In an unprecedented move, RecruitUSA Inc. (www.recruitusa.com) announced today that they will sever their partnership with Headhunter.net and will no longer support the recently acquired company through their integrated job posting service.

RecruitUSA, the established leader in jobs cross-posting, acknowledged their long-standing relationship with Headhunter.net and the volume of sales they have produced for the job board in a relationship that has spanned nearly five years. RecruitUSA indicated, however, they cannot continue a partnership with Headhunter.net if they are unwilling or unable to fulfill their obligations to customers. "It has been communicated to the industry that the Headhunter.net brand will cease to exist sometime in October, 2001," said Doug Ries, RecruitUSA's Vice President of Business Development.

RecruitUSA stressed that they will continue to send their clients' job postings to Headhunter.net under current packages as long as the job board continues to accept their postings. The move comes on the heels of the Sept __ announcement that Headhunter was being acquired by CareerBuilder.

"Long term relationships are the core of our business and we don't like to lose them," said Don Ramer, co-founder and CEO of RecruitUSA Inc., "but our first concern lies with our customers. Despite numerous attempts, we have received no commitment from HeadHunter.net to honor our customers' subscriptions, many of which represent substantial commitments."

It's beginning to look like the JADs are stepping into the control position associated with being a middleman. While RecruitUSA's customers get well deserved protection from market vagaries, vendors who lack clarity can be given a strong dose of market discipline.

The RecruitUSA announcement indicates a serious power-shift in the industry that we think is a permanent one.

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