Job Site Revenues Up, Workers Feel Down
The three leading career sites exhibit strong growth over their print counterparts, as employees express dissatisfaction with their bosses.
Problems in the workplace are contributing to a growth spurt to online job sites. According to Corzen, Inc., revenue for Monster, CareerBuilder.com, and Yahoo’s HotJobs has been moving steadily upward in 2004, and the trend is expected to continue for the rest of the year.
First quarter year-over-year revenue growth for the three leading job sites was nearly seven times higher than their newspaper recruitment advertising counterparts (27 percent versus 4 percent), but the gap narrowed in the second quarter. Compared to the same period in 2003, second quarter revenues for Monster, CareerBuilder.com, and Yahoo’s HotJobs were up 38 percent, while print only rose 20 percent.
Bruce Corzen, CEO of Corzen, Inc., said that there was some softening of the overall growth rates in May, June and July but it is now picking up again. “In the last nine months, the amount of job posting activity has grown substantially. Even though the summer is softer there was still healthy overall growth.”
“They [the three leading online job sites] each have their strengths and I believe online job boards are certainly growing faster than traditional print media and that won’t change,” said Corzen.
Dissatisfaction among the workforce is a key driver to the job sites. About one-third of employees are not impressed with the job performance of their supervisors, a CareerBuilder.com survey found, and a study from Right Management Consultants has identified some of the problems.
The CareerBuilder.com survey of 1,400 random individuals revealed links – perceptual and actual – between satisfactory relationships with the boss and career paths. However, the survey found that a higher number of respondents believed their poor relationships with the boss would impede their chances for raises and promotions, than actual data to support those perceptions.
Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of respondents who had poor relationships with the boss say there is not much opportunity for them to move up in the company, compared to 26 percent who had good rapport with their supervisors.
Raises and promotions were awarded more frequently to those participants who had good working relationships with their supervisors. Roughly one-third (34 percent) of those who bonded well with their bosses received raises of 6 percent or more in 2004, compared to 19 percent of those who characterized their relationship with their boss as unsatisfactory.
Additionally, nearly 25 percent of respondents who had poor relationships with the boss reported that they were overlooked for promotions, while just 16 percent of those who were satisfied with their supervisors saw opportunities pass them by.
The lack of satisfactory rapport could be due to problems identified in a Right Management Consultants survey of 133 human resource managers. Nearly one-third of respondents report that their managers severely lack the abilities to manage others, but survey respondents were split on whether they were ready to take over their boss’ job. Nearly two-thirds of respondents said they would be prepared in three to five years.
The study identified deficits among management and executives, as well as the qualities most valued by workers. Nearly half (47 percent) of the survey respondents valued good communication skills, followed by a sense of vision (44 percent), honesty (32 percent), decisiveness (31 percent), good relationships with employees (26 percent), intelligence (23 percent), creativity (22 percent), and attention to detail (21 percent).
| Subordinates Identify Areas of Improvement for Bosses |
||
|---|---|---|
| Ability to engage people in vision and strategy | 47% | |
| Development of subordinates | 44% | |
| Communication skills | 37% | |
| Commitment to developing people | 28% | |
| Ability to motivate people | 21% | |
| Sharing information | 20% | |
| Source: Right Management Consultants | ||
