sites out there – not sure what you are looking for but these lists that Cb and monster post to are pretty encompassing
September 1st, 2009 at 6:20 am
Is it issues of discrimination that have forced these groups into increased unemployment? Why have they suffered more than others during the recession?
September 1st, 2009 at 9:43 am
Thanks for two great points. I hope to write a follow-up article explaining the details of the model that I propose and how it might be a bit different from some of the existing models.
September 1st, 2009 at 5:27 pm
We’re actively trying to partner with niche boards and promote those boards to our customers.