The ability to communicate digitally for the price of a [nearly free] phone call led to Bulletin Boards- communities hosted by organizations such as Compuserve, Prodigy and AOL. Their success led to the 1994 introduction of the Netscape browser and the inevitable commercialization of the ‘World Wide Web’.
Commercial internet access was sold to consumers as hundreds of websites grew to hundreds of thousands intended for “everyday use”. The role of in-house and external recruiters started changing as they watched where qualified candidates went online tools and by the end this decade they had begun to disintermediate the global newspaper classified help-wanted advertising industry- a multi-billion dollar cash cow that was approaching 10 billion dollars in the United States.
Amazon, launched in 1994 as a bookseller in Seattle, Washington.1
At SHRM’s 1996 Annual HR Conference in Chicago one in four attendees had the attendees had an email address. One in then had been on the world wide web. They were also exposed to new sources for jobs. Job boards like DICE moved from a BBS to the world wide web. Online Career Center (OCC), The MonsterBoard, Career Mosaic and Careerbuilder as well as hundreds of other sites made their appearance by the mid 1990s.
The rise of dotcoms led to an exponential growth in technology applications as well as in the jobs related to the technology. The US in particular saw the rise of “cultural” additions to the workplace like ‘Casual Fridays’. Office perks exploded as offices became less formal and businesses experimented with new ways to entice workers to spend more time onsite.
Company sites quickly became a new source to post jobs because it was direct and less expensive. Primitive though they were candidates who could figure out how to find and access online jobs found they could apply for a job by (initially) emailing or faxing their resume- a real edge in time as they could do it whenever they wanted rather than waiting for Sunday Newspaper’s help-wanted classified section to be published.2
As these job boards developed…and the accuracy of search engines improved, it became easier than ever for candidates to post their resume or complete application forms and allow employers to consider them.
It became so easy to apply by email to multiple jobs that recruiters were overloaded with applications. In the days of print, they were used to a dozens of candidates applying per job per week- not hundreds.3
Employers, especially large employers, increased their reliance on internal recruiters to sift out unsuitable candidates at every level…as long as they had new tools to deal with the data. 4
The transition from print media to digital classified advertising spelled the end of Newspaper Help Wanted dominance as THE source of hire and set the stage for Sourcing and Recruitment Marketing specialties.
The 1990s also saw the introduction of modern search engines. Yahoo! launched in 1996 as a directory of links to recommended sites. Google launched in 1998 as a keyword search-based site that saw the user as a better judge of relevancy than a quasi-editorial group of evaluators. Internet users quickly migrated to Google because its model allowed easier searches through more pages of content, but few – even within Google’s walls – could foresee how the company could generate any revenue from search alone. Within a couple of years, Google had figured out that it could monetize those searches through the careful placement of highly relevant ads paid for by the advertisers on a cost-per-click basis, a model that then found its way into online recruitment with TopUSAJobs and, later, Indeed.
90’s Milestones:
- 1990 – DICE launched in San Francisco.5
- 1990 – H1B Visa Program launched with the 1990 Immigration Act. 6
- 1990 – Americans with Disabilities Act passed 7
- 1991 – Civil Rights Act passed 8
- 1991 – The world Wide Web opened to the public.9
- 1992 – The Online Career Center (OCC) is arguably, one the first job board on the Internet.10
- 1992 – First text message sent.11
- 1993 – Jobserve launched in the UK.12
- 1993 – TMP Worldwide’s recruiting arm launched.13
- 1993 – Family and Medical Leave Act passed.14
- 1993 – Bernard Hodes Group launches CareerMosaic.15
- 1994 – The Electronic Job Board Revolution by Joyce Lain Kennedy was published.16
- 1994 – The MonsterBoard is launched.17
- 1994 – Netscape browser introduced.18
- 1994 – Yahoo is launched.19
- 1995 – Bill Vick launches Recruiters OnLine Network (RON) 20
- 1995 – CareerBuilder launched originally as NetStart.21
- 1995-2000 – 1st generation ATS systems explode: Resumix vs. Restrac.22
- 1995 – Interbiznet begins publishing daily recruiting news…and editorial.23
- 1995 – Craigslist Founded.24
- 1995 – David Lord Launches Executive Search Information Services (ESIS).25
- 1996 – CareerXroads 1st edition published.26
- 1996 – HotJobs.com launched.27
- 1996 – Employer brand established as an HR management marketing tool.28
- 1996 – Samsung’s SCH-100 launched.29
- 1996 – Adecco formed.30
- 1996 – Viasite (Taleo) founded.31
- 1996 – SHRM’s Annual Conference included, for the first time, a session entitled ‘HR & The Internet’.32
- 1996 – College Recruiter launched.33
- 1996 – Local Boston Community Newspapers pioneers online content and training.34
- 1997 – Job scraping (job aggregators) emerges,35
- 1997 – AIRS is founded.36
- 1997 – O*Net published as the Dictionary of Occupational Titles sunsets.37
- 1998 – The phrase “The War for Talent” was coined by McKinsey & Co.38
- 1998 – Google launched.39
- 1998 – ERE Media started.40
- 1999 – Brassring founded.41
- 1999 – EMA acquired by SHRM.42
- 1999 – HR.com founded.43
- 1999 – Monster and HotJobs premier Superbowl Ads.44
- 1999 – WEDDLE’s Guide to Employment Sites first published.45
- 1999 – Recruiters Internet Strategic Education (RISE) is launched.46
- 1999 – Mr.Ted Launches.47
- 1999 – Talent Connections founded in Atlanta48
References