Growing our network
July 22, 2008 3:20 PM
At Jobsite we firmly believe in the power of the niche, and in that regard we are definitely putting our money where our mouth is. We have recently added OnlineAviationJobs.com to our growing portfolio of over 60 recruitment websites, and we have a lot more in the pipeline.
I'm often asked how and why we started to take a hugely successful multi-sector job board and introduce a niche strategy into this fold. Well it all really started one year after the launch of Jobsite (1995) when we launched a separate job board for Engineering which went on to become Engineerboard.co.uk. In those early days there were mainly only IT and Engineering people on the internet and it seemed sensible to provide a route to Jobs specifically for those audiences, rather than forcing them to use the same Job board as each other. The strategy worked very well indeed.
Following an acquisition of CityJobs.com in 2002 we accelerated our niche "build and buy" programme to build up over 30 sector specific niche sites. Most of our sites are "Pay per vacancy post" with the exception of Productionbase.co.uk which is a directory for TV and Film people. The niche element tends to be based around industry sectors but we also have some very successful regional based niches such as the famous "ThisIs" sites, plus Londonjobs.co.uk and ScotRecruit.com.
Apart from building new sites, acquisitions have very much become a way of life for me now. Since we have been part of DMGT we have acquired six companies (around two per year) and I seem to be constantly looking at potential others with our team. I even recently helped my wife purchase a home based internet business www.ampalian.com, so the acquisition bug certainly doesn't seem to stop when I get home! At Jobsite we have set a criteria for acquisitions which involves assessing key factors such as right fit, critical mass and strength of management team and we are always looking for other opportunities. If we feel we need to get into a sector or region and there is limited availability to partner/acquire then we look to build.
When we think about why niche sites work so well in recruitment we compare using the internet to shopping in the high street. We liken a multi-sector recruitment site (such as Jobsite) to a department store. Some people shop in department stores but some shop in boutiques (the niche) and some people in both. What we do get from our boutique shops (our niche sites) is a very high quality focussed footfall. When a company advertises on CityJobs.com for example, they know that mainly only "Banking, Finance and Insurance" people are looking and applying for their jobs. This is compelling to both recruiters and jobseekers, which is what we are trying to achieve.
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