Hotjobs.com
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- The correct title of this article is hotjobs.com. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.
| hotjobs.com | |
| Type | Public, part of Yahoo.com |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1996 |
| Headquarters | New York, New York, United States |
| Key people | Richard Johnson, founder |
| Industry | Job Search Engine |
| Website | www.hotjobs.com |
hotjobs.com is an online job search engine, known as Yahoo! HotJobs after being acquired by Yahoo! in 2001. Yahoo! HotJobs provides tools and advice for job seekers, employers, and staffing firms.
Job seekers voted Yahoo! HotJobs the (2002, 2003) "Best General Purpose Job Board for Job Seekers," and recruiters voted Yahoo! HotJobs the (2003) "Most Recruiter-Friendly General Purpose Site" in a survey conducted by WEDDLE's.
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[edit] History
hotjobs.com was founded by Richard Johnson and was based at 24 West 40th Street, 12th floor in New York City, just across from Bryant Park. Johnson had previously founded the RBL Agency with Ben Carroccio, a boutique employment agency for technologists. The initial website was launched in early 1996 as the Online Technical Technical Employment Center, and only featured technical jobs. Founding employees Earle Ady and Allen Murabayashi designed and coded the first iterations of the site, which ran on a Silicon Graphics Indy.
The company's first advertising effort was as a Yahoo! site of the week, which at the time could be purchased for $1000.
hotjobs participated in one of Jupiter Communications' first conferences at the New York Sheraton in February 1996. It was here that Johnson spotted Ginna Basinger, who was working for the Sheraton at the time, and offered her a position as the first hotjobs sales person. The product was given away to the first 100+ clients to gain employment content to attract job seekers.
Thomas Chin joined the organization in October 1996 while attending Columbia University, and eventually became the organization's chief scientist.
In the summer of 1997, Johnson decided to expand the operations, and brought a number of recruiters over from the RBL Agency to join the salesforce. Dimitri Boylan joined at this time heading up the sales effort. Over Labor Day weekend, a remote sales office was opened in Burlingame, CA by Kelly & Michael. This was a joint venture between hotjobs & otec. Sadly this was also the day that Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris, France.
hotjobs developed "softshoe" a private label job board and applicant tracking system in 1997. Lucent Technologies was the first client of this product.
In September 1997, hotjobs shed the technology-only focus by adding job categories for "Finance/Accounting" and "Sales/Marketing." The first hotjobs newsletter followed in October 1997. During this time the name was also officially changed from "HotJobs, Inc." to "HotJobs.com, Ltd" on the suggestion of Peter Connors, who had been hired as the first marketing manager.
The company startled the advertising world in 1999 when it bought a $1.6 million commercial during Super Bowl XXXIII, considering that its total revenues were approximately $2.5 million. McKann-Erickson Detroit was hired for the production. It proved to be a very savvy investment, as "over $25 million" in publicity was generated as a consequence. Immediately following the playing of the commercial, hotjobs' servers were overwhelmed with requests, and this incident later served as the basis for a commercial for IBM. The company went public in late 1999.
In 2000, the company had grown to $100 million dollars in revenue and moved its headquarters to 406 West 31st Street. In March 2001, Richard Johnson resigned as Chief Executive Officer and President, appointing Dimitri Boylan to fill those positions. Yahoo! purchased the company through an unsolicited bid in 2002, undercutting efforts by Monster.com to acquire the company.
