HotJobs Battles 'Black Holes'

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Yahoo!-owned HotJobs leverages the perception that job boards are “black holes” for postings and resumes in a new campaign breaking today. It is the first major effort from New York independent Bouchez Kent + Co., which replaced the three-year incumbent, Omnicom Group’s Brand Architecture International, last month.

The push, which rebrands the career site as Yahoo! HotJobs, is aimed at recruiters and job seekers, versus past efforts that largely targeted just the latter. “We are a b-to-b business–revenue is driven by hiring managers,” said HotJobs svp of marketing Tres Meyer, adding that “hiring managers and recruiters and job seekers are fearful of getting lost in a black hole.”

In a humorous 30-second spot, a truck dumps millions of resumes on a recruiter, who, thanks to Yahoo!’s search-and-match technology, is found by a HotJobs rep bearing the perfect candidate. “Find the right one” replaces the old job-seeker- centric tagline, “Onward. Upward.”

HotJobs also is debuting its first direct-response ad, a 60-second spot that urges recruiters to call an 800 number to get a rebate on their first listings. Print is in the mix as well.

The last HotJobs spot by Brand Architecture, which ran during the Super Bowl, featured various people singing “The Rainbow Connection.”

Spending was undisclosed. The dot-com spent $3 million on advertising in fourth-quarter 2002 and $10 million for the year, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

— ANN M. MACK