Monsters under the bed
SteveWell, not literally under the bed, but on Ebay, Pandora, The Weather Channel, and hundreds of other sites where millions of potential candidates goof off, I mean research important information online.
What the heck am I talking about?
The Monster.com Career Ad Network. The Career Ad Network is a (relatively) new offering from the online job board leader Monster.com that gives the ability to extend the reach of the traditional job board advertisement to literally hundreds of sites, generating millions of exposures.
The basics of the process are as follows:
1. Company purchases Job posting on Monster, say for a Java Developer in Milwaukee.
2. Company opts-in to Career Ad Network syndication for a fixed duration
3. Targeted and optimized job ads are syndicated across the Monster network and affiliated sites targeting folks likely to be interested in Java Developer jobs in Milwaukee.
4. Monster helps track not only the sheer numbers of impressions and click throughs, but also how many applications were generated via the career ad network syndication.
How does the Monster technology know just when to serve our example passive candidate a Java Developer job in Milwaukee while they are listening to Radiohead on Pandora? Some little bits of internet surfing magic called cookies that quietly sit in the computer's memory and tell every system smart enough to process them just what the heck you have been up to online.
So if this example passive candidate got ticked off after the last staff meeting and perused a few openings on Monster at the lunch hour this information gets registered in the form of a cookie. Later that week when said disgruntled java pro tries to unwind with a little Pandora - wham - how about this great new opportunity near where you live and in the field you are in?
What I like about the Career Ad Network is that it provides a way for companies with limited reach outside of their own jobs site to potentially get their openings to a really wide audience, potentially in the millions. Which ironically, is the same thing I don't like about it, there is no way to ensure that the increased exposure won't be more trouble, in the form of an increase in volume of unqualified candidates, than simply relying on more traditional job advertising.
This week Monster is announcing some improvements to the service that will allow companied to opt-in to Career Ad Network syndication without having to buy 'regular' Monster postings, and improved analytics to track campaign effectiveness.
Overall for companies looking to extend the reach of their job ads, at a reasonable cost, and with no special technical skills required, the Career Ad Network is worth an evaluation. And it is also kind of cool and refreshing to see Monster looking for ways to innovate and improve their basic offerings, as the way people look for jobs changes over time, Monster has to find ways to evolve beyond the traditional job board, in order to better navigate these new waters.
You never know, one company's slacker engineer listening to Pandora all day just might be your organization's next hotshot superstar.
Thanks so much to Kathy Reilly and the team at Monster for giving the great Kevin Grossman fromHRMarketer and I a sneak peak at the new offerings.
Reader Comments (6)
I love innovation and on the face of it this sounds like a great use of technology. However I’m not convinced that the user experience will not turn off potential candidates from going to the Monster site. I have recently experienced similar functionality. I checked out some shirts on a major retailer’s website and decided I did not like any of their shirts. For the following week many of the websites I visited had an advertisement for those same shirts from the same retailer on the first page I visited. Now I never visit that company’s website. Similarly Spotify delivers highly targeted adverts to me. It got to the point that whilst the music was great I had to stop listening because the adverts were so annoying.
I think the point here is that you can switch off from non-targeted advertisements, but they can be very annoying when you feel like you’re being watched and you cannot get away from them.
I agree, Steve--Kevin Grossman IS great! I'm lucky I get to work with him.
I share Jerry's ambivalence, though, about being cyber-tracked by Monster. I see how it could help if I were looking for a job, but it's kinda creepy otherwise. I know, though, that opinions are mixed on this issue, so it'll be interesting to see how this new venture pans out.
Steve, you are the consummate HR technology reviewer. Well done. And although Jerry and Heath have a point, from a marketing perspective the Monster automation will drive traffic. Again, it's the quality vs. quantity game.
@Jerry - Great points - and thanks so much for sharing them here.
@Heath - We have a mutual admiration society for Kevin for sure
@Kevin - How could I ever be the man when you are the man?
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