Monster.com, St. Pete Times Launch Job Site

Monster.com is set to replace CareerBuilder next month at the St. Petersburg, FL. Times. The change follows Monster’s decision to work with other newspapers as an online recruiting service and job board.

by Kristina Knight

In the past few months, Monster.com has become a job source for 45 other newspapers and 8 television properties. The new Times site will be co-branded between the two entities. It will include a resume builder, salary calculator and career advice and local and national job listings.

"This is an important deal for Monster because Tampa Bay is a growing market and gives us a major presence in the state of Florida," said Peter Newton, senior vice president and general manager, small and medium-sized businesses, Monster North America (via MediaPost).

Research from Borrell Associates indicates that employers are spending more money to recruit job-seekers online. According to their report, online job listings brought in $5.9 billion so far in 2006, compared with $5.4 billion brought in by traditional paper buys. Some say the deals newspapers are making with online hubs are not the way to go, however.

According to the Borrell report, “In the end, the newspapers that fled to Monster or HotJobs wound up doing exactly what they shouldn't: Abandoning a billion-dollar investment in their own product and building up brands they have spent years trying unsuccessfully to degrade."