The Guardian’s activity is reprehensible because it’s unexpected and hidden, not because it’s fundamentally a terrible idea. They didn’t give agencies a chance to decide whether to use their unusually parasitic jobboard, or have its service reflected in the ad price, as the information was unavailable and unusual.

Having paid a fair price in good faith for a jobboard service that does NOT send CVs anywhere, agencies’ commercial interests are harmed if that, in fact, happens. The Guardian should disclose this key fact at the price negotiation stage at least, and allow agencies to make their own choice. In some markets, as people have said above, the quality of service an agency offers means it makes little difference if the Guardian is punting a few CVs around. In others, they are damaging commercial interests behind their customers’ backs.

As for whether it’s the the Guardian’s journalism or agency ads that attracts candidates, it’s clearly both. But I bet you the Guardian is charging a decent price on the basis of their site’s contribution to the database, they should offset that price to recognise the agencies’.

Sorry, but your argument seems flawed to me.

The premise of your displeasure seems to be that “the database that we pay to attract candidates to” is being taken advantage of by the Guardian. You further assert this by stating that you have “paid to attract the candidate [to the site]“.

Now corerct me if I’m wrong, but the Guardian make themselves different to other job boards by being, first and foremost, a news site. They then attract that audience from the Guardian.co.uk site onto the GuardianJobs.co.uk site. To say then that you “pay to attract candidates” is somewhat misleading, as the Guardian attracts the candidates to the sitev ia its journalism, you just pay to attract them once they are on the job site, as does every other employer using the site.

You go on to say that “This has implications for direct advertisers also. They may get a response from an ideal candidate only to find he or she may have alternative job opportunities presented to them also.”
Well yes, but of course that is the nature of a job board surely? There is always more than one job being presented to a candidate, there is always competition.

Recruitment agencies that have merely been placing ads, trawling job boards and then sending CVs over to their clients with no face to face meeting are likely to be in competition with the Guardian’s service. And to be honest fairly so, they are adding little more value and so should be paid accordingly.

Recruitment agencies who not only source candidate but use their expertise and specialist tools to select the right candidates are likely to be unaffected as they are providing a service far and above that which can be offered by a job board sending CVs. This is a recruitment consultants chance to add value and differentiate themselves from services such as the Guardian’s. Anyone can read a CV and see who has worked for their competitors, this is not why companies engage with recruitment agencies. They want first of all to attract candidates they would not generally be able to reach and secondly for an expert to select which of these candidates will perform the best in their business using tools or expertise they do not have.

You know what I mean by charging for CV’s so let’s not kid ourselves that agencies are all that great. Of course there are some great agencies, I have worked in the industry for over 20 years, cut my teeth at the sharp end and was both good and successful.

I agree that you should avoid job boards if they do not provide any value but really can’t see why anyone is so shocked by this latest situation. Adapt or die. Agencies will survive albeit fewer and smart new business models will arise. I know what I’d be doing if I were an agency – but I’m not. Good luck.

Peter

I don’t see the alleged Guardian approach to be unethical but they may have to review their position as they are possibly acting as an agent. But rather than moan why not get off your box and do something about it. Re-model your business so employers use you because you still provide value. Job boards are running scared so what can you expect. They were supposed to kill of agencies yet they never will so adapt and survive as the job boards are the ones that will struggle to survive; hence the changes they are making.