Newspaper groups are moving online

Newspaper owners and publishers are increasingly banking on the rapid advertising growth of their websites

Newspapers have been making the most of the online opportunities to strengthen their position in the marketplace. How do the newspaper groups perceive the issues of on and offline recruitment at the moment?

Joe Slavin, fish4 CEO says: Last year Rupert Murdoch famously declared that the íriver of goldí, that was newspaper classified advertising had dried up, saying that he knew of no one under 30 who still looked at the ads. I disagree, the river hasnít run dry, itís just that the river has branched off in a different direction, with just about every newspaper group adopting an online strategy that complements the classified advertising in their newspapers. Onrec readers will know that weíre far from a disinterested party here. Due to our links with some of the UKs biggest newspaper publishers, such as Trinity Mirror and Newsquest, weíre more often than not an integral part of that strategy and have 200 regional newspaper websites feeding into fish4jobs. Thatís important because on a local level, your regional newspaper is a brand that you feel comfortable and familiar with. Over 40 million adults read a local or regional newspaper. More often than not, a local newspaper site that links into fish4jobs is the first port of call for both recruiters and jobseekers as it gives them access to candidates / vacancies in their area and takes a look at the kind of jobs advertised at a regional and local level: Yes, management and IT staff. But also customer service reps, HGV drivers, security staff, retail workers, distribution staff. Not only are jobs like this more representative of the UK jobs market, the people applying for these jobs are also increasingly going online. He says: Due to our links with the UKs regional newspaper networks weíre uniquely placed to take advantage of this democratisation of online recruitment. Regional newspapers has traditionally been where the jobs market has been at, and that market is now increasingly moving online.

So are candidates and recruiters expecting different services now, compared to previous years? Steve Playford of The Telegraph says: Recruitment advertising is becoming more trackable and recruiters are concentrating on Cost Per Recruit more than ever before. They are also looking for total solutions, whether on or offline, to find suitable candidates and this may include the use of CV databases. Candidates expect a high volume of jobs giving them maximum choice when looking for their next move so it is vital that you have a critical mass of quality vacancies to offer them. He says newspaper groups have never been able to track campaigns offline before, so it is very exciting for them now to be able to discuss responses directly with their clients. Playford continues: The back office system at www.jobs.telegraph.co.uk can provide full tracking on all job listings and also click through rates on buttons and banners. In terms of giving candidates choice of jobs, the newspaper groups are in the fortunate position of being able to showcase the pick of the jobs offline while directing candidates to more options on their websites. He also says: Following on from our relaunch in July 2006, jobs.telegraph.co.uk will be investing heavily in online marketing to ensure that our traffic figures continue to grow and our recruiters enjoy more response than ever before.

The outlook for newspapers and online recruitment is bright. Steve Playford believes: Newspapers are in a great position to grow their recruitment businesses in 2007. The offline product will always provide a much bigger impact than any individual job board, so for clients who feel that employer branding is an important part of the recruitment process, it provides the perfect platform. They can use the strengths of their brands and the impact of offline however, to drive traffic to their own job boards. The online recruitment market will continue to grow but at a slower pace than in the past two years, while newspapers will continue to provide a huge audience for major campaigns.

Recruitment Advertising is Moving Online Conference held by Onrec.com 7th March @ The Cafe Royal.

This conference will give delegates the opportunity to bring together the magazine and newspaper industry to examine the effect of the Internet on recruitment advertising. Have online recruitment revenues grown in the past 6 months? How have regional newspaper publishers addressed the challenge of the Internet to their recruitment advertising revenues? What technology is available to newspaper and magazine owners and how is it being used to advantage? Hear the analysis of market commentators on the future of digital newspapers.

www.onrec.com/newspaper

Written by Lauren Mackelden, (Lauren@onrec.com) ñ Features editor, Online recruitment magazine.

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