OUT-OF-WORK TECH VETERANS FORM VIRTUAL COMPANY TO FIND THEMSELVES JOBS IN DISMAL MARKET SPM eGroup" Already Getting Kudos from Recruiters

A group of 1,800-plus high-tech marketing professionals has created and launched a job-seeking "company," with the goal of employment for all. Located around the globe, this virtual group provides a free job posting service for those with certain kinds of marketing positions. The word so far from posters is that the SPM eGroup might contain the best-qualified candidates available in cyberspace.

SILICON VALLEY, California -- November 22, 2002 -- When it comes to only in Silicon Valley" stories, this one definitely reflects the times. An organization was recently formed and is already outshining the competition, even though its objective is going out of business as quickly as possible. Now launching its official web site is the SPM (Software Product Marketing) eGroup: 1,800-plus networking and software marketing professionals who have come together virtually (ie, on the web) under the leadership of a handful of seasoned local technology veterans. Their raison d'être: finding themselves employment by becoming the best resource for those posting job openings online.

Using the strong entrepreneurial and management skills that brought them lucrative careers prior to the economy's freefall, the group's leaders have attracted a high-caliber membership; approximately half are armed with MBAs. The shrunken pool of hiring managers, VCs and recruiters with positions available these days has been coming to SPM to find professional marketing talent, giving it high marks compared to other free job boards and even to for-profit web-based job sites like Monster and HotJobs. Its the best site weve found so far to find qualified marketing professionals," stated Amika Antoniades from Panscopic Corp.

Despite its quick success, SPM's management team would like nothing better than to fold the operation very soon. "Success for us means everyone has found a job," stated Cynthia Typaldos, a Valley entrepreneur who is the group's founder and executive director.

Zero-budget Organization Has Been Moving Fast

Armed with ingenuity rather than money, SPM has utilized a variety of free services -- from Yahoo Groups to no-cost conferencing lines -- as well as the broad skills of members to enter the crowded online job board world and move to the front of the pack in less than a year. A recent independent study of the approximately 4,500 English-speaking online job resources named SPM the leader based on its focus, efficiency and quality.

"Unlike the other large boards (SPM is now one of the four largest in Yahoo Groups), SPM has surveyed its members, which appeals to recruiters," said market researcher Don Muchow, who conducted the study. "Its also the most professional board because it seems to be run like a business. Hiring managers know that if they post a marketing job there, they won't be deluged with huge numbers of resumes from unqualified candidates. Among the boards, SPM is the most likely to result in a meaningful connection and a job opportunity."

SPM's member survey revealed that more than half have at least 10 years of relevant experience, with 46 percent having held director-or-above positions. Approximately 20 percent have been in executive management, from vice president to chairman. According to SPM user Gene Zaccor, a principal at Vantage Partners, "I'm very impressed with the skill, product marketing expertise and general quality of the candidates." He reported that his firm has used SPM several times already.

The majority of SPMs management team calls Silicon Valley -- and its 7.9 percent unemployment rate -- home, but since SPM is a virtual organization, volunteer members live as far away as Seattle, Dallas, Boston and London. Currently, 80 percent of members are from Northern California. However, the organization posts positions from across the country, and even the world, since one of the survey findings was a high willingness to relocate if a job opportunity was available.

The Future of Online Recruitment?

The dismal high-tech job market -- in which the marketing and business development sectors have been particularly hard hit -- is the obvious cause of the large growth in employment-related online services and web communities. Unfortunately, this influx of job seekers combined with a dearth of positions has resulted in frustration on both sides. To beleaguered recruiters and hiring managers, it's difficult to wade through the many hundreds of emails that inevitably follow a posted position to find appropriate candidates. Meanwhile, those sending in their resumes complain that this so often leads nowhere, without even acknowledgement of receipt in most cases.

The ineffectiveness of the most common recruitment methods is causing many people on both sides to look for new approaches. According to General Electric marketing executive Ted Finch, (For our search over the last six weeks), weve used internal and external searches, including Monster, and only had seven prospects that matched even half of our requirements. Within an hour (after posting with SPM), I received seven candidates that all matched the requirements. What an incredible service!"

The poor performance of commercial resume-posting sites has helped fuel the dramatic increase in the number of web communities for job seekers. According to researcher Muchow, I believe that the job groups on Yahoo are the 'suburbs of the job-finding world. It seems to be where everyone is moving."

Reflecting Trends in Social Networks Fueled by the Internet

Communication with others has never been easier thanks to todays technology, creating a rich laboratory for social theorists. Receiving much attention of late is how such instant communication impacts the strength of weak ties" concept -- those people who are not close friends but rather, acquaintances -- and the impact of such an extended network on key areas like careers. Expert observers have noted that workers are significantly more likely to hear about an opening via acquaintances than close friends. In addition, research shows such a network produces the best employees compared to those recruited by other means.

SPM exploits this phenomenon, building on what Typaldos had already learned through her founding of an early dot.com and later, a company developing online collaboration software. SPM is the only job-related egroup to develop both its membership and its target list of job posters by starting with personal rolodexes, fueled by the Internet. In fact, SPM members built several software tools to automate part of the process, such as one specifically for assembling contact databases.

Our survey shows that the professional level of our members is very high," said Typaldos. We keep hearing that from job posters, too. Im not surprised, since we hand-picked both groups as a way of ensuring SPM would be more successful than other online resources in connecting the right marketing people with the appropriate openings."

The Software Product Marketing (SPM) eGroup is a virtual organization whose free product is the best collection of skilled marketing talent on the web. It enables job posters -- hiring managers, recruiters, venture capitalists and others -- to reach an audience of more than 1,800 highly qualified professionals in the areas of software and networking marketing and business development. SPM can be reached at: www.softwareproductmarketing.com.

For more information, contact:
spmpress@yahoogroups.com
(408) 388-1222