LinkedIn and its rivals: The latest and greatest job board news

It’s that time of the month – time to see what happened, to whom, and how. Not surprisingly, LinkedIn makes an appearance – but there are some other surprises. Let’s check it out:

• Monster goes a-branding: Monster is going after millennials with a new branding campaign featuring a singing zoologist, a dancing real-estate agent, and a cricket farmer (the insect, not the game). Well, why not?
• GlassDoor adds new feature: Glassdoor has launched Company Updates, a social recruiting tool that allows companies to post real-time messages on their Glassdoor profile page to target potential recruits. The Company Updates feature is available for free to any employer with a Glassdoor Free Employer Account. Smart move.
• LinkedIn buys stuff:  LinkedIn has been making a push into the area of anticipatory computing, where its platform effectively predict what information you need to know, when you need it. To that end, the company has acquired and will be closing down Refresh.io, a startup and iOS app of the same name that surfaces insights about people in your networks right before you meet them. LinkedIn also spent $1.5 billion (yes, billion) to acquire Lynda.com,  the online learning company founded in 1995 by technical skill instructional book author Lynda Weinman and co-founder Bruce Heavin. Who’s next?
• A more exclusive ‘LinkedIn’?:  Now there is a social network just for the time-starved and wealthy, maintained and updated by a team of experts. It costs £1,000 (around $1,500) a year to join. The new service, The Marque (pronounced ‘mark’) already has 50 founding members who range from asset managers like Tristan Capital Partners CEO Ric Lewis, to Nadja Swarovski, a board member at her family crystal business Swarovski. 
• Jobcase tackles LinkedIn: Jobcase aims to be a career network for those who don’t ‘fit in’ with LinkedIn. “We’re very focused on the demographic that doesn’t have the traditional resume (or) the four-year degree, but still have career and job experience and needs a place where they can look for help with their career,” says Fred Goff, founder. Ok, we’ll see.
• JobTarget partners with CareerArc: JobTarget customers can now post into the social media world via CareerArc’s TweetMyJobs. This means jobs can go out via 11,000 targeted Twitter feeds and other social media channels. Interesting.
• Freelancer on the move: Freelancer has been busy lately. First, they acquired the assets of Projectlnkr, a Barcelona-based classified job board aimed at the Spanish-speaking freelance market. Then they launched a marketplace for local plumbers, cleaners, cooks, couriers and others to offer their services on demand in their vicinity, starting first in its home market of Australia before expanding globally this quarter.
• Rigzone and OilCareers Unite: Rigzone, a Dice Holdings, Inc. service has completed the integration of OilCareers, a U.K. based oil and gas recruitment site and also a Dice Holdings, Inc. service, to form one globally-centralized online oil and gas talent base. The big get bigger.

That’s it for now. See you again next month!

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