• A Traditional Job Posting On A Job Board
• A Traditional Job Posting On A Corporate Website
• A Targeted Ad That Points To A Website (Buying Eyeballs)
• A Targeted Ad That Points To A Specific Job Posting
• A Gated Job Opportunity
• Non Specific Job Ads (Trolling)
• An Unsolicited Email Delivery Of A Job Ad
• "Email From A Friend" (Referenced Jobs)
• Job Ads Couched in "Rich Media"

Gated ads, those legendary and infrequently used delights, are the ads that require a job hunter to perform a set of tasks before gaining admission to the employment section. Our all time favorite was the game company that required applicants to navigate a game of virtual cow tipping in order to receive the password to the employment site.

Each of the various types of job ads require nuanced positioning and development. It's rarely attended to.

We got to thinking about these ads because there is something remarkable going on at Salary.com. By the time you actually reach the salary wizard for Accountants in zip code 94941, you have told the company what you do, where you live, roughly how much you make. Of course, you've also told them that there is a disturbance in your work world because you are wondering if you are making as much money as you could.

Currently, Salary.com appears to be selling the focused traffic to Job Boards. We wonder if they have any sort of idea about the bargain that they're getting. From our perspective, it looks like Salary.com is actually able to speak to job hunters in advance of their desire to change jobs. This means that the company has found a way to tap into the holy grail. They reach potential job hunters before they hit the market but after they have expressed an interest!

We're betting that this creates a requirement for a new sort of job ad...the relationship starter. If you were looking for Accountants in zip code 94941, wouldn't you want to do something for potential employees who were employed elsewhere but expressing an indication of interest in a move? It looks like Salary.com is on the verge of making a very real and very interesting difference.