Job Search Engine Guide

Responsibility of Recruiting Bloggers

   

Interesting conversation going on over at the Jobster blog regarding the role/responsibility/focus of recruiting bloggers … please add your voice to the conversation.

   

Jobster’s Jason Goldberg Enters the Spin Zone

   

Two days ago, in a Note to the Membership of RecruitingBlogs.com, Jason Davis surprised the recruiting community with the statement:

   

“Last Thursday, I received a letter from Lawyers representing Jobster letting me know I had to shut down RecruitingBlogs.com immediately or Jobster would take action. They say that RecruitingBlogs.com is causing damage to their business and that I am in violation of my non-compete.” (emphasis added by R.M. Wilson)

   

Today, Jason Goldberg writes:

   

“I am happy to report that the unintentional flare up regarding recruitingblogs.com has been put to bed.  It is a shame that a private matter between Jobster and Jason Davis became public and caused so much of a mini circus, but what's done is done and it's all behind us now.” (emphasis added by R.M. Wilson)

   

“The response of the recruiting blogosphere has also raised some interesting considerations around the roles and responsibilities of bloggers.  This is worthy of a much longer blog post which I'll put some thought to over the next few days and weeks, but here is a quick observation.” (emphasis added by R.M. Wilson)

   

“It is truly a new world of media that we live in.  In the old world of media -- which I participated in as a young profession at the White House in the 1990's, there were codes of conduct and rules of engagement for the press.  Stories were fact checked and verified.  Nothing went to print without first making every attempt to get the counterpoint comment.  There was a mutual respect and cynicism which coexisted all at the same time, but always governed by some decency norms and expectations.  Today's blogger world is different.  Citizen journalists leap before looking.  They act on emotions rather than facts.  They hit the publish button before truly thinking about the ramifications.  Don't get me wrong -- it's not a bad thing, it's just a new reality.  I myself have blogged when I should not have and am as guilty of this as anyone.” (emphasis added by R.M. Wilson)

   

My take?  Rather than taking responsibility for a mistake that became public, Jason Goldberg stretches credibility, and from my perspective further erodes his standing, by trying to redefine the mistake as unintentional, and then attempting to deflect blame onto bloggers who “leap before looking”, “act on emotions rather than facts”, and “hit publish before thinking about the ramifications.” 

   

Frankly, I can’t wait to see Goldberg’s upcoming post on “the roles and responsibilities of bloggers.” Hopefully there will be sections on owning up to mistakes and avoiding the temptation to enter the spin zone.

   

Jobster Continues Trend of Missteps – Sumser Explains

   

Jobster is back in the news again … they just don’t seem to be able to do anything right.  First, they roll out a few new features, but in the process they loose credibility by using a ploy to inform Jobster members.

   

Then, CEO Jason Goldberg makes news (here, here, here, here and here) by trying to shut down the RecruitingBlogs community, claiming violation of a non-compete agreement signed by Jason Davis.

   

The merits of the case might be worked out in court; but in the court of public opinion, Jobster, Goldberg, and Recruiting.com have already lost big time.  First, the RecruitingBlogs community is populated by vocal thought leaders in the recruiting industry (Jobster’s market); and these folks don’t take kindly to having their community muzzled.  Second, it brings renewed focus on the continuing decline in traffic at Recruiting.com (a Jobster asset).  Third, it highlights the failure of John Sumser, new executive editor appointed by Goldberg, to build on the foundation laid by Jason Davis. 

   

In Battle of the Blogs: Two Recruiting Websites at Odds, Jim Durban puts his finger on one of the reasons Recruiting.com usage has declined:

   

“John Sumser bashed some bloggers in the past, and certain bloggers have decided they didn't want to play in that sandbox while Sumser is there. Our time is valuable, so why give it to someone who doesn't think much of it?" says Durbin.

   

So, what’s John’s ‘take’ on the situation?  According to Elaine Rigoli, in Battle of the Blogs: Two Recruiting Websites at Odds, John Sumser says:

 

¾      he was not "bashing" anyone;

¾      there is too much information floating around online;

¾      you need editorial voices to discern for an audience some point of view;

¾      I'm going to pick the stuff that is good,";

¾      the world of blogging is "early, primitive, and transitional";

¾      this dispute is a "strange little nuisance in the world between a well-financed startup and people who have been the beneficiaries of those well-financed largess."

   

   

This from the same man who said, in reference to Recruiting.com, in Communal Mayhem (SOAB):

   

¾      "It looks like most neighborhoods do after the gang has taken over and destroyed property values."

¾      "Civility and well kept homes have been replaced with venom, snakes and flying bullets."

¾      "We got Snakes On A Blog (SOAB)."

¾      "Sensible people are discouraged from contributing to the conversation by the shark-tank atmosphere."

¾      "No learning or exchange of substance can take place in this environment."

¾      "What should be a showcase for market conversations is held hostage by the most repetitive loud voices."

   

Seems like bashing to me. 

   

Jason Goldberg picked the wrong person to follow Jason Davis at Recruiting.com, and the result is predictable … the community has moved on.  Worse, Goldberg continues to demonstrate that he doesn’t understand his audience/market … he may be a man with vision, but he continues to deliver more collateral damage than positive results for Jobster.

   

High Hopes for Itzbig

   

Joel has posted a great interview with itzbig CEO Jim Hammock … it is well worth the 10 minutes to view the video.

   

Jim highlights four key areas of focus for itzbig … areas that regular readers of this blog will recognize as weaknesses in many of the current job boards.  If itzbig delivers on all four, they’ll certainly be worthy of a high rank in a crowded market.

   

Quality – rather than selling ads, or trying to maximize ad impressions, itzbig is focusing on delivering high-quality job matches between jobseekers and recruiters.  Users will see match relevance scores and be able to set minimum thresholds to weed out low quality matches.

   

Efficiency – rather than delivering deluges of marginal quality matches, itzbig is focused on delivering fewer high-quality matches. Finding diamonds shouldn’t be as time consuming.

   

Privacy – rather than a typical caveat-emptor approach to business, itzbig is promising a high level of protection for personal information.  Users will search in a confidential environment.  Frankly, I think this is a key to connecting with passive job seekers.  I may be the exception, but I no longer use Jobster because of the perception that others can watch my actions on the site … when it comes to searching for a new job while employed, most of us would like the option to keep it private.

   

Usability – rather than delivering a product with interstitial ads, or a product with sponsored ads that obscure more relevant results, itzbig says they are committed to usability first, and that they will rollout slowly to ensure that they don’t lose focus on usability.  Of course, usability, like beauty, is often in the eye of the beholder … nonetheless, I have to give props to a firm that states that they are highly focused on usability.

   

Soundzbig to me!