With the announcement of the sale of Workopolis to Indeed’s parent company, Careerleaf’s thoughts are with the Niche Network Partners, many of whom worked with our own VP of Revenue Operations Jonathan Page when he managed partnerships for Workopolis, as they deal with the uncertainty caused by this announcement.
Jonathan is directly supporting current partners by telephone and email to support them at this challenging time.
We have heard from WNN partners that other white label job board providers are aggressively pursuing them for quick technology transitions. However, Careerleaf is advising WNN partners not to panic, but to take quick actions to mitigate uncertainty. Here are the 4 areas, we recommend you concentrate on.
1. Get Your Data Now
Call and email Workopolis to request all candidates, resumes, employers, historical purchase history, marketing copy, and campaign details. This is urgent as there isn’t clarity about how long data will remain accessible to you. Act now while there are still staff members who know how to get this information – this is also an important facet of item #2.
2. Prepare for Renegotiation
Indeed will need to you to conform to their contract and will likely be asking for concessions. This is what happened when Workopolis acquired the Niche Network from Brainhunter in 2008. Review the details of your agreement with Workopolis, especially with regards to revenue shares and data ownership.
3. Take Action on Employer Marketing
Most immediately, you’ll want to reach out to your job board customers. This will be challenging as Workopolis has always managed this for you. Keep the message simple – business as usual, we continue to provide great candidates. (If you need advice on tools, Careerleaf can assist.) You should also begin building/replicating your landing pages for employers and messaging from the niche platform onto your main website, as you want to be found by employers directly and begin to own the related SEO value. Don’t switch platforms without carefully preparing your SEO transition plan.
4. Understand Your Walk-Away Position.
While this popular negotiation tactic can sound trite, in this situation the alternatives for many Workopolis Niche Network partners will be upgrades for both the experience for your members and revenues. Modern job board products like Careerleaf offer a mobile and desktop user experience that is far superior to the old Brainhunter platform. On the revenue side, moving to providers with a subscription model like Careerleaf could immediately increase their take-home by 20% or more, even after expenses.
5. Be Wary of Quick Technology Transitions and Aggressive Pricing
Most of the major players, including Careerleaf, can have a job site up for you in days. However, making hasty decisions can cause costly issues with SEO, data integrity, configuration choices and more – including preserving the integrity of the service you provide your members and stakeholders. Careerleaf’s approach is to review your unique business needs and ensure the solution is set up to fit your organizational needs. You will be delighted with the rigour and attention we give to your build.