The company also shifted Jay Fogarty to VP of strategy and innovation from VP of new revenue platforms.

“We are very excited to announce … Peter’s appointment [which] comes as we are moving from a successful diligence phase in some of our new ventures to an execution phase, a period in which we begin to scale our new businesses,” said Kirk Davis, GateHouse COO.

Newton spent 17 years at The Boston Globe, including finance and advertising positions. He was president of BostonWorks, the Globe’s print-and-online recruitment program before the paper became a Monster.com affiliate. Newton later joined Monster.com, serving as SVP and GM of small and mid-sized businesses and heading Monster Media Alliance, which grew to more than 350 affiliates. He also worked as VP for bizdev at Helium.com, a content farm, and ran his own consultancy, Big Rock Consulting Group, for about two years.

The announcement is here.

Monster Worldwide, one of the last major job sites to come to the social recruitment table,  has finally announced the ability for job candidates to see which of their socially-networked friends have connections to the hiring firm, right from the Monster.com site. Candidates won’t be searching Facebook or LinkedIn -  they’ll be searching BeKnown, the Monster-Worldwide-owned Facebook app. If a candidate tries the search and is not set up on BeKnown, she or he will be prompted to create that free BeKnown profile and account.

There’s nothing really innovative here. However, the fact that it’s Monster means that 100 million monthly visitors –  most of whom have not set up a BeKnown profile –  will be encouraged to do so.  That’s good for BeKnown, which in the social recruitment battle is way behind both fellow-Facebook-app BranchOut, and LinkedIn. For more on what each of these big three social recruitment sites offer, what Monster told us about the socialization and why it waited so long,  and where each firm is headed, see our upcoming CIR.

Here’s the Monster Worldwide announcement:

Monster Brings Networking into Core Site with the Integration of BeKnown(TM), its Professional Networking App on Facebook

Wall Street was buzzing last week on rumors that LinkedIn (LNKD) was in talks to acquire Monster (MWW). According to a Reuters story, LinkedIn Corp and private equity firm Silver Lake Partners are among a number of parties that have expressed interest in a potential deal for Monster Worldwide Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, as the Internet jobs-search company is preparing data for potential buyers.

The stock shot up on the hype. However, Business Insider and a few others quickly squashed the report as bunk, accusing Monster of desperately trying to stir-up interest.

The thought of a high-growth business like LinkedIn strapping on an albatross like Monster is a bit ridiculous if you think about it for a second. So who, one like me must ask, would buy Monster?

As far as I can tell, the answer is: No one.

Yeah, nobody. John Doe. The invisible man.

Look: Facebook’s IPO is coming up, and analysts are crying about “decelerated growth” and staying the company doesn’t deserve its current valuation. So, knowing growth is what drives the markets, then you have to ask where Monster’s growth catalyst is? 6Sense? SeeMore? BeKnown? Be serious.

Aside from a massive hiring Renaissance, I don’t see any significant growth on the horizon. And certainly nothing to get a buyer all hot-and-bothered.

That said, if a buyer does come out of the woodwork, it’s likely to have Asian roots, hoping to get a foothold in the U.S. and other markets Monster serves. 51Job perhaps? With a market cap greater than Monster’s, it’s possible. Seek.com.au out of Australia perhaps? Nah. Someone out of Europe? It’s kind of a mess there at the moment, in case you didn’t get the memo.

Time will obviously tell. This year’s presidential election will be interesting for business. But methinks there will be no savior riding into to town on a white Trumpasaurus.

The review also reveals a 27 percent fall in the number of vacancies being advertised.  That has  resulted in job hunters becoming increasingly proactive with 63 percent of candidates registering on between two and five different job boards (up 13 percent on the last quarter).

Candidates also seem to demand more of their job boards in tight times with 45 percent of candidates polled say they require more from job boards in terms of company information and industry trends.

Mike Wall, MD of Evenbase’s Job Boards division, comments; “There are some encouraging signs that people are still prepared to consider moving jobs, despite a fall in the number of overall vacancies. In particular, many job seekers are looking for ways to stay competitive in a difficult market, and they seem to have some specific companies in mind for their next move. Both are indications that there may yet be increased activity in 2012.”

Rasmussen is now on the board of Central Desktop, a collaboration and file-sharing site, and Balihoo, “the premier provider of local marketing automation technology and services.”

“Central Desktop has made amazing strides in collaboration. The company’s SocialBridge online collaboration platform squarely addresses the challenges that creative agencies and marketing teams face daily in their operations by providing solutions to project collaboration needs that have not been effectively met by other offerings in the marketplace,” he said.

As for Balihoo, he said it’s “changing the way companies go to market and connect with consumers. … It’s exciting to serve on the board of a fast-growing company that is redefining local marketing for national brands.”

Both companies are privately held. Balihoo has received more than $17.5 in venture, angel and seed funding.

Rasmussen has been with CareerBuilder for more than 10 years, and has served as SVP of sales and COO before becoming president for North America. He’s considered an expert on employment who speaks regularly at conferences and appears frequently on television business programs. He’s also president of CB Cares, an internal group at CareerBuilder that supports educational mentoring and charitable fundraising.

Before joining CareerBuilder, he spent nine years at Xerox Corp. He’s got an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Job openings

Job Compass – find jobs near you, set a 5-100 mile radius.

Jobs Near Me – uses GPS to find jobs within 30 miles of your location.

Snagajob – see a map of nearby hourly jobs. Zoom in to see details.

Real-Time Jobs – like the name says, search for jobs in real time.

Job Frenzy (paid) – find jobs on your iPhone and mail them to yourself.

Now Hiring (paid) – search from major job sites, filter, email jobs.

Job Finder (paid) – aggregates jobs from major sites by category.

iJobs – find jobs on your iPhone.

Beyond.com Search – mobile app of Beyond.com.

Jobs by Career Builder – CareerBuilder.com’s mobile job app.

Monster.com Jobs – Monster.com’s mobile job app.

Simply Hired – SimplyHired.com’s mobile job app.

Techcareers.com: Search Jobs & Find A Career in IT and Engineering

JobAware: Job search just got smarter – same idea but very pretty.

Legal Jobs Centre – search for law jobs.

BeyondExecutives.com – Search Executive Jobs (paid) – exec level jobs.

Phillyjobs.com: Search Jobs & Find a Career In Philadelphia

BeyondSanDiego.com: Search Jobs & Find a Career in San Diego, CA

JobServe Connect Local – California Jobs

JobServe Connect Local – Georgia Jobs

Retail Moves Job Search – search is for the U.K.

HealthcareJobsite.com: Search Jobs & Find a Career in Healthcare

Craigster (paid) – search Craigslist.

Get Apps Done – a job search app for app developers.

Job search tools

Career Search (paid) – research information on 1,000 careers.

IGetAJob – organizes information during a job search.

Good Job (paid) – set tasks, interviews and follow-ups.

Job Search Manager: Get A New Job With Prospector (paid)

My Jobs: Job Search Organizer (free and paid versions)

Resume App (paid) – streamlines the process of building a resume.

Pocket Resume (paid) – another resume creator.

Job search advice

Job Search: Tips to Find the Best Career for You – videos, career advice.

Interview Pro (paid) – how to interview more effectively.

JobRadio.FM – app to stream this career advice Internet radio station.

Great Career (paid) – helps define what career you want.

vTie Necktie Guide – ever wondered how to tie a necktie.

Job interviewing

What Color Is Your Parachute? Job-Interview Tool – classic is now an app.

Interview Guru (paid) – improve interviewing skills.

InterviewBuddy – focuses on tech interviews.

Social media

BeKnown – Monster.com’s social media Facebook app.

CareerBliss – a career community.

Internships

Internship Seeker – does what the name suggests.

CareerRookie – also includes entry level and part time jobs for recent grads.

Freelancers

iFreelancer – includes push notification.

For employers

CareerBuilder for Employers – CareerBuilder.com’s app for employers.

Snagajob – ForEmployers – so does Snagajob.

BusyBee – lets employers post freelance jobs.

JobSpeek – lets you create a 60-second audio hiring message + picture.

The switch at the top was orchestrated in perfect textbook fashion – from the early announcement, careful avoidance of uncertainty and rumor-mongering, and clear communication, to the simultaneous announcement of the successor.

Groß-Selbeck will be succeeded by Thomas Vollmoeler (52), who is at this stage still acting-CEO of Swiss-based trade and logistics firm Valora Holding. Vollmoeler will start at Xing on Aug. 15 as board director and will take up his duties as CEO on Jan. 15, 2013, Xing announced (read full media statement in English here).

When Groß-Selbeck switched from EBay to Xing in January 2009, we were skeptical about his management abilities, but we were wrong. Under his leadership Xing successfully launched new products in the areas of e-recruiting, advertising and events, grew the membership and tripled revenue. He oversaw the acquisition of event manager Amiando and the growth of the staff size from 160 to 450. In many ways the Xing of today is a vastly different animal from the one in January 2009.

Dr. Stefan Groß-Selbeck

In March 2009 we asked (here) whether Xing has what it takes to become more than a German-only network. Four years later it seems not. The only criticism one could, perhaps, level at Groß-Selbeck, is that Xing painted itself in a corner under his leadership. A “German-only corner”, where the prospects for future growth are limited. More about that here.

But, that’s Vollmoeler’s challenge now.

If your publication, classified site or firm seeks to target a specific demographic, the latest study by Online MBA would be helpful indeed. The higher-education service site learned the following:

• Women make up a whopping 82 percent of Pinterest users
• Forty six percent of Facebook users are 45 years of age or older
• Of the 90 million Google+ users 71 percent are male, and the largest group are young engineers and other technical professionals. Nearly 44 percent are single.
• The top reason 5.5 million monthly visitors turn to Reddit is for humor. Visitors stay more than 16 minutes on average – more than twice that of time spent on LinkedIn. [Additionally, Reddit recruitment listings launched in 2009; as of today 3360 openings are listed, and 3950 candidates have posted their availability. ]

There’s much more in this insightful infographic. Mashable reported the details, including the graphic below.

“LinkedIn grew over 100 percent for the seventh consecutive quarter and achieved records for adjusted EBITDA, operating and free cash flow,” said Steve Sordello, CFO of LinkedIn, in the company earnings announcement.  “We remain focused on investing in our technology and product platform as well as expanding our business in new international markets and customer segments.”

Despite the good news, however, other social recruitment platforms just might be nipping at LinkedIn’s candidate-traffic heels. Facebook-focused BranchOut just celebrated its own upswell in audience, and secured $25 million to keep the competition at bay. For more on this story, see our upcoming CIR.

Here’s the LinkedIn earnings release.

A review of Twitter usage suggested the same pattern with 53 per cent of U.K. recruiters posting jobs to the micro-blogging site compared to 48 per cent in Australia, 44 per cent in Canada and the U.S., and 28 per cent elsewhere in the world.

Only when it came to Facebook did the pattern change since U.S. recruiters were most likely to use Zuckerberg’s baby with 27 per cent of recruiters posting to FaceBook pages, compared to 24 per cent in Canada, 23 per cent in the U.K. and Australia, and 17 per cent for the rest of the world.

It should be noted that the survey was a very anglo-saxon dominated affair not least since it seems to have ignored Viadeo and its stablemates which are the dominant social networks in France, China and a range of developing countries but it does show that English-speaking  recruiters worldwide are keenly aware of the potential of social media.

Here’s the earnings report: 

McClatchy Reports First Quarter 2012 Results

Leading Indian jobs classifieds portal, Naukri.com, reported sluggish hiring activity in March because of job evaluation at the end of financial year 2011-12. Naukri.com is part of Noida, Uttar Pradesh-based Info Edge (India) Limited, a major classifieds portal.

The Naukri Job Speak Index for March 2012 was at 1,170, compared with 1,209 in February 2012, shows a dip in the hiring activity. Barring the construction sector, which saw a 7 percent dip in hiring activity in March 2012 when compared with February 2012.

Hitesh Oberoi, chief executive officer and managing director, Info Edge (India) said, “Hiring tends to slowdown by the end of Q1 every year because of the appraisal cycle. We expect hiring to pick up again by June/July this year.”

An analysis of the indices shows that important sectors like IT, ITeS (information technology-enabled services), auto and banking witnessed stable hiring levels during the month. Both, oil and gas and the telecommunications sector witnessed maximum movement in the employment front with the index moving up 6 percent and 4 per cent, respectively in March 2012 when compared with February 2012 and by 10 per cent and 19 percent when compared with the year-ago period. On the contrary, the construction sector witnessed 7 percent dip in hiring levels in March 2012 over February 2012, but maintained steady hiring levels when compared with hiring levels in March 2011.

The demand for professionals in sales and business development picked up by 3 per cent in March 2012 when compared with February 2012. Professionals in software services and business process outsourcing (BPO) saw steady hiring levels, while the demand for professionals in human resources, accounts and production dipped within the range of 3 percent and 5 percent respectively in March 2012 compared with February 2012.

Among the metros, Chennai maintained steady hiring levels, while Kolkata and Pune witnessed 9 percent and 5 percent upward movement in index in March 2012 over February 2012. On the other hand, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad saw dips within the range of 2 percent and 6 percent respectively in March 2012 compared with February 2012.

Info Edge is the first internet company to be listed in India.

The company has more than 2,000 people operating through 49 offices in 32 cities in India and overseas offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Riyadh.

The move he’s talking about is the news that U.K. based Evenbase, and in particular its New Ventures division (described by Potts to CIR as “our new ‘super secret’ division”) has just bought the Italian Jobrapido – one of the largest job search engines in the world. Evenbase claims this catapults them into “the top 5 digital recruitment brands in the world” with Potts describing Jobrapido as “the world’s second largest jobs aggregator”. By his estimation that brings more than 660 million annual visits across 50 countries under the Evenbase umbrella.

The acquisition comes at a cost of €30 million with the intention of keeping the Jobrapido team in situ in Milan and keeping founder and CEO Vito Lomele on board within Evenbase within the New Ventures division and under the control of its MD Ray Duggins. DMGT, parent group of Evenbase has an excellent track record for keeping and encouraging the entrepreneurs it buys into so Lomele will find himself in like-minded company.

Jobrapido was founded by Lomele in 2006 and in just six years went from startup mode to revenues of achieved revenues of €24 million and profits of €6 million during calendar year 2011. Its acquisition underlines the reasoning behind the metamorphosis of the Jobsite Group into its new incarnation as Evenbase and with it the move from a largely U.K. company working with international partnerships to a fully fledged global player.

Perhaps most significant of all is Potts assertion that; “the Jobrapido acquisition is just our first step on this path.” When he talked to CIR earlier this year he made it clear that 2012 was going to be a milestone year for the group. The evidence suggests that he intends to deliver on that.

Evenbase (previously the Jobsite group of companies) has a strong background in software development courtesy of Broadbean, the multi-posting software specialist it owns. Now it is launching a new white label solution with the intriguing promise that not only is it entirely customisable, and free to set up and use but backed by the Jobsite name and network since jobs posted to your site are visible across the Jobsite network.

Talking to CIR Cheryl Morgan, Jobsite’s Brand and Communications Manager explains the reasoning behind the launch in terms of expanding the company;

“JobsiteWhite delivers both revenue and partnership opportunities – two key objectives for the recently launched Evenbase. It also responds to a need in the market as Jobsite have had many approaches from smaller organisations who want to add a job board to their site but aren’t operating on the scale that suits the bespoke solutions that Jobsite build for the likes of the National Health Service and Northcliffe.”

Morgan presents it as a win-win for both sides since it “complements & enhances sites within the Job Boards division of Evenbase through the jobs sharing element. It means a greater number of vacancies for candidates registered with Jobsite, especially in specialist niche markets, and it helps generate more quality applications for Jobsite clients.”

The revenue is set to come from JobsiteWhite partners selling vacancies rather than charging them a fee for the technology itself – a move that may cause ripples amongst some of the more established white label providers not least since Jobsite is pointedly using its reach to enhance the appeal. As Morgan puts it; “Jobs that are posted directly on the JobsiteWhite sites are also made available on Jobsite, and relevant sites in their network, which means access to more candidates and a greater chance of finding the right person for the job.”

Naturally it also helps Jobsite expand its reach into more niche areas by bringing recruiters to its door that might previously have considered the white label approach to be beyond their reach.

JobsiteWhite launches later this month

Here’s the earnings release:

Gannett Co., Inc. Reports First Quarter Results 

Reported Earnings per Diluted Share of $0.28, Non-GAAP Earnings per Diluted Share of $0.34
Operating Cash Flow Totaled $204 million Excluding Special Items
Free Cash Flow Totaled $148 million
Operating Revenues Totaled $1.22 billion
Company-Wide Digital Revenues Increased 8 percent Year-Over-Year

MCLEAN, Va., April 16, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), a leading international media and marketing solutions company, today reported first quarter financial results. Earnings per diluted share, on a GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) basis were $0.28 for the first quarter of 2012 compared to $0.37 for the first quarter last year. Excluding special items in 2012 and 2011, first quarter earnings per diluted share were $0.34 compared to $0.41 for the same quarter in 2011.

Gracia Martore, president and chief executive officer, said, “We are pleased with the progress we are making on the strategic initiatives underway across the company that will position Gannett for success in the digital age. Key highlights from the first quarter include launching a new all-access, all-platform content subscription model in six markets, rolling out Digital Marketing Services in our top markets and paving the way for important new advertising and marketing revenue opportunities through the expansion of our USA TODAY Sports Media Group. We also completed approximately $20 million of the $65 million of planned 2012 strategic initiative investments. We expect to see returns on our strategic initiative investments as the year progresses and for many years to come. We are squarely focused on leveraging the iconic brands, local connections and financial strength that differentiate our business to implement our growth plan while returning $1.3 billion to investors by 2015.”

Martore continued, “Our first quarter results were impacted by spending on strategic investments and advertising softness, particularly during January’s industry-wide slowdown. Improving advertising activity in February and March, while encouraging, did not overcome the slow start to the year. Importantly, each of our businesses remained solidly profitable, and our Broadcasting and Digital segments delivered strong revenue growth of 8 percent and 7 percent, respectively. Digital revenue growth of 13 percent in our Publishing segment underscored the success we are achieving in establishing the robust content and advertising platforms that will power our renewed growth.”

In addition to investments in strategic initiatives, results for the first quarter of 2012 include net special charges affecting operating income related to facility consolidations and workforce restructuring. Facility consolidation charges totaled $4.8 million ($2.9 million after tax or $0.01 per share) reflecting primarily accelerated depreciation costs associated with the transfer of production activities for The Cincinnati Enquirer to a third-party printer in Columbus, Ohio announced in the fourth quarter last year. Workforce restructuring charges of $16.3 million ($9.7 million after tax or$0.04 per share) reflect principally the impact of an early retirement offer plan announced in the first quarter.

Results for the first quarter of 2011 included $7.7 million of non-cash charges primarily associated with facility consolidations ($4.6 million after-tax or $0.02 per share) and $6.0 million in costs due to workforce restructuring ($3.9 million after-tax or $0.02 per share).

Amounts reported in accordance with GAAP are contained in Tables 1 and 2. Certain amounts and comparisons included in the following discussion of GAAP results are supplemented by discussions which exclude the effect of special items. Details of these special items and their effect on GAAP results are included on the Non-GAAP Financial Information Tables 3 through 6 attached to this release. The company’s basis for providing discussions of non-GAAP results is detailed below.

CONTINUING OPERATIONS

Net income attributable to Gannett in the first quarter of 2012 totaled $68.2 million while net income attributable to Gannett on a non-GAAP basis was $80.8 million. Reported operating income was $135.7 million and non-GAAP operating income totaled $156.7 million. Operating cash flow in the quarter (a non-GAAP term defined as operating income plus special items, depreciation and amortization) was $204.3 million.

Total operating revenues for the company in the first quarter totaled $1.22 billion, a decline of 2.6 percent. Digital segment revenues were almost 7 percent higher reflecting primarily solid revenue growth at CareerBuilder. A 7.5 percent increase in Broadcasting segment revenues was driven by stronger advertising demand and growth in retransmission revenue. Publishing segment revenues declined 6.0 percent reflecting, in part, the impact of sluggish economic growth on advertising demand early in the quarter.

Operating expenses including the special charges noted above were $1.08 billion in the first quarter this year compared to $1.07 billion in the first quarter last year. Continuing cost control and efficiency efforts company-wide were offset in part by $20 million of initiative investments noted previously that impacted the publishing segment primarily and an increase of approximately $6 million in pension expense. On a non-GAAP basis, operating expenses which exclude special items and include the impact of the investment in strategic initiatives and pension expense totaled$1.06 billion, relatively unchanged from the first quarter a year ago. Non-GAAP operating expenses in the Publishing segment were lower in the quarter reflecting the impact of continuing efficiency efforts partially offset by investments in strategic initiatives. Broadcast segment expenses were higher in the quarter due, in part, to sales costs associated with higher revenue and strategic initiative investments. The increase in Digital segment expenses related to higher technology support costs associated with new business initiatives and higher sales costs at CareerBuilder, and product development costs at other Digital segment businesses.

During the quarter the company announced a new capital allocation plan that included a 150 percent increase in the annual dividend to $0.80 per share and a $300 million share repurchase program targeted to be completed over the next two years. The purchase of approximately 2.4 million shares was completed during the quarter for $35.5 million.

PUBLISHING

Publishing segment operating revenues in the quarter were $874.1 million compared to $929.8 million in the first quarter last year reflecting soft advertising demand due in part to the tepid pace of the economic recovery. Digital revenues in the Publishing segment were 12.5 percent higher in the quarter.

Advertising revenues totaled $551.4 million compared to $601.7 million in the first quarter of 2011. Year-over-year advertising revenue comparisons improved sequentially within the quarter. Advertising revenues in the U.S. were 8.3 percent lower in the first quarter. At Newsquest, the company’s operations in the UK, advertising revenues declined 6.0 percent, in pounds.  The complete release is on the Gannett website.