Stepstone Hits Out At Freecruitment - 06/2000

Last month, Online Recruitment carried a news story on the launch, by Reed, of a ìcompletely freeî service branded ìFreecruitmentî. Part of the launch release claimed that: ìFreecruitment makes the existing ëclassified advertisingí online recruitment model obsoleteî. Giles Clark, CEO of e-cruiter Stepstone, whose company was sited by Reed as an example of the ìobsoleteî model, has hit out at the comment. He stated that Reed is a ìtypical media company with no understanding of the online recruitment marketî. He went on to claim that the Reed site is questionable, stating that: ìEventually they [the users] will find that there are no real jobs on the siteî. Clark continued ìOurs is not a classified advertising modelî ìwe have major market share in every market in which we operateî. His rebuke to Reed was completed by denouncing the ìFreeî recruitment model saying that it in itself is: ìtotally obsolete as has been proved in the US, and anyone running one shows a total lack of understanding of the online recruitment marketî.

Speaking to Online Recruitment, Katy Nicholson, Marketing and Communications Director of Reed said: ìwe are extremely excited by the changes that the internet is bringing to the entire recruitment sector. There are many business models out there, clearly only time will tell which will serve consumers best. Currently employers, agencies and above all job seekers are embracing the opportunities offered by the reed.co.uk siteî.