Giants join forces to show jobs market íthe reunited effectí

Two national institutions ñ Britainís favourite broadcaster and favourite website ñ have joined forces in a bid to shake-up the recruitment market.

The alliance has started by practising what it preaches and headhunting key personnel from among its rivals.

In celebration of the first anniversary of the purchase of Friends Reunited by ITV, the reunion website has embarked on ambitious plans to use the cost-efficiencies provided by the acquisition as leverage in a significant expansions of its recruitment site, Jobs Reunited.

The union of Friends Reunitedís formidable database, which approaches 20 million members, with ITVís investment capability has already proved an attractive prospect for several recruitment industry professionals ñ including a head of corporate sales ñ from market rivals including Fish4, Guardian Unlimited, Prospects and Jimfinder.com.

Their combined experience is being channelled into developing new field- and telesales teams, based at the ITV headquarters at Grayís Inn Road in central London. The unit will be seamlessly integrated with ITV Onlineís experienced advertising sales team.

Meanwhile, the Jobs Reunited site is the subject of a complete re-design, focussing on creative enhancement of the search function, and increased accuracy and speed in results delivery.

The next stage of the companyís assault on the market will see considerable investment in marketing, including television advertising, and integration with ITVís local reach.

Gail McLaughlan, head of Jobs Reunited, said: ìUntil now, some in the recruitment trade have wrongly assumed that Jobs Reunited must be a site for bringing people together with their old employers. In which case, theyíre about to get a nasty shock.

ìJobs Reunited has forged the astonishing universal appeal of Friends Reunited with the presence of ITV in every home, into a 200-percent determination to shake up the jobs market.

ìWeíve taken our time to build the right infrastructure and appoint the right people. The next step now is to fully capitalise on ITVís local network to target the right job with the right people in the right place.

ìWe will utilise our depth of experience with a superlative database to provide highly-selective targeting, seeking out and finding the passive jobseeker, who doesnít know he or she is looking for a new job.

ìThe data provided in membersí profiles, such as their interests and current work status, will provide an invaluable insight for advertisers an recruiters.

ìThis represents the same kind of major shift for the jobs industry as the arrival of Friends Reunited meant for general Internet users back at the start of the Millennium. The era of people looking for jobs is ending; the era of mass selective head-hunting is dawning.î