War, revenue, and growth: news of the job board industry

Hard to believe that it’s been a month since the last update – lots has happened! There are new financials, acquisitions, funding, and (unfortunately) a war that’s affecting Europe and much of our industry. So, without further ado, let’s see what’s been going on:

• Industry news related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine: Job aggregator Jooble suspended its services in Russia and Belarus in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The site also has launched a recruitment aggregator Help Ukrainians, which is aimed to help Ukrainian refugees find jobs abroad. Adzuna and Talent.com have also suspended services in Russia. Upwork  announced that it is suspending business operations in Russia and Belarus. The move, which will fully take effect May 1, is starting with the shutting down of support for new business generation in each country. A new recruitment site has been launched to help displaced Ukrainians find work in the aftermath of the country’s ongoing war with Russia. UATalents.com has been launched by Ivan Kychatyi and Nikita Overchyk. Another new site,  Work in Rear,  is a recruitment vertical devoted to online and offline volunteer jobs. The classified allows for adding listings as a person who needs help and who can help. Finally, the stock price for the leading recruitment marketplace in Russia, HeadHunter Group, has lost about two-thirds of its value since mid-February. It is listed on Nasdaq, but trading in HeadHunter has also been frozen. In its Q4 2021 financial results, announced this week, the company withdrew all guidance on revenue and growth due to the impact of the war and sanctions. I can only hope for better news soon.
• Indeed and Glassdoor revenue surges: Recruit’s HR technology segment, which mainly covers job marketplace Indeed.com and recruitment and employer-review site Glassdoor.com, saw revenue surge 81.3% year-on-year to $2.0 billion U.S. in Q3. Recruit’s ad tracker found that U.S. job postings on Indeed.com on Feb. 4 were 60.4% above February 1, 2020, the pre-pandemic baseline. In Q3, Recruit’s revenue increased 22% year-on-year to Y746 billion ($6.5 billion), while adjusted EBITDA jumped from Y88 billion to Y135 billion ($1.2 billion). Impressive.
• Jobcase acquires Recruitology: Jobcase announced the acquisition of recruitment marketing platform Recruitology to bolster the company’s ability to proactively match workers to the jobs best suited for them. Recruitology’s platform combines job board software, programmatic job advertising, and AI-enabled applicant tracking. With over 130 million registered members, Jobcase continues to grow and invest in workers and the job ecosystem. In 2021, the company acquired job matching platform Upward.net. Congrats!
• Job.com acquires staffing firm: Job.com announced the acquisition of QCI Healthcare, a Grand Rapids, Michigan-based staffing agency. Executives and all team members at QCI Healthcare, which counts more than $20 million a year in revenue, will remain with the company. QCI Healthcare marks Job.com’s fifth staffing firm acquisition — Fortus and Endevis were acquired in August 2021; Talenting, announced in February 2021; and HireVergence, in August 2020. Note: Listen to an interview with Arran Stewart of Job.com on JobBoardGeek.
• ZipRecruiter is really up: ZipRecruiter reported fourth-quarter revenue rose 92.5% to $220.1 million, exceeding the top end of prior guidance by 5%. However, net income fell at the Santa Monica, California-based company. Full-year 2021 revenue rose 77%, exceeding the high-end estimate of 44% growth implied in May 2021 and the updated high-end guidance of 75% reported in November. Very impressive.
• Alongside raises funds: Canada-based Alongside raised $8 Million CAD in growth financing. Part of the funding was used to strategically acquire one of Canada’s leading job boards, CareerBeacon. The round was led by San Francisco-based venture capital firm 500 Global with participation from previous investors, including New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF), as well as capital financing from TD Bank Group. Congrats!
• Guide raises seed round: Guide, a startup building HR software for job candidates, announced that it has raised an $8 million seed round. Guide creates an online hub for job candidates where companies can post videos, documents and links about their team and the role in question. It provides a way for companies to better communicate with candidates, essentially, while giving the job-seeker a place where they can see how their interview process is progressing; the startup’s software has a tracker at the top of the candidate view showing what interviews are next, with whom, and about what, meaning that those outside the company have more information about the interview process than is typical. Very interesting!
• YoungOnes launch in UK:  Dutch freelance jobs platform YoungOnes has launched in the U.K. The platform connects young workers with temporary jobs in industries like logistics, retail, events and hospitality. It will initially operate only in London. Jobseekers who sign up using the app are vetted and verified by YoungOnes and offered insurance products through provider Collective Benefits, so freelancers are insured against liability and accidents. Interesting.
• Fiverr revenue up up up: Fiverr (NYSE: FVRR) reported fourth-quarter revenue jumped 42.7% with increases in both the number of active buyers and spend per buyer. The number of active buyers rose by 23% year over year to 4.2 million in the fourth quarter at Tel Aviv, Israel-based Fiverr. Meanwhile, the amount of spend per buyer rose by 18% to $242. The company also forecast full-year revenue of between $373.0 million and $379.0 million, a year-over-year increase of between 25% and 27%. Well well….
• Zenjob lands funding: Zenjob, the Berlin-based staffing marketplace that matches workers with temporary side jobs, has raised $50 million (€45 million) in a funding round. The platform will use the capital to accelerate its growth and expand to new cities in Germany and the Netherlands. Until now, the company has helped to match over 1 million jobs in Germany and the Netherlands. It will also bring the marketplace to the UK later this year and offer new job categories. One to watch.
• Seek revenue is up: Australia-based Seek’s group revenue increased 59% to A$517.2 million ($369 million U.S.), driven by a 72% increase in revenue to A$383.1 million ($273 million U.S.) at its Australian business. Revenue at Seek Asia also increased 42% to A$93.1 million ($66.3 million U.S.). Reported net profits increased 32% to A$88.1 million ($63 million U.S.). In Mexico, OCC Mundial increased revenue 34% to A$186.5 million, due to similar market trends observed in Australia and Asia, leading to increased uptake of depth and premium listing products. Shares jumped up on their guidance news upgrade. Very impressive.
• LinkedIn does stuff: LinkedIn is debuting a podcast network that features in-house shows from the LinkedIn News team as well as programs from industry figures. The shows, unsurprisingly, are geared toward a professional audience.  The company also announced it has agreed to acquire Oribi, an Israel-based marketing analytics company. The deal accelerates LinkedIn’s marketing attribution capabilities and expands its international footprint with a new office in Tel Aviv.  Never a dull moment.
• Stepstone launches employer branding business: Germany-based StepStone is launching Employer Branding & Solutions (EBS), in a bid to combine employer branding and recruiting, and bring several areas of the company’s activity under one umbrella. With the new offer, StepStone wants to enable “holistic talent acquisition”, a “uninterrupted candidate journey”. The company is also planning to bring its content creation in employer branding — such as podcasts, videos and landing pages — under the new entity. Interesting.
• DHI announces stock buyback: DHI Group, Inc. (NYSE: DHX) announced that its Board of Directors had authorized a new stock repurchase program that permits the purchase of up to $15 million of the Company’s common stock. The new program was approved following the completion of DHI’s previous $20 million stock purchase program, which was initially approved in February 2021.  Under the $20 million program, the company repurchased approximately 4.4 million shares. Intriguing.

Well, I said it was going to be a lot of news! I hope the coming month brings a peaceful resolution to the war. I also hope you find success, no matter which part of the industry you operate in. Until then, stay well.

[Want to get Job Board Doctor posts via email? Subscribe here.].

[Check out JobBoardGeek, the Doctor’s podcast!)