Broadbean, LinkedIn, and JobGet: news of the job board industry

As part of the continuing deconstruction of CareerBuilder, Broadbean makes the news this time around. But don’t worry, there are also plenty of AI-related items, acquisitions (including a befuddling one by Twitter), and even some job board launches. In other words, another month in the life of the job board industry! Let’s check it out:

• LinkedIn offers job posting verification tools: After launching its verification features last month, LinkedIn is now bringing verification to job posts. When you see verifications on job posts, that means there is information that has been verified as authentic by the job poster, LinkedIn or one of its partners. The verified information will show whether the poster is affiliated with an official company page, has verified their work email or workplace or their government ID was verified through CLEAR, which is a secure identity platform. Wonder how Indeed will respond…
• Indeed launches skills-based resume feature: Indeed introduced a new product, Skill Connect, that helps job seekers promote themselves with skills gained from affiliate training programs. At launch, four vocational training organizations in the U.S., the U.K. and Ireland were involved in the initiative. Indeed says it launched the product to help job seekers without a college degree better compete for jobs. Job seekers who have completed a course from a participating organization are guided through a special resume process that pre-populates suggested skills and certifications. Interesting response, Indeed!
• Jobindex delists after revenue drops: Revenue at JobIndex, the leading job board in Denmark, fell by 18% year on year (y-o-y) to DKK112 million ($16.2 million) in Q1 2023. EBITDA fell by 31% y-o-y to DKK40 million ($5.8 million). Then Kaare Danielsen, the founder, CEO and majority owner of Denmark-based job board JobIndex, decided to delist the company from Nasdaq First North Growth Market Denmark.  Danielsen explained the timing of the offer: “We just distributed employee shares. And we are certainly happy to have both employees and other shareholders as co-owners. We are just tired of it becoming more and more expensive and more and more difficult to be listed on the stock exchange.” Intriguing.
• Twitter acquires Laskie: Confusing everyone in the job board world, Twitter bought IT recruitment platform Laskie. The site, which was founded in 2021 by Chris Bakke, Laskie offered job-seekers in the tech domain “free tools… designed to make your job search faster, more efficient, and less stressful.” The site no longer appears to be operational, however. Axios said that the acquisition price could be in the “tens of millions.” Curious are the ways of Elon.
• Arc launches HireAI:  Arc, a remote jobs marketplace for software developers, launched HireAI, an AI-powered recruiter. By matching companies with the right candidates from its global developer network, Arc’s HireAI eliminates tasks that hiring managers face, such as candidate search, resume screening, and manual outreach. Powered by OpenAI’s Chat GPT-4, HireAI uses a company’s job description to find the best match candidates from Arc’s pool of over 250,000 remote developers worldwide. Very interesting.
• iCMS launches HR job board: iCIMS launched a new website intended to connect HR and talent acquisition job seekers with open roles. HRjobs.icims.com aggregates open positions across industries from the iCIMS customer base. The site is designed to let HR and talent professionals browse and explore job opportunities and apply on the hiring company’s career site. The launch comes just weeks after iCIMS rolled out a new version of its candidate relationship management software. I’ll be curious to see how this develops.
• CareerBuilder sells Broadbean: Veritone, a publicly traded California enterprise company focused on artificial intelligence, announced plans to pay $52 million for Broadbean, the London-based software-as-a-service provider of job distribution and talent acquisition services. Veritone said Broadbean, which employs about 300, has annual revenue of more than $35 million, including “over $30 million … subscription-based [revenue] with attractive margins.” The company said the acquisition of Broadbean would be immediately accretive to earnings. Waiting for the final shoe to drop…
• Professional Diversity Network revenue drops:  Networking and jobs website operator Professional Diversity Network reported first-quarter revenue fell 4.8% to approximately $2.0 million, though it noted revenue increased in its RemoteMore segment. Revenue in the Chicago-based company’s PDN Network fell 18% in the first quarter to approximately $1.13 million. In addition, revenue in the company’s National Association of Professional Women network segment fell 34% to $129,000. PDN had also acquired Expo Experts Events LLC in January 2023. Expo Experts produces face-to-face and virtual recruiting events for engineering, technology and security clearance positions. Curious.
• Qualifi raises funds: On-demand phone interview platform Qualifi raised $4.5 million in an oversubscribed funding round led by MXV Capital and Rally Ventures. The platform is used by companies of all sizes to hire for a variety of roles, including customer service, sales and technical positions. The company is based in Indiana and was founded in 2019 by Darrian Mikell, Devyn Mikell, DeSean Prentice, and Keenan Jaenicke. Interesting.
• JobGet acquires Heroes Jobs: JobGet, a Boston-based platform to connect hourly workers with employers, acquired Heroes Jobs, a Los Angeles-based social networking platform targeted toward members of Gen Z seeking retail and hospitality roles. JobGet’s marketplace currently serves more than 100,000 employers and provides access to a community of job seekers with a reach of 65 million. Heroes Jobs provides a social app that helps GenZ job seekers build a professional footprint and engage with future employers. Congrats!
• 58.com laying off staff:  China-based classifieds giant 58.Com is planning to cut up to 14,000 jobs. Citing company employees discussing the layoffs on work-focused social network Maimai, DoNews said that between 30% and 50% of the group’s 28,000 employees would be let go. Founded in 2005, 58.Com also operates horizontal classifieds site Ganji.com, general goods marketplace Zhuan Zhuan and property site Anjuke, in addition to a number of rectech services. Sorry to hear this.
• Recruitics acquires Jamyr: Recruitics, a data-driven recruitment marketing agency, acquired Jamyr – a video recruitment platform. Jamyr delivers employee-generated video content at scale, enabling organizations of all sizes to engage job seekers with relevant video content. Jamyr is an end-to-end recruitment video content capture, curation, and hosting platform that also integrates with employer ATSs. Interesting move.
• Big changes at Recruiter.com: Outsourced recruitment company Recruiter.com will get a new CEO, a new name and a new strategic direction as an AI-focused hiring consultancy. The deal involves publicly traded the NASDAQ-traded Recruiter.com acquiring fintech assets of software company GoLogiq, with plans to split the resulting company in two: the bigger part being a fintech concern that also trades on the NASDAQ but under a new, not-yet-determined name. Recruiter.com’s existing recruitment business would be spun off as a new enterprise called the AI Company. Wow.

Are you tired yet? That was a lot of news – and it wasn’t the half of it! I guess we’ll just have to wait and see till next month where CareerBuilder NA ends up, eh? Until then…

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