• Jobnet.com (which reaches the tri-state area around Philadelphia)
• The Computer Jobs Store (with Headquarters in Atlanta and "branches" in Texas, the Carolinas and Chicago)
• The Philly Jobs Finder (which features a remarkable "Broadcast Your Resume By Fax" service)
• The Chicago Software Newspaper (which consolidates Midwest Software Opportunities)

The future of job postings as a recruiting tool is somewhat limited. But, in a time of declining response rates, these precision targeted tools offer an interesting alternative.

Regionalization is not restricted to geography. Imagine, if you will, that professional specialties also constitute regions. We just discovered a marvelous tool for recruiting writers at The Write Resource called The Write Jobs. Currently free, the system will ultimately evolve into a fee based advertising tool. It's audience is what makes it a strong player. By reaching writers where they surf, you overcome the largest obstacle in most advertising efforts: getting your message in front of the right group.

There are two paradoxical trends. On the one hand, it takes less and less effort to have your job postings seen by potentially huge audiences. Unfortunately, results appear to diminish as the audience grows. On the other hand, micro-niche recruiting using very targeted advertising in or on sites with direct geographic/regional appeal reaches smaller audiences with potentially higher returns.

It's a lot more work to find, nurture, manage and use the micro-niche tools.

Alone among the big players, Career Mosaic is attending to this dynamic with its vertical integration program. Tie ins in the Health, Finance, Insurance and Electrical Engineering worlds allow them to respond rapidly to the trend toward regionalization.

Think Marketing

Besides being a very useful resource, Senior Staff 2000 points out the importance of having a clear marketing target. It's an old saw...find a need and fill it.

The site also includes pointers to a not very well pruned but quite eclectic set of resources for the Year 2000 problem.

Tidbits

O-Hayo Sensei is a twice monthly newsletter for (mostly teaching and other English language-related) jobs in Japan. The email newsletter offers free job postings in this niche.

We continue to find it odd that JobStuff is the only regular email we get from a Netscape-In-Box based news service. After all, they're part of an Australian classified advertising consortium. The self described "groove webzine" covers various facets of work with links to employment ads. American job services could learn a bit from their irreverent style and substance.

Mectronics bears a closer look. The simply executed newsletter is wrapped around a database of Manufacturers and Distributors in the Electronic and Electrical Components business. It appears to be a useful tool for engineers and purchasing agents in the world or Electrical and Electronic Engineers. The database is a hard to use way to find manufacturers of competing products.

What's interesting about the service is that it is so clearly focused on a very particular set of workers and their needs. It's the kind of spot that give an ad solid reach into the passive marketplace.

They are decidedly not positioned as a carrier of recruitment ads. This, in itself, makes them an attractive opportunity.

Classifieds2000 (we got it right!) continues to expand their reach with recent agreements to post the ads of Best Software Inc. and HR Sites International Inc. to their network of 130 advertising carriers.

Remember TechRegistry? The early web pioneer continues to evolve in leaps and fits. Now billing itself as the "nation's leading employment information company" (somebody send them a copywriter), the service offers a database of over 1.4 Million professionals.

Is IT Real?

• Wired Special Report: Throw Away Professionals
• GAO Report Questions Tech Shortage
• Congressional Report Blasts Labor Shortage
• Labor Challenges IT Shortage
• The Geek Gap
• There Is No Labor Shortage
• A Series of Letters to the Editor (subscription)
• IT Shortage Hits VARs Hard
• Microsoft and Oracle Respond To Shortage
• Tech Embraces Offshore Employees

The key to the current debate is contained in a paragraph buried in the San Jose Mercury's story:

If the administration fails to come through for industry, Republicans believe it will help them pry loose the grip the Clinton-Gore team seems to have on the allegiance of Silicon Valley technocrats, GOP staffers say.

Is there a labor shortage? Currently, there are statistically more workers than jobs...across all aspects of the workforce. The "problem" is acute in urban/suburban areas and less acute at the rural/small town end of the spectrum. It's not distributed evenly across the United States. Rather, it's more pronounced in places where there are lots of employers and less aggravated where there aren't many. Duh.

It's as simple as declining birth rates.

When the statistics work against you, the best defense is a good offense. The claims that the shortage doesn't exist all involve individual anecdotal evidence. In other words, there is no labor shortage because this guy or that gal couldn't get a job. It's called a "Poster Child" Campaign. As long as the political battle continues, expect to see more poster children. They will all have sad and heartfelt stories to tell.

Meanwhile, the jobs go unfilled and the shortage gets worse.

Like any shortage, a labor shortage is conditional. Many factors can be managed to control some of the impact. For instance:

• The size of the workforce is directly dependent on retirement age.
• The number of job vacancies is driven by economic growth.
• The size of the workforce is related to immigration levels.
• Participation in the workforce is a function of the availability of training.
• Industry specific shortages are (ultimately) a reflection of pay differentials.
• A particular company's shortage is a function of growth objectives and qualification requirements.

Our advice? Learn to ignore the poster children, you'll be seeing more of them. Meanwhile, the shortages in your company will require a dramatic revision in your recruiting approaches.

More Than A Tool For IT

As long as five years ago, most truck stops were fully equipped with modem ports. If you want to understand digital, satellite based data communications, ask a long haul trucker. It's easy to imagine rest stops full of big rigs with owner-operators chatting away in AOL rooms or other forums.

It's not surprising to discover that there are a full array of recruiting/job hunting services targeted directly at this subset. They range from a resume broadcasting tool to more mundane job postings on company sites

Seminar I: Management, Strategies and Tactics
Don't jump on the bandwagon to be cool. Don't use technology without a clear view of the payback. This intense seminar addresses the questions any manager, owner or director should ask before continuing to invest in Electronic Recruiting. It is designed for owners, managers and section heads. We're offering it in 3 cities this Spring.

Schedule For Seminar I

April 29: San Francisco		May 12: New York City May 15: Chicago, IL

Seminar II: Advanced Searching and Sourcing
Learn how to mine the data fields. This one day presentation covers spidering, flipping, and depth searching...all of the tools required to unearth the passive candidate. The course includes a A CD Chock-Full Of Net Software and Tools.

Schedule For Seminar II

May 01: San Francisco May 04: Chicago, IL May 06: Denver, CO May 06: Columbus, OH May 08: Toronto, ON May 11: New York, NY		May 13: Austin, TX May 15: Atlanta, GA May 18: Irvine, CA May 18: Princeton, NJ May 20: Boston, MA May 20: Seattle, WA

Graduates receive:

Enroll today, seats are still available. There is a discount available for early registrations. The seminars have a retail price of $995. If your payment is received by April 15, there is a $150 discount. For Payments received by May 1, the savings is $100. We offer an additional discount of $100 for each member in a group of 2 or more.

You can learn more about the seminars, register online or call us at the office (415.377.2255 or 800-358-2278) to register.