Update from Simply Hired

I ran into several execs from Simply Hired last week in Chicago but it was all in passing so we didnt have much time to chat. I've been wondering whats going on with the number 2 aggrgator since they have been fairly quiet lately. So I asked Francis Larkin to give us an update. Enjoy.

1. SimplyHired has been quiet lately in terms of new announcements...what’s the latest news? got any stats to share in terms of unique visitors?

We’ve been busy, Chris! Last month, over 7 million unique visitors searched for jobs on the Simply Hired Network, and we reached over 80 million passive candidates through our partner widgets and social networking applications. We have also been extending our search infrastructure internationally; in addition to the US, Simply Hired now powers LinkedIn’s backfill for the UK, Canada, Australia, and just last week we launched our first non-English job search for Germany!

2. How is Job-a-matic going?

Job-a-matic, as you know, is our free, customizable job site platform that we host for bloggers and niche web publishers. Mainly through word-of-mouth and viral marketing, Job-a-matic continues show steady growth and adoption by both large and small publishers. In the last six months, we’ve added new features that enable content for jobs in international locations, and empowered our publishers to create their own promotions with the introduction of customizable multi-job packages and coupon codes. Job-a-matic continues to have an exciting future within the Simply Hired family of products.

3. Do you ever foresee a day when SH and Indeed become one? or is there room for both in the marketplace?

We continue to focus on our mission to help job seekers find a job they love. Job search is an important problem relevant to 130M+ people in the U.S. alone, and we expect to see many companies address this problem with varied solutions.

4. Will SH ever raise its profile among job seekers with some sort of national ad campaign, like we've seen from theladders.com in recent months?

We are always considering additional ways to drive brand recognition for Simply Hired, but we prefer to focus on initiatives which are directly measurable. Over time, we will certainly look for new ways to reach expand our reach.

5. How many sites do you now power/backfill?

Growing our publisher network has been a key initiative for us over the past year. Simply Hired currently delivers job content to over 5,000 sites. The job content is delivered through products such as our Job Search API, Job Widgets, the Job-a-matic platform and even custom-built portals.

For advertisers using Simply Hired, this means that they can reach an incremental audience, because our publishers have a low overlap with the typical channels for reaching candidates. For example, last month one of our job board advertisers received candidates from 780 different sites within the Simply Hired Network.

6. Anything on the horizon we should watch for (features) from SH?

We recently released a feature that allows users to personalize their job search by hiding sources and companies, and we will continue to enhance the job seeker experience on SimplyHired.com. In addition, keep an eye out for additional tools which allow advertisers to make informed purchasing decisions, and enable publishers to deliver more relevant content.