LinkedIn and Randstad feel the pain: news of the job board and recruiting industry

August 4, 2020
JobBoardDoctor
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I normally wait a bit longer to do the industry news update – usually every 4 weeks or so – but there has been so many developments and announcements (Randstad, ouch!) that I decided to jump in early! You wouldn’t think that the middle of the summer – and a pandemic summer at that! – would be so busy, but there you go. Let’s see what’s happening:

LinkedIn cuts staff and gets sued: LinkedIn is laying off 6% of its employee base as fewer companies use its platform due to a reduced need for hiring amid the pandemic – that’s 960 employees. The company has adapted over the past few months during the economic crisis, rolling out virtual event products and other new features. They have cited a “record numbers of hours spent learning on the platform” and “strong member engagement,” but the company still was forced to cut staff. In other LI news, the company is getting sued after getting caught reading users’ clipboards on iPhone and iPad thanks to the new privacy features of iOS 14. Even though the company claimed it was due to a software bug, there’s now an iPhone user who’s suing LinkedIn for supposedly reading sensitive content from the clipboard without permission. Hmm.
Torre raises funds, targets LinkedIn: Torre has officially closed (and oversubscribed) its US$5 million seed round. The self-proclaimed “new professional network for remote and flexible work” goes deep into job seekers’ abilities, interests, and even professional reputation to assign them a “professional genome”. The company is already receiving more than 20,000 job postings each month and it’s strongly betting on the professional genome and its “PageRank-like” algorithm to optimize the job and candidate search moving forward. I guess we’ll see what happens.
Professional Diversity Network raises funds: Professional Diversity Network Inc. announced it will raise $2 million in a stock offering. The company had previously reported raising $1.0 million in an investment by Malven Group Ltd. That investment was announced June 29. The Chicago-based company had reported revenue of $982,297 in its first quarter ended March 31, a year-over-year decrease of 23.9%. Hmmm.
CareerBuilder sells kariera.gr: CareerBuilder announced that it sold its ownership of online job board kariera.gr to a group of local Greek investors, including Mr. Theofilos Vasileiadis, a talent acquisition industry veteran and serial entrepreneur. Originally acquired by CareerBuilder in 2007 from its founders, Vasileiadis and Mr. Fanis Rigas, kariera.gr is the largest job site in Greece and has operated in the job market since 1997. CareerBuilder retained the kariera.gr brand name due to its strength and recognition in the marketplace and the site will again continue to operate as kariera.gr under the new ownership. Confusing!
ClearanceJobs launches automation feature: ClearanceJobs has released Workflow, a product feature that allows recruiters to pre-program processes throughout the talent acquisition lifecycle, saving them time on typically tedious recruiting tasks. Workflow allows recruiting teams to automate recruitment processes like connecting with potential candidates, sending introduction messages, or tagging candidates to a specific job opening. Seems like a smart move.
Randstad global revenue plunges: Randstad nv, one of the world’s largest staffing firms, reported revenue fell 25% year over year on an organic basis in its second quarter ended June 30. North American revenue fell 18% year over year on an organic basis in the second quarter. Randstad Sourceright revenue, which includes MSP and RPO services, was down by 25% organically year over year in the second quarter, while Monster revenue fell 31%. Ouch.
Medley launches: Medley, a new membership-based community has launched and is designed to connect users with people who aren’t just like them. Medley isn’t solely focused on career growth, but rather incorporates personal growth into the framework. Folks who join Medley spend about 15 minutes on the application process, answering a wide range of questions that take a look at personal and professional information, but also at their general psychology and personality type. Interesting.
Googles offers career certificates: Google says it plans to fund 100,000 need-based career certification scholarships. Google’s senior vice president of global affairs, Kent Walker, says the certificates are in data analytics, user experience design and project management. The programs take roughly six-months to finish. Intriguing.
Grupa Pracuj sees profit rise: Grupa Pracuj, the owner of recruitment websites in Poland and Ukraine, increased consolidated sales revenues by 12.3% to PLN 367.5 million and net profit by 35.4% to PLN 91.04 million. Last year, the company developed a portfolio of digital HR solutions, including a mobile application and a new version of the Pracuj.pl website. Overall, as a result of activities undertaken in 2019, the company generated an operating profit of PLN 120.33 million. In 2019, the entire capital group employed an average of 892 people in Poland and Ukraine. Impressive.
LocalJobNetwork rebrands: LocalJobNetwork, a Milwaukee-based workforce recruiting firm and the compliance management provider for the US Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, announced a rebranding and new go-to-market approach as Circa. The Milwaukee-based company, founded in 1994, has 5,000-plus customers, 17,500 community partner relationships and in 2019 posted more than 5 million jobs through its network of 600-plus online employment websites. The company also acquired America’s Job Exchange. America’s Job Exchange is based in Andover, Massachusetts, and was initially launched by the US Department of Labor in 1995. It’s aimed at employers seeking diversity recruitment and compliance with the US Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. Very interesting.
Fiverr lets freelancers promote themselves: Fiverr is launching Promoted Gigs, a new tool that provides talented and experienced freelancers on Fiverr the opportunity to grow and expand their business with only a few clicks. With promoted gigs, sellers can bid and win prime locations on the Fiverr platform through an auction and pay-per-click mechanism. Freelancers will need to meet certain criteria and quality standards in order to be invited to promote their gig. Could work.