(October 14, 2003) - Open network theory (how the internet works socially and technically) suggests that the power of a network grows by the square of each additional node in the network. It's a simplistic view that makes a huge range of assumptions about the viability and activity levels of individual nodes. Even so, the potency of the internet is interestingly explained this way. (Here's a quick review of network science.)

For the most part, the folks building recruitment advertising networks are not thinking this way about their creations (with the possible exceptions of CareerCast and to a lesser extent, NicheBoards). For the most part, access to a network gets you the ability to distribute your job ad to a variety of places. It's far more like a television network, with its focus on distribution, than it is like a network in the internet or telecommunications sense. Most Recruitment advertising networks facilitate the placement of the same ad in a number of places. From a customer perspective, the value proposition is "wider distribution equals better results".

With several important caveats, broader distribution of      an ad         may well result in better results.

It's important to remember that the underlying premise of spam is the notion that wider distribution equals more sales. More distribution for its own sake usually results in larger quantities of results rather than higher quality results. However, improved targeting in message delivery can deliver the message to precisely the audience you wish to reach. We tend to believe that more noise (unwanted resumes) is associated with bulk distribution while precision targeting should result in higher quality.

So, on first glance, the networks offer the following levels of targeting and distribution:

Network	Distribution
	Bulk	Professional	Regional	Interest
CareerBuilder	x		x
CareerCast		x	x	x
HodesIQ		x	x	x
Hot Jobs	x	x	x
JADs	x
Monster	x	x	x
Net-Temps		x		x
Regional Helpwanted			x
Salary.com		x	x	x

John Sumser