Online Recruitment Sign-Up Sheet
In recent weeks, we have seen newspapers moving their recruitment technology platform and online sales business to either Yahoo-Hotjobs or Monster.com at a record pace. Newspapers, which for decades have guarded this rich revenue stream, seem to have arrived at the same conclusion: the online technology giants are better equipped to handle their recruitment advertiser needs.

Because I have no ownership of newspapers, I admit that I cannot fully "feel their pain." But having grown up in an industry where newspapers were the first — and usually the only — media used for recruitment dollars, I feel that I am perhaps qualified to critique this mass exodus from newspapers' classified sections to the online world.

From there to here...
To better understand the current state of recruitment communication and the transition from print to online, one must revisit the past.

In the early Internet years, major newspapers united to create CareerPath, welcoming participation by newspapers from coast to coast. This joint effort was not only the first attempt by newspapers to enter the digital age, but also, I believe — and I think that many feel as I do — the most comprehensive to date.

What transpired thereafter set in motion the events that have defined where the newspaper industry is today. Because the newspapers would not or could not work well together in capturing online dollars, private entrepreneurs such as Andrew J. McKelvey (the previous CEO of Monster.com) started creating "better mousetraps."

In response, the way the newspapers attempted to compete in the online-recruitment arena was by narrowing the newspaper group to only a few of the industry giants. Thus, CareerBuilder was purchased and then was relaunched with the clout that only major newspapers could have. While this seemed to be a logical response, many of the newspapers left out of the site quickly had to find a home for themselves, one where they would feel welcome and better equipped to capture their share of the rich recruitment revenue. The newspaper industry quickly became divided — swinging wide open the door for other online sites to grow in number, popularity, and stature in the human resources industry.

With rather vexing, limited number of technology choices available and recruitment revenue moving rapidly from traditional print, many newspapers felt that their time had passed in which they could compete effectively on their own for the younger audience that the online media were able to reach so well. Newspaper CEOs decided, sometimes behind closed doors, to sign on with existing online recruitment platforms — with Web sites not burdened with the concerns of producing a print product. Internet sites such as Yahoo! effectively convinced newspapers that, no matter how hard they tried, they would never have the dollars or staff necessary to compete effectively in the online arena. Monster was able to demonstrate that first-to-market dominance was still true today as it was yesterday.

What occurred after that beginning stage has set the newspaper industry back on its heels. Papers gave away their brand and their advertiser relationships, and they allowed the online players to take up occupancy within the very corridors that for decades were owned by the newspaper industry.

And to where?
Time of course will tell who was right and which platform will ultimately be the winner. But one doesn't need to wait too long to come to the same realization that these newspaper titans came to on their own: that print recruitment dollars will never return to the newspapers especially with the heft that they brought years ago. That the time is now for the online companies to demonstrate that their online dominance can wield the same control that newspapers owned for years. That the recruitment business that newspapers once coveted and built strong alliances is gone.

Newspapers are currently engaged in a soul-searching — and often heart-wrenching — effort to continue to capture revenue from the content that in the "good old days" only could be provided on the printed page as delivered to subscribers' porches and at the newsstand. Now, nobody is really sure how to get that revenue, even though the demand for the content — whether it is news, basketball, scores, or job ads — is as strong as it ever was. Where there is demand, there is opportunity for revenue. Can newspapers make the evolutionary step to capitalize on that demand — to monetize their still-unique expertise in bonding with an audience and prolonging their bond, and brand in a way in which newspapers are still the first destination for persons seeking a product — whether it is a car, a job, or whatever?

No easy answers, but there is a revolution going on. Let us see if the newspapers can behave like revolutionaries. If they can, they might just prevail.

Stay tuned.