MyPoints.com Launches Career Center

Online incentive marketer MyPoints.com announced Monday that it would open a career center for its members in partnership with Talentology.com, which will provide its skills-based job search engine.

MyPoints.com operates loyalty programs, in which members earn discounts by buying from advertisers, taking Web surveys, and agreeing to receive marketing emails though its BonusMail program.

With the career center, San Francisco-based MyPoints.com will allow its estimated 10 million members another option for earning points toward discounts. They’ll receive points for registering with Talentology.com and for each completed job interview that was secured through postings on the site. The company said it would add new features throughout 2003.

“We are continually seeking ways to provide our members with added benefits of membership and we know the MyPoints career center will be a much-utilized offering in today’s economic climate,” said Stefan De Cota, MyPonts.com’s senior vice president for marketing.

The partnership between the two companies comes as no surprise. Last April, United Airlines’ parent company, UAL, bought MyPoints.com for about $112.5 million. MyPoints.com’s founder, Frank Pirri, left the company shortly thereafter to found Schaumburg, Ill.-based Talentology, where he is president and chief executive.

Talentology has a patent for job-search technology that takes into account a user’s entire job profile, including work history, education, and other credentials, in order to find a suitable job for that person. Like MyPoints.com, it operates on a rewards system, allowing job seekers to earn frequent fliers mile each time they interview.

After riding the crest of the Internet boom in 1999 and 2000, online loyalty programs took a beating, with MyPoints.com competitors like FreeRide and Beenz.com shutting down during the shakeout.