Emerging Trends Research 2009 Final Report IAEWS Global Congress November 4, 2009 Chicago, Il

Future of the Industry Task Force Carol Barber, EVP, Bernard Hodes Group John Bell, CEO, Boxwood Ted Daywalt, CEO, VetJobs Gautam Godhwani, CEO, Simply Hired Don Ramer, CEO, Arbita Peter Weddle, Executive Director of IAEWS

2009 Industry Survey Industry Viability Creation of New Revenue Streams Marketing Approaches Opportunities

Respondent Profile POSITION/TITLE 40% Principal/Owner 20% CEO/President 18% VP/Manager 18% Other BUSINESS SIZE BASED ON CURRENT REVENUES 42% Under $1-million 29% $1.1 - 3-million 8% $3.1 - 5-million 9% $5.1 -20-million 5% $20.1 -50-million 8% Over $50 million

2009 Industry Survey Industry Viability Creation of New Revenue Streams Marketing Approaches Opportunities

1. Job boards will go the way of newspapers during this recession. 80% disagree

2. Job postings are rapidly becoming a commodity. Majority agrees

3. To maintain relevance, job boards will need to revamp their offerings and marketing strategies. 92% agree

Task Force Conclusions: Industry Viability Task Force Conclusions: The task force agrees that employment Web sites will continue to be valuable to both employers and job seekers, with the caveat that job boards must continuously find ways to adjust to the rapidly changing landscape. Recommended reading: 6 Must Fund Recruitment Marketing Initiatives for 2010, An Executive Brief from Arbita’s Recruitment Genome Project

2009 Industry Survey Industry Viability Creation of New Revenue Streams Marketing Approaches Opportunities

4. To compete in this price-driven market, job boards will need to either decrease job posting fees or add for-fee services, such as resume screening and candidate matching. 68% agree Only 15% disagree with this statement -- what does the audience say? What are other services that could generate new revenue streams?

14. Employers will continue to pay significant fees to search firms to have the guarantee of hires. 75% agree

13. Pay per click / application / hire will replace job posting fees as primary revenue drivers. 36% agree

Task Force Conclusions: Creation of new revenue streams Task Force Conclusions: The enormous popularity of advertising approaches, such as Google AdWords, would seem to contradict the respondents’ viewpoints regarding pay-for-performance (PPF). Increasingly, employers are attracted to pay-for-performance pricing models, which they see as reducing their risk, including staffing firms. To be competitive, the task force believes that employment Web sites will probably need to consider how PPF pricing can play a part in their business propositions.

Conclusions continued: Creation of new revenue streams Conclusions continued: Additional new revenue stream application worth consideration include: Professional resume writing Resume mining Candidate pre-screening services

2009 Industry Survey Industry Viability Creation of New Revenue Streams Marketing Approaches Opportunities

5. Job boards must invest in relevant, robust and provocative content to attract and retain their audiences. 88% agree

11. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the primary way for job boards to build traffic. 71% agree

12. Search engine marketing (SEM) is essential for job boards to remain viable and competitive. 80% agree

Task Force Conclusions: Marketing Approaches Task Force Conclusions: The task force agree with the survey results. It seems imperative that maximizing SEO and SEM opportunities can result in significant traffic increases. This coupled with a the delivery of strong content makes for a sound marketing strategy. In a presentation to the IAEWS 2009 Spring Congress, Guatam Godhwani, CEO of Simply Hired, offered 10 marketing tips for employment Web sites. Along with suggestions for optimizing site performance, he recommended compelling email alerts; using RSS feeds; collecting deep profile data; publishing news-letters and blogs; forming content partnerships; and leveraging social media. His complete presentation can be found on the IAEWS Web site.

2009 Industry Survey Industry Viability Creation of New Revenue Streams Marketing Approaches Opportunities

15. Employers are increasingly demanding highly targeted, one-to-one recruitment strategies that build relationships with candidates. 82% agree

16. Due to continued layoffs, companies are moving to "quiet recruiting" to avoid public exposure. 68% agree

7. LinkedIn has already eclipsed traditional job boards for professional recruiting. 22% agree

8. Facebook's phenomenal growth as a recruiting platform will continue unabated. 25% agree

9. Twitter and sites like it will become significant vehicles for recruiting. 53% agree

10. With its massive number of job-related searches daily, Google is in control of candidate and employer behaviors. 63% agree

6. Social media/networking will become a primary method of recruiting within the next 5 years. 51% agree

Task Force Conclusions: Opportunities Task Force Conclusions: The task force agrees that social media for recruiting, despite the growth and hype around it, will not replace traditional employment sites in the near future. By studying the attraction of social networking and building it into their sites, employment Web site operators can leverage the power of Web 2.0 for their own gain.

A Note of Thanks   On behalf of IAEWS, the task force wishes to thank the survey respondents for taking time to share their points of view related to the future of the industry.  

Reference Materials available at www.IAEWS.org (member’s section) 2009 Final Industry Survey Executive Report 6 Must Fund Recruitment Marketing Initiatives for 2010, An Executive Brief from Arbita’s Recruitment Genome Project IAEWS 2009 Spring Congress, Guatam Godhwani, CEO of Simply Hired, offered 10 marketing tips for employment Web sites.

What’s Next? The task force would like to continue this work. 2010 What’s Next? The task force would like to continue this work. The IAEWS task force plans to use the same survey to explore the perceptions and plans of employers in the first quarter of 2010. A report detailing those findings will be provided to IAEWS members at the Spring 2010 Congress.