Lack of jobs hurts business for online search sites

By Justin Pope
Associated Press

BOSTON — It's been a challenging few months for online job search sites. They've been flooded with resumes, but not with jobs, and that's where much of their revenue comes from.

	Where to look on the Web
	Some national sites on the Internet:
•	HotJobs.com
•	Monster.com
•	CareerBuilder.com
•	BrassRing.com
•	Jobs.com
	Some Hawai'i job resources online:
•	Jobshawaii.com
•	Careergiant.com
•	Hawaiijobforce.com
•	Honoluluadvertiser.com

Newspaper companies also have entered the online search field, embracing the Web's reach and convenience.

Visitors to online search sites notice the effects of the recession, the accompanying surge in unemployment and a drop in demand for workers.

Dan O'Sullivan of Cambridge found a big difference between the number of "hits" he got on his resume during a 2000 job search and another a year later, amid the recession.

"Last year, and this was with pretty good experience, I would check ... and virtually no one had been there," he said.

"They do have hundreds of jobs posted on them, but applying to one is kind of like dropping a fishing line with no hook, no bait, into a lake and trying to catch something," said Judd Everhart, of Bethel, Conn., who was laid off from a corporate job at World Wrestling Federation in November and has gotten only a few minor nibbles from online postings.

The latest earnings reports from the sites show the effects of the weaker job market.

Last week, Monster parent company TMP Worldwide reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $27.3 million, or 24 cents per share, down 21 percent from $34.6 million, or 31 cents per share, a year earlier, although commissions and fees at Monster rose 41 percent.

HotJobs recently reported a fourth-quarter profit of $237,000, or 1 cent per share, excluding merger expenses. That was an improvement over a year-earlier loss of $6.9 million, or 19 cents per share, but revenues were down 20 percent.

The two sites have growing competition from Reston, Va.-based CareerBuilder, which wouldn't release its numbers but said its revenue is higher than Hotjobs'.

CareerBuilder, backed by Tribune Co. and Knight Ridder Inc. and partnered with more than 40 major newspapers, is trying to bridge the newspaper and online classified worlds.

"We've got a lot of momentum," spokesman Barry Lawrence said. "We feel very certain that we're No. 2 in the marketplace, and we're closing the gap on Monster."

"Sixty percent of people out there still use yellow highlighters and go through the newspapers," Lawrence said. "Their revenues have declined, but they're still making money."

Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li said the online sites have performed relatively well, not only in comparison with other Internet companies, but with the recruiting industry in general.

"Online classifieds are much better than print classifieds in terms of their utility to consumers," he said. "But print classifieds have a much better selling structure and much better local brands."

Analysts expect the online sites' business to pick up when the job market recovers. In the meantime, they're trying to figure out how the recent shake-up among the top companies will play out.

Late last year, Monster looked like it was en route to a monopoly when TMP announced plans to buy HotJobs. But in December, Web portal Yahoo! stepped in with a higher offer of $436 million, which TMP declined to match.

So the two sites — known to many for their dueling Super Bowl ads the last four years — are again competing.

"HotJobs is back with a major media partner, and I think that's going to tip the scale significantly over the next year," company chief executive Dimitri Boylan said in a recent interview.

Monster founder and CEO Jeff Taylor doesn't sound too worried.

"Yahoo! seems to relaunch their careers area about every year, and that tends to bring up a few questions, and then Monster goes out and continues to dominate the marketplace," he said.

Some analysts share Taylor's skepticism, and wonder whether Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo! — which claims 219 million consumers — will squander the HotJobs brand.

"I'm very dubious about whether Yahoo! is ever going to recognize $400 million of value from the acquisition," Sinnreich said. "Their company has a history of spending exorbitantly to announce their entry into a space that's hot only to drop the ball when they get into other initiatives."

It's part of Yahoo!'s new focus on owning content rather than bringing it together, company spokeswoman Joanna Stevens said, adding that Yahoo! believes the price it paid for HotJobs was right.

So far, Maynard-based Monster is the biggest of the sites, with more visitors — 8.9 million to 7.7 million — according to the latest Jupiter Media Metrix numbers.

Monster claims 15 million job seekers' resume on file, up from 7 million a year ago, and about three times as many as HotJobs. CareerBuilder claims 4.5 million resumes following its acquisition of Headhunter.net last year.