Darren Herman

The job market is heating up depending on the industry you are in, and there are some major players emerging who run ad networks for jobs (jobs being the ads). Gone are the days that you solely go to Monster or CareerBuilder for jobs… now, if you’re reading PaidContent and loving the digital media news, you can see job postings right on the site, enabled by companies like JobThread.

In this interview, we sit down with Eric Yoon, CEO and Co-Founder of JobThread. Timing for this posting is extremely relevant because know many people who are in the market both to hire and to find new opportunities.

Please join me in welcoming Eric…

1. Please state your name, title, and years at current company/position:

Eric Yoon, CEO/Co-Founder, JobThread (4 years 4 months)

2. What are you currently up to? If entrepreunering (my word), tell me about your startup.

JobThread is an ad network for jobs. Currently, we deliver over 70mm impressions/mo to over 12mm uniques/mo across a highly targeted network of top tier publishers (such as paidContent, SourceForge, Slashdot, Seeking Alpha, Silicon Alley Insider and many more). We maximize revenue for publishers and allow job posters to reach highly targeted, well-qualified jobseekers that they won’t find on large, commodity job boards.

3. Why are you doing this? You could be doing so many other things in the world, what about this particular idea strikes you?

There are a couple of reasons. The primary reason is that there’s a tremendous and unique market opportunity, a category killer opportunity in a $6B market, in an area where I have domain expertise and where JobThread is doing a great job. The other reason is that, while I got my start in online recruitment back in ‘99 working at HotJobs by chance, I truly am interested in labor and adding transparency to labor markets. I have a social entrepreneurship bent, though I haven’t done anything there yet, I hope to and for me, aside from food and shelter–the two most basic needs–labor is the basic activity that drives daily life and, I think, most impacts quality of life. And I think JobThread has an opportunity to help people find great jobs and to help companies find great people. It’s one of those “at the end of the day” things, where I really do believe that if we do great work here, we can chip in and help make the world a better place.

4. All startups should be addressing a problem in the market. What is that exact problem and how are you solving it?

We help companies reach high quality jobseekers via targeted advertising.

The problem that we solve is that while there are a lot of job boards out there that reach a lot of people, often the result of posting a job on Monster or even Craigslist is that you reach a lot of people, too many people, and often people that are not qualified for the job you posted.

5. Have you thought about your business model yet? I’m assuming so, so tell us a bit about it.

We have a simple model. We sell recruitment advertising (job postings) to companies, distribute their jobs to targeted audiences via our network and generate revenues for publishers and fees for JobThread.

6a. If you’re looking at an ad-supported model, how are you going about it? Do you have in-house ad sales? Using a rep firm? What are the challenges that you’re facing with getting ad dollars?

We sell recruitment advertising (primarily job postings) via self service sales and our sales force.

7. As an entrepreneur or investor, what are your thoughts on competition? How do you view competition?

I like competition. I’m fairly competitive. I can also be paranoid about competition, but I think that’s somewhat normal. I like competition for a couple of reasons. First, it does help to drive innovation. It’s easy to get lazy when you’re not trying to raise the bar higher and higher. Second, competitors help to build the market. If we had no competitors, it’s likely true, as they say, that we’re either too early or wrong about the market.

8. If your competitor called you up to have coffee and discuss shop, what would you do? Would you go? What would you divulge?

I love that and I’ll sometimes reach out to a founder at a competitor to say hello and get acquainted and meet up if possible. I think it’s good to know the people in your industry and sometimes there are even ways to work together and compete at the same time.

9. Is the current state of the economy playing to your favor? If so, why? If not, why? What is your forecast of the market throughout 2008 and do you see affects? Macro and Micro economic theory would be interesting to hear about.

I wouldn’t say the oncoming recession is good for business, but at the same time, it’s a huge market, so there’s still a lot of blue sky for us. Since we’re in the job market, a downturn does mean less jobs advertised. But, at the same time, it also means that companies look for a better ROI on their recruitment ad spending and this is something that I think will play in our favor.

10. How much of your time is spent working? How much is spent with family? Have you found the entrepreneurial quality of life yet?

Hm. No. I have not found it. I do spend a good amount of my time working. I don’t work 24×7 as I learned that that does lead to burnout, but I’ll often be at home, on the sofa, working away on nights and weekends. I do try to set aside time on Sundays to have dinner with my folks and to relax with friends.

For anyone who has any questions for Eric, feel free to post them in the comments section. This market is certainly fascinating and we’d all like to learn from it.

Thank you!