Facebook dies, Beamery scores, and LinkedIn wins: news of the job board industry

It’s the end of the year – but not the end of job board industry news. Strange thing, that – the clock just keeps ticking on, doesn’t it? In addition to a confirmation that Jobs on Facebook is really, really dead, we also have lots of quarterly financials, funding, and some new sites. Let’s dig in!

• Recruit Holdings revenue up: This may be shocking (not), but Recruit Holdings, parent of Indeed and Glassdoor, saw a 12.4% increase in revenue for their fiscal quarter 2, ending September 30. Recruit’s HR technology segment led growth with a year over year increase of 40.1% on a reported basis. Recruit’s staffing business recorded an increase in revenue of 19.3% with global staffing operations in Europe, the US and Australia seeing a year-over-year increase in revenue of 23.3% or 7.8% in constant currency, to ¥234 billion (US$1.6 billion). Impressive.
• Jobs on Facebook is…dead: Yeah, I know – I also thought it was already dead! From the Facebook site: “Jobs on Facebook is shutting down. Jobs on Facebook will no longer be available on the Facebook app, Facebook mobile website (m.facebook.com/jobs) or Facebook desktop site for both employers and seekers.” Well…that’s not a surprise!!
• Beamery becomes a unicorn: Talent tech startup Beamery has become Europe’s latest SaaS unicorn as it takes in new funding and reaches the coveted milestone of over €1 billion in valuation. In 2022, amidst a challenging global climate, Beamery has seen an increase in Fortune 500 clients – since the company’s Series C round, Fortune 500 revenue has risen by over 250%. Beamery’s largest customers are increasing their commitment to the solution, with net retention for Fortune 500 customers at 135%+. Congrats!
• HeadHunter has another kinda-up quarter: HeadHunter, the No.1 Russia-based recruitment vertical, has announced revenue of RUB4.74 billion ($82.6 million U.S.) for the third quarter that ended 30 September 2022. The result is relatively flat compared to RUB4.69 billion for the same period of 2021. Why the underperformance? This is attributable to the uncertainty of future economic prospects on the back of the latest geopolitical developments and a decrease in the number of paying customers in small and medium accounts. Hmm.
• Job.com raises funds: Job.com, the AI-enabled technology recruitment platform, has secured an undisclosed investment from two New York and California-based financial institutions, Serengeti Asset Management and Ghost Tree Partners. The investment will accelerate the delivery and development of Job.com’s technology and fund further acquisitions in the recruitment and staffing sector. Job.com has made a total of six acquisitions since the summer of 2020, a strategy the company intends to continue. Sounds like 2023 will be active!
• Glints cuts staff: Singapore-based recruitment marketplace Glints has laid off around 18% of its over 1,100 employees, amid other cost-cutting measures. Some 198 employees have been affected by the job losses. Glints has recently completed a Series D funding round worth $50 million U.S., co-led by DCM Ventures, Lavender Hill Capital and former investor Persol Holdings. Best of luck to those affected.
• Funded.club launches job board for startups: Funded.club has launched a new job board with over 20,000 global job opportunities ready to be filled. Ray Gibson, Founder and CEO of Funded.club, said: “We arrived at the need for a job board to serve startups with more resources to screen candidates on their own, while smaller teams still prefer our fully-managed headhunting service.” The new job board will not accept registrations from recruitment agencies or non-startup employers. Congrats!
• Boss Zhipin revenue falls: Revenue at China-based recruitment marketplace Boss Zhipin, also known as Kanzhun Limited, fell 2.7% year-on-year (yoy) in the three months to September (Q3 2022), to RMB1.1 billion ($165 million U.S.). Operating profit declined 55.7% yoy to RMB137 million ($19.4 million). A challenging economic environment exacerbated by Covid-19 lockdowns in various Chinese cities was the main driver of the decline in revenue and operating profits, according to the company. Not surprising.
• Hunt Club raises lotsa cash: Hunt Club, a Chicago-based talent platform that utilizes referrals, announced a $40 million series B funding round co-led by WestCap and Sator Grove. The investment follows Hunt Club’s $10 million series A financing in October 2021 and will fuel the company’s national expansion and technology platform enhancements. Hunt Club’s revenue grew by 156% year over year in 2021 and placed over 1,000 leaders in top tech jobs across multiple sectors. Interesting.
• Jobilla merges with…Jobilla: Helsinki-based Jobilla has announced a merger with Jobilla Nederland, as the firm creates a new business unit called Jobilla Benelux BV. The new subsidiary joins Jobilla Finland and Jobilla DACH GmbH to become the third fundamental pillar of the Jobilla Group. The firm currently has over 4000 clients in 56 countries. Whole lotta Jobilla goin’ on!
• HiringSolved adds candidate-to-job matching:  HiringSolved introduced a candidate-to-job matching feature to its user profiles, with the goal of making “sourcing easier than ever before.” The new feature uses natural language processing to rank candidates for roles, using a built-in five-star rating system. the ratings give recruiters “a clear picture of each candidate quickly,” the company said.  ​HiringSolved links recruiting databases, simplifies recruiting workflows and delivers data insights to help talent acquisition professionals match the right people to the right roles more quickly. Interesting.
• Info Edge revenue up 46%: Info Edge India Ltd., the parent company of Naukri and 99Acres, has posted $66 million U.S. in revenues for Q2 FY22-23. Revenues are up by 46% year-on-year, as the corresponding figure for Q2 FY21-22 (to Sept. 2021) stood at $45 million. Naukri.com, along with other recruitment solutions, continues to be Info Edge’s primary revenue driver. More good news.
• LinkedIn has news: LinkedIn finally shuts the book on HiQ– LinkedIn VP of legal Sarah Wright said HiQ Labs, which no longer operates, had also agreed to destroy all source code, data, and algorithms created when it scraped LinkedIn member profiles in violation of the networking site’s user agreement. Guess the big guys won that one. In other LI news, it is rolling out a “focused” option for incoming messages with others relegated to an “other” box; and it’s turning on new automatic spam and harassment detection and a new feature to report unwanted messaging. These features seem necessary given the continued growth in platform usage. Let’s see how it actually works.
• ChefMe is a job board for private chefs:  Copenhagen-based private chef booking platform ChefMe has raised €700,000 in a pre-seed funding round. The capital will be used to further solidify its position as the Nordics’ leading private chefs platform, expand to new markets, and create new features. ChefMe provides a platform connecting (and booking) those that love eating food with those that love preparing it. Intriguing.
• Grupa Pracuj revenue up: Grupa Pracuj, parent company of the No. 1 recruitment vertical in Poland, Pracuj.pl, and the leading Ukraine-based job site Rabota.ua, saw revenue of PLN184 million ($40.7 million U.S.) in Q3 of 2022 — up by 45.3% from PLN126 million in Q3 2021. Its EBITDA increased by 13.8% to PLN85.3 million ($18.9 million U.S.) from PLN74.9 million in the same period a year earlier. Revenues from Ukraine accounted for 2.9% of the total revenues of Grupa Pracuj while the rest came from the activities of recruitment tech provider SoftGarden in Germany (28.1%) and of Pracuj.pl and applicant tracking system ERecruiter in Poland (69%). Congrats!

This closes out another stellar year for the job board and recruitment marketing industry. Despite rumblings in some sectors and layoffs in the tech industry, the market still seems strong for hiring tech. Let’s see what 2023 will bring!

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