And so it is that we take a moment to throw some dirt on the moldering grave of Job Options (the artist formerly known as E-Span). According to the press, the operation was shut down (as in ALL employees were laid off).

Without warning, the company dismissed all of its employees, about 55 employees, including 25 in the company's Cleveland headquarters. The layoffs were made by JobOptions.com's owner Spherion Corp., a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., job placement company that is publicly traded.

-from a Crain.com article.

We knew that the end was in sight once Spherion completed the purchase agreement.

Spherion, you know, is another one of those players with dot-com envy and a hair trigger on the name-change button, the artist formerly known as Interim, Spherion is busily trying to maintain a new five year low for its stock price. Obviously, the name change, the acquisition and shutdown of Job Options were heroic moves on this key battlefront. Things have gotten so bad that the company is putting out press releases when it wins a contract to support 120 positions.

The core problem? While the staffing industry, in general, is suffering an economy related downturn, the truth is that Internet operations are taking a bigger share of their revenues than anyone can imagine. Older firms, like Interim, with their low levels of employee loyalty and retention are at the mercy of other, more sophisticated contract plays. Chasing the IT market, with the name change and the Job Board Market with the joboptions acquisition are symptoms of a vison-less operation floundering its way into bankruptcy.

In the long story of Job Options, it's a case of synchronicity. The company deserved new owners with champagne tastes and a beer budget. The change in the market, wrought by Monster, Hot Jobs, Salary.com and a few other success stories is that the investment equation has been uprooted. Our industry requires capital investment in advance of sales, unlike the old days.

No one ever associated with Job Options was ever able to help their management see the degree to which investment was required. As a result, the company languished in a sea of unmet potential.

Successful investment in this space requires a combination of money and managerial talent. We harken back to our earlier stories about the newspaper industry to prove the point that money is not enough. Sadly, Job Options never once in its history had access to either. Sadder still is the fact that Spherion completely botched this one from conception to termination.

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