Indeed and Glassdoor are way, way up: news of the job board industry

Ok, I’ve been reporting on the job board and recruitment marketing industry for a while (ahem, 12 years!), but I’m pretty sure I’ve never reported on 100% growth for a job board. Well…this time I am. Check out the news below about Indeed and Glassdoor. In fact, let’s just get into the news, because there is a lot:

• Recruit revenue is up – a lot: Recruit Holdings Co. Ltd., one of the world’s largest staffing firms, reported revenue rose 23.2% in its fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30. Revenue in its “HR technology” segment — which includes Indeed and Glassdoor — rose 107.3% year over year in the second quarter. As measured in US dollars, the increase was 100.1%. Recruit forecast revenue for its full 2021 fiscal year would be up between 19.0% and 23.4%. Looking at just the second half of the fiscal year, the HR technology segment is expected to rise between 60% and 70% on a US-dollar basis. That is very impressive. In other Indeed news, AIM Group says that the job board is moving toward something they called objective-based campaigns (um, thought all campaigns had objectives?). These campaigns are built entirely on a pay-per-applicant model, with four options from which an employer can choose. Hmm.
• Inbeta focuses on executive recruitment: UK talent specialist search group, Inbeta, has just closed a successful seed round led by a host of former FTSE100 executives. Inbeta operates in a three-stage process. First, there is the use of intelligence gathering to surface outstanding and/or overlooked talent. Secondly, the platform then defines the profile of shortlisted candidates by measuring crucial skills and behaviours. Lastly, the intelligence gathered informs a development stage, to ensure a successful recruitment transition. Intriguing.
• RoadDogJobs acquired: RoadDogJobs, a specialty job board for traveling construction workers and companies, was recently acquired by Greenville local Herb Dew IV. The site also relaunched their job board in October. The site focuses on welders, electricians, crane operators, and a wide assortment of other skilled trades. Congrats!
• Dockendo gets funding: Dockendo, a Poland-based recruitment site for the yachting industry, has raised €355,000 ($402,990 U.S.) in a seed round led by venture capital firm RKKVC. The company wants to reach the largest and most luxurious superyachts in the world and let them hire the most talented crew members. For now, the site enables boat owners and recruiting agencies to create vessel profiles and post job offers to search for qualified crews while applicants can apply by sending their resumes, video presentations, and certificates. Intriguing.
• Contra partners with TikTok: Contra, a professional network for freelance workers, is partnering with TikTok to allow users to showcase their resumes and portfolios via TikTok Jump, the social media service’s third-party integration tool. The new partnership will allow creators to link their Contra profile to their TikTok videos to showcase their professional portfolios. Contra says the integration makes it easier to share professional work and get new client leads. It plans to launch another Jump integration that will allow companies that are hiring to post TikTok content with a link to apply to the job directly with the viewer’s Contra profile. I will be curious to see how this plays out.
• Chợ Tốt launches new recruitment marketplace: Vietnamese marketplace Chợ Tốt officially launched its first recruitment marketplace Viec Lam Tot with the vision to bring job opportunities to 40 million blue-collar workers in Vietnam by 2025. Established in 2012, Chotot.com is part of Carousell and the marketplace provides an effective service for buying and selling various types of products. Carousell began in Singapore and now has a presence in eight markets under the brands Carousell, Mudah, Cho Tot and OneKyat. Interesting.
• Jobsharing marketplace raises fund: Roleshare is a talent marketplace that matches professionals with each other so they can both apply and share one full-time job. The startup has now raised an initial pre-seed funding round of over $550,000 from largely U.K.-based super angels to build a global “rolesharing” marketplace. Roleshare says it makes all this easier for companies to find out if any of their roles are able to be “job shared” and then matches-up candidates. Very interesting.
• Boss Zhipin up 105%: Kanzhun Limited, widely known as Boss Zhipin (BZ), a leading Chinese recruitment vertical, witnessed its net income grow more than seven folds during the third quarter of 2021, and its revenue increased by 105.4% year-on-year – even exceeding Indeed/Glassdoor. In 3Q2021, the company recorded $188.1 million (RMB1,211.8 million) of revenue, representing a growth of 105.4% YoY. The bulk of its revenue comes from online recruitment services, which grew by 104.4% YoY to $185.8 million (RMB1,197.1 million), thanks to the expanded paid enterprise customer base. For the coming quarter, the company expects its total revenues to be between RMB1.02 billion and RMB1.05 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 58.1% to 62.8%. Very impressive!
• Referral platform lands cash: Remote-first startup Intrro has just secured €1.9 million in a financing round led by Berlin-based signals Venture Capital. Offering an employee referral platform that matches the most promising talent with the highest priority jobs, the company has grown 20x in revenue this year. Intrro enables ‘warm intros’ between hiring teams and the talent in their employees’ network. Good luck.
• Freelance.com up 32%: Freelance.com has posted a 32% hike in year-over-year revenue for Q3, giving it a total of €112 million ($126 million) for the quarter. The France-based gig site saw nine-month revenue expand even more vigorously, marking a 49% gain to climb from €218 million to €324 million. Growth in the site’s home market was ahead of international markets, with activity up by 34% in the third quarter in France, versus 24% internationally over the same timeframe. The group is present in the UK, Germany, Morocco, Singapore and Switzerland. Impressive.
• Crosschq lands more funding:  Rectech start-up Crosschq has received a further strategic investment from Okta Ventures and a group of businesspeople, part of its Series A extension. The U.S.-based company offers AI-driven cloud-based SaaS solutions, such as Talent Intelligence Cloud, which draw on data to help employers find, assess and employ new staff. Powered by a DEI assessment tool, Crosschq collaborates with 70millionJobs, a jobs search engine for people with criminal records and CareerCircle, which provides pre-vetted candidates. Congrats!

Wow! Well, a nice mix of funding, acquisitions, and launches. I would normally expect things to slow down a bit during the upcoming holidays – but I guess we’ll just have to see.

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