Lawsuits, voice search, and money: news of the recruitment marketing industry

The dog days of summer are a misnomer in our industry. Some of the most interesting developments happen when it gets hot (Microsoft buys Github? LinkedIn adds assessments? voice search?you get the picture). This cycle is no different – lots of news! So without further ado, let’s get to it:

• ZipRecruiter gets bigger: ZipRecruiter has moved into new headquarters. The Silicon Beach company, which previously occupied two offices in Santa Monica, has moved into a 45,000-square-foot space at 604 Arizona Ave. Some 400 of the online employment marketplace’s nearly 1,000 employees will work there, with room to grow. No surprise here! In other Zip news, they are launching a new feature called Candidate Calibration has employers rate potential matches for a job.
• Voice search is here:  The jobs section of the leading French classified site, Schibsted-owned LeBonCoin is now available on Google Home speaker and voice assistant enabling users to search for jobs via voice commands. It won’t be the last.
• Rozee.pk introduces audio profiles: Speaking of audio-related recruiting stuff:  Rozee.pk, Pakistan’s biggest jobs site in terms of traffic, now allows job-seekers to create audio profiles by recording answers to the most common questions asked by employers.  A job-seeker can create his or her audio profile free of any charge as an introductory offer from the jobs marketplace. Interesting point of differentiation.
• Zinc gets money:  Zinc, a UK blockchain based hiring platform, has secured funding through a crowdsale, raising  $2.95 million in one month. Zinc will use the funds to continue developing its technology, which it believes will become the UK industry standard for transparent and authenticated proof of work history and reputation within the technology sector. We’ll see.
• CareerBuilder gets sued: A former CareerBuilder executive sued the company in federal court claiming sexual discrimination. The suit says the company had a culture that turned a blind eye toward sexual harassment and bullying of women. Not good.
• Hired raised more money: Hired announced that it raised $30 million in a Series D round of funding led by Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO). In a blog post, Hired CEO Mehul Patel said that, with the $30 million, it has now raised a total of $130 million in funding. In addition to announcing the $30 million fundraising, Hired said it brought on John Kelly as senior vice president of revenue, who will oversee its revenue goals and a new subscription service it is launching. Subscriptions – imagine that!
• LinkedIn gets commuting: LinkedIn  is turning on a new feature called Your Commute that will let job-seekers check out the location and commute time to specific businesses, to help them evaluate whether they would want to work there.  The feature is available globally on mobile for all businesses where LinkedIn already has location information, and it will be coming soon to desktop.  Two other features have also been added:  users can now instantly view translations of content on the site when it appears in a language that is not the one set as a default; and they can use QR codes to quickly swap contact details with other LinkedIn members. Interesting.
• Comet lands funding:  The French start-up Comet, a marketplace for technical and data freelancers as well as companies looking for engineers and teams for a specific project, has raised  $12.8 million with Otium Venture and Daphni.  Currently, 100 customers use the platform to connect and hire freelancers . Companies upload their assignments and the Comet team connects freelancers with the right job within 48 hours. Comet generates a trading volume of approximately $ 1.16 million per month (1 million euros). I guess this Comet is really taking off…
• Google releases indexing API: Google has released a new API called the Indexing API but it is only available for job posting URLs that support job schema. It is not available for other types of content. Google said “this API allows any site owner to directly notify Google when job posting pages are added or removed. This allows Google to schedule job postings for a fresh crawl, which can lead to higher quality user traffic and job applicant satisfaction. Currently, the Indexing API can only be used for job posting pages that include job posting structured data,” Google added. Take note!
• Creme de la Creme also raises funds:  Paris-based Crème de la Crème has landed €3 million in funding led by Alto Invest with participation from its existing investors, including French entrepreneurs Alain Thibaut and Loic Le Meur. The company, which opened a London office in May, plans to use the money to expand in the UK.  The company has created a curated community of freelancers working in tech, data, design, marketing, and communication, whom it connects to more than 5,000 clients. Like the name!
• tilr is getting bigger:   tilr, which connects temporary, project and temp-to-perm workers to jobs using an algorithm focused only on skills, has expanded into 12 new markets, increasing its footprint to 17 markets nationwide.  New cities with an active tilr marketplace include Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Louisville, Madison, Nashville, New Orleans, Orlando, Seattle and Tucson. But…why no capitalization on the name?
• Beamery raises even more funds:  Beamery, the London-based talent CRM, and recruitment marketing startup, has announced that it has closed $28 million in Series B funding, the round having being led by EQT Ventures.  Beamery’s customer metrics have risen from approximately 50 in April 2017 to around 100 now. The new funds will be used for – you guessed it – marketing and growth.

As you can tell, the money is still flowing in recruitment marketing. Even in full employment – or maybe especially – there seems to be room for growth. Until next time…

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