Someone asked me the other day what I would do to Monster.com if I ran it. It was a good question that got me thinking.
As the pandemic continues to shred the job market, Monster and the other major job boards are suffering and/or laying off staff. Now would be a good time to think about a reboot for a once proud brand.
Let’s face it, Monster is a shell of the company it once was. Gone are the days of super bowl commercials and mindshare now enjoyed by Indeed. I think it needs a complete makeover at this point.
So here’s my take on a Monster reboot.
We start by completely remaking the company starting from scratch. From technology to senior leaders we tear out the old and replace with the new.
I’d hire industry experts that I know and trust to part of the leadership team but the intent would be to maximize the brand equity into a smaller nimble startup capable of actual innovation. That means hiring people with an entrepreneurial mindset who ‘get shit done’.
When it comes to tech, here’s what I had in mind.
- Make it a text first company. Emails are so 2005. We need a job board that communicates primarily through text messages. Everything from applying to job alerts should be moved to a text first strategy.
- Distributed workforce. A job board doesn’t need expensive office space to succeed. My version of Monster 2.0 would be a remote driven culture made up of the best people from across the globe. We’d come together a few times each year to bond in person but I believe remote only companies will eventually out perform all others.
- Automation! We double down on automation to make up for lack of personnel. Marketing and sales tactics and strategies would be handled by a small team of automation experts in favor of a large sales force focused on cold calling.
- Surface new jobs. Instead of focusing on selling job postings I would move to a cpc model and aggregate jobs from the vast of amount of niche job boards that exist to surface those jobs that get little attention. It would bring more unique listings not typically found on a Google search for job seekers to apply to. There are thousands of sites that have between 50-500 job listings that many people don’t know about. We’d make it our mission to bring these unique jobs to the masses.
- Expand the network. I’d look to buy a job board software company and make it into our version of Jobamatic which was originally how SimplyHired spread their jobs online. It was a free job board software platform that let anyone start their own job board in 5 minutes. We’d revamp the platform to make it modern and focused on the candidate experience to drive traffic back to the site.
- Teach people how to become better job seekers. In an age where no one teaches you how to job hunt Monster would become the go to source for that knowledge. Think “Monster.com Career College“. I’d leverage the best career advice experts and turn them into a faculty unrivaled by no other entity.
- Build community. The Monster brand needs a redo among its employers and recruiter clients. They need to think of Monster as an entirely new entity. I would therefore create an online community portion of the site for these folks to help them become better at their jobs. From news to events to social networking and give them a space to learn from each other.
These are just a few ideas I dreamed up on a Saturday morning listening to a Michael McDonald song on Yacht Rock radio. Imagine what I could do for real…
So if you have deep pockets and want to take on something bold, remaking the Trumpasaurus might just be the thing.
Call me bro. 😉
