LinkedIn has critical mass in Australia; job boards fans

Over the past few months, LinkedIn as a professional networking and recruiting tool has really come into its own in Australia. These days, it is somewhat difficult to find an executive (not counting the very top strata of the ‘C’ level) or recruiter who isn’t using it. My LinkedIn “Network Updates” feed runneth over.

Five years ago, when I first joined LinkedIn, I saw the huge potential of the site and thought it would be a success—if they managed to not screw it up and could monetise it properly. Now, with a still loyal and growing user base and US$100m revenues in 2008, it looks like they have done just that and will be the first social network to IPO sometime early 2009.

With absolutely no marketing in Australia, LinkedIn has built almost half a million users in Australia as Jorge has pointed out. I believe LinkedIn has caught the major job boards asleep (or at least complacent) and now poses a clear and present danger to Seek Executive and TheBigChair/MyCareer. While most of the top executive jobs have traditionally been filled via networks and search (and this is clearly where LinkedIn plays), I believe this will increasingly become the case for other senior professional/executive roles. Although LinkedIn won’t eat the job boards’ lunches, it definitely has the potential to constrain their growth in this lucrative segment.

But it looks like the job boards, rather than taking an adversarial stance, are embracing LinkedIn. MyCareer are hiring, and they’re using LinkedIn to do so. I just received this in my LinkedIn Inbox today:

If you have a moment, I’d appreciate your help. Please take a look and forward this job on to anyone you think would be interested in the position, or anyone else who could help me find a great candidate.

Thanks for your help!
-M

Company: MyCareer
Job Title: Business Development Manager
Description: Mycareer.com.au is one of Australia’s leading job sites and part of Fairfax Digital, Australia’s leading provider of News, Finance and Classifieds on the Internet and is a subsidiary of Fairfax Media Limited, publisher of The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.

Enjoying unprecedented growth, as a consequence of new product innovation and demand for online advertising solutions, mycareer.com.au is currently searching for a person to sell recruitment advertising packages.The successful candidate will be responsible for engaging, managing and developing their client base.

To meet the challenges of this role, you will ideally be tertiary qualified in a business related discipline and possess a sound working knowledge and understanding of the Internet and online business models. This is an exciting role for a tenacious and switched-on business developer who has previous direct sales experience. Additional experience in the Recruitment or Online industries will be well regarded.

If you are a self-driven professional who enjoys working in a progressive environment, interested applicants please apply online quoting the reference number.

Oh and if you’re interested in applying, here’s the link.

So, the question is: if you’re a job board, what do you do about LinkedIn? Do you embrace and surround, integrate like SimplyHired? Do you fight? Will LinkedIn actually grow the market instead of taking market share? Or do you not see them as a threat?