HotJobs and Monster See Promise in Automated Display Ads

Yahoo HotJobs and Monster each see promise in distributing recruitment listings via display ad units. Both firms yesterday touted new offerings allowing employers to post job ads that will be seen beyond the standard text listings framework. Neither offering is entirely new, though they both indicate the current trend towards enabling any advertiser to easily create and run online display ad campaigns isn’t going away.

Yahoo HotJobs has expanded its Smart Ads system for use by job advertisers. The “pilot program” generates display ads from recruitment listings, and targets them to job seekers, according to criteria including HotJobs registration information and behavioral data. Then it serves up those ads across Yahoo. The Smart Ads system, launched in July 2007, constructs display ads using creative assets and direct feeds of available offers provided by advertisers.

HotJobs also unveiled a branded company profile product for recruitment advertisers. The service provides a dedicated page for businesses seeking new recruits, featuring information about company culture and corporate videos.

Meanwhile, Monster has made its listings-turned-display ad product available through a new channel. The Career Ad Network product now is available through Monster’s self-service eCommerce channel. The network distributes listings-based display ads across its affiliate network sites. The company also just launched co-branded job sites with several newspaper partners including The Columbus Dispatch, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and San Francisco Examiner.

There is a possibility Yahoo’s Smart Ads option may be available through its own newspaper partners in the future, though the company would not say whether they will or not. Yahoo’s relationship with the so-called newspaper consortium started as a HotJobs distribution play and has evolved for some of those partners to include a display ad cross-selling deal.

“Yahoo HotJobs SmartAds are currently in a pilot period and we are exploring ways in which we may make the solution available to various segments,” said a HotJobs spokesperson.

The do-it-yourself ad phenomenon is getting a lot of traction. Part of the goal is to tap into the pool of small- and medium-sized businesses that have yet to spend much online but have dabbled with other self-serve platforms like Google AdWords. The display ad component should help generate higher ad rates than standard text listings. Plus, by having Monster and Yahoo handle media placement and ad targeting, small advertisers can take advantage of more robust ad services typically reserved for bigger companies.

Both Monster and Yahoo launched the new offerings in conjunction with the annual Society for Human Resource Management Conference in Chicago.