Charlene Li Research Director Forrester Research NET Board Presentation

Theme A focus on user goals will drive design and brand decisions

Agenda  The future of career network portals  Portal branding issues  Recommendations and summary

Use Scenario Design To Drive Decisions Goal What are their goals? Who are your users? How do they accomplish those goals?

Identify Most Common User Goals  Individuals »Find a new, better job »Assess my skills for a current/new job »Find training »Locate a Career Center  Employers »Find an employee »Assess skills »Train an employee »Comply with government regulations

Online Job Seekers Are Dissatisfied “How satisfied are you with the quality of the jobs you have found online?” 1 Not at all satisfied 5 Extremely satisfied 234 Based on 1,541 online job seekers responding (percentages do not total 100 due to rounding) 13% 24% 43% 15% 4% Mean rating = 2.73

Roots of Dissatisfaction  Candidates »“Real” jobs hard to find (often not listed in AJB) »No response from submitted resumes »Incomplete career and job planning resources  Employers »Hundreds of resumes to shift through »Candidates have poor qualifications »Resumes in databases not up to date »Incomplete and inaccurate employer information

Career Networks A one-stop career management site that aggregates multiple career services for consumers and recruiters and serves both in an ongoing relationship.

Career Networks Power Online Recruitment HR tools Assessment services Training resources Job sites Profile database Jobs database Matching engine The Career Network

Characteristics of Career Networks  An aggregation of job posting sites  A connection to the recruiter desktop  Profile, not resume, databases  Assessment and training tools  Secure privacy throughout the process

Best Practices of Career Networks  Easy navigation between sections and features that facilitates user goals »No more than two clicks to accomplish goals  Extends relationship beyond job searching »Career advice, assessment and training, and other career-related information easily available  Retains my personal information throughout the network visit (i.e. Passport) »Personalizes the experience throughout the site with content, advice, and services

Opportunities for DOL/ETA  Integrate features to make it easier for consumers »Organize around common user goals »Remove confusing names for each service  Become the trusted network for career information »Unbiased, governmental agency »Aggregate the best of the best –Network of all job boards –Scrap jobs from sites (e.g. EmployOn or Flipdog) –Organize all career resources (e.g. MyJobSearch.com)

Use Scenario Design To Drive Decisions Goal What are their goals? Who are your users? How do they accomplish those goals?

Branding Considerations  Who are the users?  What are their goals?  What is the site’s charter?  What about existing brand equity?

Who’s using career information?  32% of Internet users have ever used the Internet to get information about job listings  Percent who look for job or career information online once a week or more… » All Internet users - 11% » Internet users who changed jobs in last year - 23%  When will they use the site versus competitors? »At the beginning of a search? »First resource for ongoing career information?

What sites do they use? Index of 100 = Monster.com unique users in the US »Jobsonline.com = 87 »Homeemployed.com = 54 »Careerbuilder.com = 39 »Hotjobs.com = 37 »Headhunter.com = 26 »Flipdog.com = 15 »Jobs.com = 11 »Dice.com = 10 »America’s Job Bank = 8 Source: comScore June 2001

Measuring Unique Audiences

What goals underlie career information use?  Actively looking for a job because of unemployment  Looking for a better job  Hoping to improve future career prospects  Is the users’ focus on “jobs” or “careers”?

What is the site’s charter?  Define the landscape »Competing against Monster.com or newspapers?  When would individuals visit the site? »At the beginning of the search  What will be unique about the site?

What’s the value of existing brands?  AJB strongly associated with job listings »Job sites are a dime a dozen »Job listings quickly becoming a commodity »No strong brand identify  “Kit” implies tools »Doesn’t reflect the depth of resources available  America’s Workforce Network imparts few user benefits »Also very cumbersome

Finding The Site Search engine73.4% messages 72.8% Link from another web site 70.3% Recommendation from a friend53.0% Online banner ad48.3% Magazine or newspaper article 43.2% TV commercial 41.4% Magazine ad37.5% Print article32.5% TV program31.8% Newspaper ad28.3% Product packages28.1% Shopping catalog25.0% Direct mail ad20.8% Radio ad19.8% Radio program 17.6% Outdoor billboard10.8% “What did you use in the last month to find new Web addresses?”

Branding Recommendations  Focus on careers, not jobs »Broadens the audience beyond job listings »Leverages all the resources available  It’s still early in the game »Many users still haven’t even heard of AJB or ACK »Those who have, don’t have a strong value association »Brand migration can be managed in the marketing process  Keep it short and memorable  Consider a new name that reflects… »The goals of targeted users »The mission of the portal site

Summary  Tremendous opportunities still exist in creating career networks  Focus on user goals to make branding decisions

Charlene Thank you