What’s that coming over the hill?

Well, as the song goes – for 2009 it is indeed “a Monster”. A renewed and re-invigorated Monster.

On Monday I was invited to the launch breakfast of the new Monster.com look and functionality. Launching from Millbank Tower, the home of the New Labour spin machine and from a job board that was practically there at the start of the Internet (and certainly mastered the art of it’s own brand of Internet hype I’d suggest), I was expecting polish and shine but to have to leave questioning whether there was any real substance. I was pleasantly surprised to actually find quite the reverse.

Our starter was a 60second advert which we were told by Monster’s UK MD was made but never aired because the American target audience only ingest 20-30second adverts. Hmmm – was this a portent of what was to come – something made that looked nice but actually didn’t do the job and left you wondering “how much?” & “why?”?!! Oh dear. I thought the presentations themselves were actually pretty flat, which was surprise reversal of expectations no1 – but hey I’m no polished Alan Whitford myself, so I’ll just leave it at that and move on to looking at the substance.

So what did I make of the new offering? Well let’s start with the fundamental principles. Aggressive growth through global acquisition is a tough business model to deliver against long term, especially when you’re in the websphere and “bringing together” different systems – and Monster have clearly been honest with themselves about the fact that it was approaching do or die in terms of addressing this. So as of January every single Monster site (well most – the rest to come) will be working off the same single platform. No different inventory for this site or that site – and one would also hope the facility for a sales team to access real time stats and data (and costs?) to give you a simple response to what should be a simple global question. So, in theory, tick one.

The next thing they’ve done is completely re-invent the user interface. What’s a user interface? Well that’s what the visitor to the site interacts with. And I think they’ve done a cracking job. Now of course the proof is actually in the using, but from the screen grabs I saw I’d say that this is a significant advance – for both the candidate user (front end) and the recruiter user (back end). NEVER underestimate how dramatically a bad interface will ruin / hamstring your site, or for that matter how much a good interface will enhance your site.

If people can’t work out quickly how (or why) to use something then they just won’t – particularly in such a crowded place as the job board market. So it doesn’t matter how clever this widget is or that whodjamaflip - if it’s not easy to get to grips with they won’t be arsed (you may have heard of two examples sites that do this element pretty well: Google & Facebook). To a slightly lesser degree the same is true of a back end experience – if it’s a pain to understand and work with then it’ll be barely used (or used just as little as it can be), and if the candidates don’t fall in through basic use then it all adds up to a negative overall impression of the entire proposition. Monster has reinvented both experiences.

I see this as a massive tick for Monster and short term will be a big positive. Knowing they HAD to change the underpinning system (more on that shortly) they did the right thing and used the time to also bite the bullet on design (which due to the new technology on offer they probably had to do anyway), but I think from what I’ve seen it looks like they’ve done their work very well.

But what of this much vaunted technology that’s going to “change everything”? I actually think it does indeed have the potential to do so. Monster have looked at their CV database not as just a pile of CV’s, but as a source of knowledge from which to train a kind of search based artificial intelligence. Is it going to be perfect from day one? No. Is it going to be a pretty blunt tool? Absolutely – but it’ll get better and is already significantly less blunt than other sites’ can offer. Monster are actually doing their bit to bring the future to today – and this system (if it’s worth the millions they’ve spent on it) will just get better. It will never stop learning, and as more people rate the relevance of the possible matching vacancies it delivers them it will learn some more.

Look – if you’re reading this you’ll be bored to tears with discussion about what web2.0 is/isn't/might be – but this is indeed web3.0. And if you know me you know I hate to bandy terms for terms sakes, but sometimes it’s easier. Web3.0 is about the intelligent web, websites doing some thinking for you and in return for some of your data and/or perhaps a little time provides you a far "richer" experience (without you even realising it most of the time). And that’s what this is.

And do you need to know how it works? No. All you need to know is this:

•     Monster has a very impressive audience to tap into to start with – that’s a good start.
•     They’ve redone their interface so it’s easier for candidates to use – that will pay dividends in the short term (possibly leading to better informed candidates, my money says certainly leading to more candidates).
•     The search/profile matching is very clever but will take time to bed in – but it should be pretty good to start and it will get better and better and better.
•     The more people that use the system the better the search/profile matching gets (it’s a recession, so you can pretty much guarantee an upswing in traffic).
•     The better the search/profile matching gets the more people talk about it and the more people us it.
•     <repeat last two ad infinitum>

Now there were lots of other bits and pieces talked about but I’m sorry to say I didn’t necessarily buy into those as the shinning future. For me it was largely about a job board trying hard to gain some Social Media space (or at the very least some headlines from those who fall for massively complex diagrams and organisations trying to be the next Facebook or LinkedIn) and IMHO will generally in practice wash over the greater candidate community.

Monster is trying to do in web2.0 terms what Workthing did with web1.0 when they entered the market not as a straight up and down job vacancy posting website, but rather a kind of career advisory facility with jobs. Everyone does that now though, so Monster are using latest technology to do that in a far more engaging way. It may take off, it may not – when you’re talking Social Media not even Monster are in charge of whether the web takes to it or not (no matter what the pitch says). Anyway, time will tell for that – and just because I’m a cynic doesn’t mean that I won’t applaud them for trying. And at least they’ve not put all their eggs in that one social career networking basket.

I’m a simple man at heart and I think simple things work best on the web. And it’s those elements I’ve laid out above as to why I think it looks as though they have some fundamental elements right to actually indeed game change the job board market.

But – I’m gonna slip in a disclaimer here – and quite a big one. Over the years (admittedly I’m going back quite a few - but the market is slow to forget) I had plenty of clients coming to me disillusioned with the Monster sales machine (or indeed the delivery that didn’t back up the dream they felt they bought). My worry is that in a down recession where the pressure is on a hard pressed sales force then the dream weavers will be out and by 2010 we’ll be seeing another pile of client/media relationships in tatters.

Make no bones about it: I think Monster have here what could be one of the best interfaces of any jobboard with the clever underpinning technology to back that up and keep evolving and enhancing the candidate experience – it should be a winner.

All that really matters to people buying space is bums on seats and I see no reason why that shouldn't be significantly enhanced by your tech & design teams' efforts. But please guys n gals @ Monster – resist the pressure (as much as you can without losing your job) to blow it by believing your own hype and go all short term and aggressive on us again – keep your focus on the site delivering great results and this will in turn beget great results for you. The investment WILL pay dividends, but it will need time and nurturing. With a platform that looks like it can really deliver Monster should seize the chance to be a little more approachable like the toy Trumpy given out on Monday - I just hope it doesn't have an ugly short-termist sales crazed monster inside all too desperate to get out and get us all angry again.

Comments

[Jamie Leonard]

I thought what they had to say was really interesting and from a candidate view point, it will change the game. The big job they have now is educating candidate before the market makes a judgment. 90% of the site has changed and thei big clients (including agencies) will be quick to judge if it does'nt show an almost immediate benifit. They've also go to educate their clients, because what you've said Alex is great, but wont make a lot of sense to a lot of people and the Monster sales guys need to figure out how they can relate that info to a HR Manager from a bed company in Stoke, or heaven forbid, someone that works for an agency that does'nt have this level of digital understanding.

[Andy Headworth]

For a minute there Alex, I was thinking that you were working on a sponsorship deal with Andrex - not for the content I might add, but for the length of it!!
For all their faults - and there are a few - Monster were shrewd enough to "invest" £gazillions in getting people to register on their site over the last few years. (This is something I think Jobsite has tried to replicate with their £18m campaign!!)
Now they have such a huge database of candidates/jobseekers - dare I say they probably have the biggest one out there in the UK? - they need to utilise it in the most effective way and start to add some value for both the job seeker and the companies/agencies using it.
From what you have said in your precis of War and Peace above, it seems that they are trying to make steps in this direction. They should be applauded for doing that.

But as they say in chef's school, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.............anyone for Monster portions?

[Richard Tyrie]

Great post (as ever!) Alex.

Rapid fire thoughts, nay, almost tweets:

Firstly, a caveat: Ok, so we're (technically) a competitor, so you could argue our view would - by definition - be somewhat jaundiced. granted.

Anyways...

Innovation can't just be shipped from a lab. Period. It is an ongoing, iterative process that requires input from various stakeholders:

1.) The folks within the Monster business that need to use the app to do their jobs every day;

2.) The customers that pay the bills (how many "yeh, but it would be great if..." comments do we on the front line get each week?);

3.) ...and finally on the stakeholder front, lets not forget those that supposedly *really* count: the punters, or as they are affectionately known: 'users'.

Questions:

1.) Can Monster/anyone be all things to all people via a single global platform?

2.) Is it possible (or even necessary) to 'localise' innovation and benefit from suggestions/inputs from stakeholders to go on this journey?

IMO we're not talking about a generic app like twitter, or facebook here... We're talking about recruitment, which by definition is a complex process that comes with all sorts of legislative, cultural, sectoral baggage and idiosyncracies.

We should know, we've spent the last 10 years trying to herd Kool public sector cats into using a common software platform @ www.jobsgopublic.com - a tough gig I can tell you (even with our laser beam-like focus on one sector, in one nation)...

Final point (tweet #25, ahem)

Will those charming US folks at Monster *really* give a hoot about their limey chums anyway?

When the change requests come in (which they inevitably will), I bet the requests from our Monster compadres in good ole' blighty ain't going to even register...

Time will tell i guess. But as an organisation that has tried to 'do' innovation for the last ten years (the learning curve hasn't flattened btw), it ain't as simple as shipping a cute app with a nice GUI.

Is the future of great software in online recruitment co-created and hyper-focussed? Yup, we think so..

[Jamie White]

Is it me or does the headline "When You Invent The Game, It's OK To Change The Rules." which goes on to detail Monster's somewhat pedestrian and US-centric overhaul in my RI5 newsletter smack just a little bit of pride before a fall? I hope not. But wouldn't it be nice to see them get their tone and messaging right for once?

[Alex Hens]

Yeh – it does portent terribly of that alien monster desperate to burst out from within that I referred to in my post. I too on opening the email felt my heart sink a little. Is there no one in the UK marketing department that has the balls to explain to America that such messages over here are, my gut feel tells me, universally received as arrogant American bullshit spin? Or perhaps Monster Marketing is just a 100% US division and have learned their “skill” from the George. W. School of International Marketing and Relations.

One of Monster’s changes that I praised was the move to a single technological platform – unfortunately marketing isn’t like technology – each market needs a local focus and appreciation, and the trust of the overarching brand for that to be translated appropriately. With messaging like this spilling forth then I fear for the sales team hoping, in a difficult market, to ride on the back of “good news and innovation train”. This does indeed smack of Old Monster not the new shiny customer and candidate focussed Monster I saw peeking from behind a curtain in the presentation. If that is the case then I’m afraid that not only does it smack of pride before a fall, but many will switch back to their default opinion “it’s Big Bad Monster” and actually take some schadenfreude if Q1 2009 (through reasons of their own control or not) doesn’t start with a Monster bang.

[Alex Hens]

oh dear - I'm sure we are all aware of the post launch security debacle visited on Monster (currently unrolling across mass media) - but it also seems that the ugly shortsighted sales monster indeed couldn't keep itself hidden for long.

Louise covers it here: http://ukrecruiter.typepad.com/uk_recruiter_blog/2009/01/monster-selling-themselves-over-agencies.html?cid=146450704#comments

Are these people really so daft as to think, in this connected world (and particularly connected industry), that people don't talk? Have they no constructive long term sales strategy? Oh dear oh dear!