Hearst is creating a sales center for jobs

Hearst Newspapers is in the midst of creating a new online job center that could change the way other newspaper and broadcaster sites operate their job listings. Rather than waiting for employers to contact the job site, Hearst will contact employers first.

by Kristina Knight

According to reports, Hearst is creating a sales staff that will solicit job openings from employers around the US as part of a deal with Yahoo's HotJobs.

Lincoln Millstein, SVP of digital media for Hearst Newspapers said, "We're building an outbound center in Houston. We're hiring up to 30 outbound salespeople in Houston alone just to prosecute the HotJobs online-only sales."

With more jobseekers looking online first, this isn't a bad idea. By having more exclusive offerings, HotJobs and Hearst could get potentially more return visitors, increasing the profile of their websites.

For advertisers this is good news as well. According to recent reports, more that 6.5 million jobseekers performed job searches during a single month in March. With so many unique visitors, the potential for increased ROI by advertising on these sites is incredible. Another indicator that online job boards are increasing is the number of publisher websites - newspaper, broadcast and city sites - that are now carrying job leads for employees. It seems the Internet is a great avenue to reach the always increasing number of job seekers.