The global job board world is complicated, folks!

Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) has been covering the global job board world for a while now, and they just came out with their latest report. It says that “the value of the global online job advertising market rose 16% in 2022 to $36.1 billion” and that the “50 largest firms collectively generated $29.1 billion in revenue in 2022 and accounted for 80% of the global market.”

That’s a decent size market, eh? $36.1 billion. But that number hides a lot of things, like layoffs, ebbing growth, continue strong labor demand, and of course, both fear and hope regarding AI.

But first, back to the SIA report. I found their ‘top 5’ list interesting:

1. Microsoft (LinkedIn), $8.28 billion, 23% market share
2. Recruit Holdings (Indeed), $8.03 billion, 22% market share
3. Axel Springer (Stepstone/Totaljobs/Jobsite), $1.60 billion, 4% market share
4. Seek, $957 million, 3% market share
5. ZipRecruiter, $905 million, 3% market share

Notice who isn’t on top? Yep, it’s Indeed. I would say that most of the conversations I have with folks in the industry assume that Indeed is #1. And of course, in a lot of regards, it is: most CPC sold; most market dominance in multiple markets; and most unhappy SMBs (at least with regard to CPA). But the other thing that’s interesting about that list is: Zip has a way to go to reach the top. In fact, with Microsoft and Recruit on top, I’m not sure they’ll ever make it. Now, perhaps that’s not their goal. But I found it interesting.

Yet…we are – and have been for 3 years – in a time of economic change and some chaos. For example, a few more tidbits about the global job board world:

• ZipRecruiter laid off 20% of its workforce and cut CEO Ian Siegel’s base salary by 30%
• DHI’s first-quarter revenue rose 12.5% year over year to $38.6 million, and they also laid off 10% of their workforce
• Seek says job ads are down 19% in April in Australia
• InfoEdge – parent company of India’s Naukri job site – saw revenue rise 38% for FY22-23
• China-based recruitment marketplace Boss Zhipin saw  12.3% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in revenue during the first quarter
• Upwork revenue rises 13.8% YOY

And I’m not even getting into the various AI initiatives at this point. I guess my point is: the global job board world is big. It is complex. Some parts are doing well. Some parts are not. Some money is going into the market. Some parts are falling apart (i.e., CareerBuilder). So if you’re in the market, as most of you are, it does you no good to say ‘things suck!’ or ‘things are mind-bendingly great!’. Because both are probably true – at the same time.

Instead, I would advise (and this advice has been earned via 3 – and counting – economic downturns) that instability offers opportunity. You can see this in the upturn in acquisitions. And there are opportunities to be had as competitors pull back, cut staff and expenses, and go into a defensive mode. And again – the global job board world is large, which means that you have opportunities – probably in places you never previously thought possible. Go to a conference like JobBoardsConnect or TAtech. Network. Read a blog (yeah, like this one!). Listen to some podcasts.

Then think about how a big market that’s in a period of change offers opportunity!

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