Are networking sites eating into job portal’s business?

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

Related Articles

Govt plans to guarantee private sector borrowingsCrisis takes toll on jobs, man hoursIndia Inc’s expense bill crosses Rs 1 tn

New Delhi: Although networking sites have indisputably emerged as a formidable platform for recruiting middle and senior level professionals across industries, the HR industry is divided on whether the share of hiring through networking sites like LinkedIn is actually eating into the business of existing job portals like naukri.com, monster.com or tapping into a new universe within online recruitment pie.

While some HR firms believe that the owner of the leading naukri.com, the leading job portal with a market share of 52%, Info Edge, didn’t need to float a Brijj.com, a domestic version of LinkedIn, if business of job portals wasn’t threatened, the COO of Info Edge Hitesh Oberoi, maintains that both ventures - Naukri and Brijj are meant to target different segments. “A site like Naukri.com is more for active job seekers while professional networking sites like Brijj cater to passive job seekers, who are not in an immediate need of a job. Naukri has not really felt any heat from professional networking sites like LinkedIn” said Oberoi.

Info Edge, a public-listed Internet company in which Naukri.com accounts for 80% of the operating revenues, posted a revenue growth of 24% in the second quarter of this year over the corresponding quarter in FY08, compared to 55% year on year growth in Q2 last fiscal.

However, the slowdown in growth was attributed by Info Edge CFO to slowdown in hiring due to negative business sentiments.

Commenting on the preference of networking sites over job portals, Shiv Agrawal, CEO, ABC Consultants said, “The number of fake profiles and fudged CV is significantly lower in networking sites as your skills and achievements are seen by many others including your current colleagues, so the scope for exaggeration is almost nil.

Additionally, the professional and social stigma attached to floating your profile on a job portal that means letting others know, including your boss that you are seeking a job, which has also kept senior professionals away from associating themselves with portals, is not there with networking sites. Getting a job through a networking site is considered more incidental in nature”.