Do job seekers and employers outside of Silicon Valley want user generated content, tagging and feeds in their employment services? The premise that they do will likely be put to the test on a global scale now that the fast growing job search site Jobster has landed $18 million more in venture funding from a team lead by international publishers Reed Elsevier. The company has now recieved almost $50 million in funding, from funders also including Ignition Partners, Mayfield Fund and Trinity Ventures.
Since adding a host of new social elements just last week, Jobster now brings most Web 2.0 features that you can imagine into the job search space. If Monster is the blue chip job search company in the accelerated history of web services then Jobster is trying to make itself the hip new player. Jobster CEO Jason Goldberg is explicitly positioning his company as MySpace in the workplace. Job seekers can create profiles, leave comments about their workplace and subscribe to RSS feeds.
Jobster recently acquired a service called GoJobby, has formed partnerships with SixApart, JobCentral and the VirtualEdge Corporation and says it’s seen seen 50% quarter over quarter growth over last five quarters.
But is this MySpace at work formula one with potential internationally? MySpace itself is widely expected to face serious challenges when it launches localized international versions beginning later this summer. Add to that the questionable sincerity of user generated content when it comes to matters of employment.
Jobster says it doesn’t really need the latest infusion of cash, but that Reed Elsiver’s international strength is exciting. Whether a substantial number of employers internationally will find it worth their investment to pay the monthly Jobster fee, or whether the new social features are considered hype driven and overpriced seems to me to be the key question.
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What about companies letting their HR people and managers post job offers independently over social networks?
The “social networking job search” trend is growing, but I would be interested in the statistics behind it.
I think linkedin is little better myself. Looks like they have alot of craigslist jobs on there…why not just goto craigslist..
I think this is a viable idea, yet I dont know how many people are going to use it. I am actually launching a site in about a month and am looking at jobster as one of my prospective partners.
What are they going to do with this money? The HR space sucks! Customers are lowest on the budget priority list for the CEO…no matter what lip service they say and their model requires an expensive enterprise sales team to execute. For the money, I’d go to Craigslist or LinkedIn over Jobster every time.
At least if you get asked about using LinkedIn at work, you can claim that you were “networking”, not looking for a job. That would be hard sell if the traffic reports show something called “jobster.com”.
Fifty. Million. Dollars.
Fifty million dollars
Fifty fucking million fucking dollars.
The US sent 50 million dollars in aide to help Lebanon.
This company can barely scrape by and make a site to compete against craigslist or simplyhired.
Jesus christ.
Joe,
Its not that they are raising money because they need it but that investor confidence is high in Jobster. They have recurring revenues (3mill a year) an expanding market and a profitable vertical.
The fact that they can raise this sort of investment is not the sign of a floundering company but one with genuine focus and reach. Don’t just look at their interface to make a judgement, acknowledge the product.
I agree with sharpshoot, they have a very strong product and it will only take some time until it is adopted by the masses.
I like Joe’s comment the best!!!!
People might as well just go to craigslist……wow, money must be easy to raise iof they got that boat load…..even looks like a blog.
Real resultls? Talk to anyone who has used Jobster. Most of thier original clients did not renew. This company was built on spin and lives on spin.
Everything Jobster says makes sense - accept for one thing. It doesn’t really work. Jobster is nothing more than a glorified job distributor that leans heavily on email as it main distribution outlet.
Initially that first email you get from the HR group is interesting, but that quickly fades. The success rate of the message being passed through to second and third level of people is minimal. Ever get emails from your training group on “tip of the day?” How much attention do you give these emails?
Recruiters find using yet another system to be cumbersome. Jobster has made some progress on ATS integration but it’s still very limited.
What kills me is that nobody is asking these guys the right questions. Ever wonder why you never hear any real results? Talk to people using the system and get their opinion.
If something doesn’t quite feel right about this 100 million dollar company then do yourself a favor and look a little closer. Rubber never meets the road and the wheels of propaganda continue to spin spin spin….
Jobster is a glorified and mediocre email campaign tool.
For real web2.0 company that is actually doing a shitload of business in recruiting (i heard $20 mill last year profitably - more than 3x what linkedin+jobster are doing combined), check out ZoomInfo. Venrock and Vulcan funded, profitable, and will probably get bought by a search engine soon anyway.
Out
Mark