(September 25, 2003) - A job board is, even in a downturn, a pretty ideal micro-business. A staff of four, a couple of good connections with the local rotary club, access to a technical person and a dose of stubbornness are all that you need to eke out a nice little existence. In a small town, 40 fresh listings a week priced at a nominal $295 for 30 days generates an annual business volume of $500K.

Of course, someone has to actually sell the listings. It takes a solid couple of years to get the phone traffic to come inbound. So, there's advertising and word of mouth to create in the beginning. A little bit of hard work goes a long way.

Prudence with overheads in the good times leads to survival in the harder times. The ease with which cash flow can be generated by a job board operation often creates unwarranted enthusiasm for future opportunity. The biggest single risk for survival in a small job board is an unwarranted belief that growth is possible or feasible.

More and more, we're seeing the emergence of small networks of job boards. Apparently, successful scaling of a network depends on consistency in the technology. The same job board that serves our small town is duplicated for other towns around the Bay area. Very focused and very local, the operation depends on single, aggressive sales people who live and work in their local communities. The offices are usually downtown.

Like the rest of our economy, the Electronic Recruiting Industry's growth happens in the micro-niches. The big players are relatively stable (though they jockey for position and the notoriety of being number one). At best, they represent 10% of the overall market. The other 90% is very volatile and fast churning. It doesn't depend on National dynamics at all.

Small businesses fuel our economy in both the overall picture and in our industry.

John Sumser

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