Aaaand, IBM buys Kenexa.
In 2005, when I launched a SEO agency dedicated to helping employers and the companies that serve them, it was all about distribution.
Job boards ruled the day because job seeker traffic was in such high demand and – mostly thanks to SEO – the boards knew how to get it.
As a result, more than 80 percent of my clients were job boards. Because employers could barely spell S-E-O, let alone understand it, employment sites battled it out for Google rankings to garner customers.
Of course you should post with us, look, we’re a Top Ten ranking for ‘left-handed java developer full-time job in Toledo, Ohio, USA.’
Thanks to factors like Indeed, LinkedIn, Craigslist, corporate career centers and a crappy economy, the game is much different today. It’s all about technology.
Job listings are commodities, which means the growth story behind most classified sites is over unless the economy has some miraculous turnaround (it won’t, by the way). Which means intellectual property comes at a premium.
Companies like Jobs2Web, Cardmunch and now Kenexa are technological enhancements to existing tech giants and gazelles, such as IBM. The pool of acquirers for job postings and traffic, in contrast, is close to nil.
As Monster pushes for a sale, you can bet they’re busy pimping their “new tech” and not the millions of job seekers perusing their site monthly. Millions who are migrating to Indeed, by the way.
Today, technology companies make-up the bulk of those I’m assisting and ones asking for assistance in getting their name out there. Not a shock, since that’s where the money is going now.
There will no doubt be a group of mini-Kenexa’s that get gobbled-up over the next few years. Most won’t get IBM dollars, but the forthcoming paydays are bound to put a lot of beer in anyone’s fridge.
