Brad Marks has figured out a way to stand out from the crowd: he’s launching an Internet site.
Betting that 20 years of Hollywood experience will provide a competitive edge even as the rest of the online world retrenches executive search firm Brad Marks International has started a recruitment Web site to expand the company’s reach into the entry- and mid-level job market.
The site, JobsintheBiz.com, aims to develop an employee database that will become a talent resource for human resource executives and recruiters for various entertainment-related businesses. As an executive recruiter for Univision Corp., Nike Inc., Universal Pictures, CNBC and others, Brad Marks sees Internet expansion as a natural and potentially lucrative fit.
“Even though the job postings are fewer right now there are a lot of people looking for the kind of services we can provide,” Marks said. “That could benefit us in the end because it well help us to build up our database.”
A brave soul. Not only must he deal with a slow economy and the disastrous climate for Internet startups but there’s the business itself: online job sites have a mixed track record.
“It’s good to have a presence out there, but I don’t think it’s a situation where they can boost their revenues 20 percent to 30 percent by doing this,” said Steve Finnick, vice president of operations for DNA Search Inc., the top contingency search firm in Los Angeles last year. “We do get hits off (the DNA Web site) but I wouldn’t say it’s really effective.”
Another local outfit, Pasadena-based Showbizjobs.com, has run its entertainment industry job site since 1995. Marks claims he wasn’t even aware of the site. “That’s a fact,” said the one-time ABC page who once ran his own production company. “The model we wanted to follow was Monster.com,” Marks said, referring to the national leader in Internet job postings.
So how will the new site make money? Marks said his corporate clients will pay to have their jobs posted, but he declined to provide financial details.
JobsintheBiz.com is being run by General Manager Justin Marks, Marks’ son and a former NBC sales representative, and Senior Vice President of Operations Carole Katz, a former head of recruitment at Warner Bros. and human resources executive for Destination Films.
Like Showbizjobs.com, JobsintheBiz.com, will charge employers $125 for a 30-day listing, about half the price of Monster.com. To get the site running, the company is offering free listings for the first three months. And unlike Showbizjobs.com, which charges $35 for a six-month membership, JobsintheBiz.com does not charge job seekers for basic services.
JobsintheBiz.com has about 150 job postings from companies such as Fox Television, Warner Bros. and Sony Entertainment. The site is attracting about 10,000 to 20,000 unique visitors a day considerably less than Showbizjobs.com.
“They have the potential to be a competitor of ours but we’ve been in this business for five years,” said Paul Buss, Showbizjobs.com’s founder and president. “What we’ve learned is that just because someone puts up a Web site with a dot-com after it doesn’t mean it’s going to be a success.”
Justin Marks concedes that JobsintheBiz.com is likely to compete with Showbizjobs.com, but added that his site will be enhanced by such extras as personalized help for job seekers, insider news and recruitment services for employers.
“It comes down to what kind of response we get for our advertisers,” he said. “You get all kinds of applicants, but what we think we can do is get the highest quality applicants.”
