By Christo Volschenk
Online careers and recruitment provider Monster signed a $20 million U.S. (€14 million) contract with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in the U.K. to provide the state department a “managed online vacancy listing, filling and automated job matching service”, Monster.co.uk announced on its site today.

Dutch recruitment blogger Marc Drees reported on his blog (here) that Monster CEO Sal Iannuzzi had the following to say regarding the big “coup” during an analysts call:

“In Europe we are optimistic about building a meaningful business with European governments. Last year, we started an effort to expand out successful U.S. government business on a global basis. Just this week we completed a major new contract with the DWP valued in excess of $20 million. This is an important, initial accomplishment in developing a global government business.”

The breakthrough comes at an opportune time for Monster, which had revised its estimates for revenue and earnings in the first quarter down about ten days ago – to the dismay of stock markets. (Read here.) Shortly thereafter competitor CareerBuilder released solid financial results and a positive prognosis for its European business. (Read here.)

The DWP contract is part of the department’s digitization program aimed at, among others, giving jobseekers access to “suitable job vacancies more quickly”.

“The four-year agreement will transform the DWP vacancy posting and job matching service, by replacing the current service with Monster’s 6Sense technology, which matches skills and experience with the opportunities available more accurately,” Monster said. ((Read complete media announcement here.)

The new portal, due to launch in autumn 2012, will also benefit employers by giving them free access to an easily searchable database of job-seekers, expanding the talent pool they can actively recruit from via the Business Link website.

Monster’s 6Sense technology differs from traditional keyword search, in that it “understands” the meaning and context of search criteria. It also ranks results based on how closely they match the search requirements, reducing the need to wade through irrelevant vacancies or CVs.

According to Julian Acquari, managing director of Monster UK & Ireland, the service will help the U.K.’s unemployed to trawl a vast database of vacancies and identify jobs that match their skills more efficiently.

“Monster’s semantic search technology is a proven online recruitment tool, and we’re delighted that it will now be used by the DWP to help get the unemployed back to work sooner,” Acquari said.

“The agreement between Monster and the DWP will help transform the job searching process by reducing the length of time it takes to find suitable vacancies.”

“Employers will also benefit from the ability to access the system and search for candidates according to the skills they require. This will provide them with an easily accessible talent pool at a time when many sectors are still suffering from skills shortages,” he said.