Starting a Job site in India

Naukri and Monster are the leaders in the Job site market. JobsAhead, One of the best job sites and trend setters in the market, is no more... monster has already eaten it up. Times Jobs with all its Print and internet might is still only the 3rd player, leave alone its claims.

In a market with such mature players, is there scope for a start up Job site to actually break the ice.

Pricing will not work in the market. In fact there have been good job sites offering free Job posting and resume access, but takers are little. In fact, some of the Job site even go to the extent of getting the jobs emailed to them & they enter them in their site.

Print Ads may not be a solution since Media Mugals like Hindustan times & Deccan Herald are struggling with their Job sites. Media might & money doesn't seem to be enough. Hoardings etc will add little value, but then you know the cost involved the reach across India.

Same thing with Internet majors like Clickjobs, with very good internet presence in the matrimony market, it is not able to even shake the leaders. Though Click Jobs is among the most innovative players in the market today - offering referral income option to job seekers, extremely good SEO, elegant design... but will it actually be able to grow up to stand before the two giants.

Now the situation is unique, unless we have 10's of 1000's of Jobs Candidates are not going to get interested. And unless we have millions of Candidates, Jobs aren't going to come your way.

Then how will a start up Job site be able to get traction in the market.

I put this question in LinkedIn.com couple of days back and have got some very interesting replies.

Sanjay Madhavan, Wipro Technologies: “The success percentage of the users is a crucial factor in helping the job site to grow. You might have 10 people getting brilliant jobs , but 100 who have not got even a decent one.”

Vivek M V, HCL: “As an employer - i would expect maximum reach , an excellent database of job seeker ( primarily we see the failure of many job boards because of this reason) non-repetitive and also responsive
( hence you may need this database to be relevant and factual). As a job seeker i would not like spams of walk-in here or walk in there ( one can choose this option ) plan out a calendar of event , which indicates you the hottest employer recruiting a certain skill..."relevant jobs in my inbox" . Again if you are a new player opportunity or incentive .."points" to already registered job seeker
( which will help ) and then sustain your business plan. Job site may also target their users by the job they seek ..or probably plan a career graph”

Hari Hanuman, Refer2win.com: “go with one specialisation or one vertical first rather than goind in a big way. say something like mechanical engineers exclusively. It will take some time to build up.”

Ram Mallipeddi: “much depends on addressing to Freshers now as they are a huge lot now in the market with thedown trend and with the signs of market picking up if you can show direction to these freshers or those idle then click ratio will be heavy”

Masood Sayed, VerveOS2i: “I would start asking
1) What is common in the successful ones?
Almost everything that they do, is similar. Their value proposition is along the same parameters
2) What can you offer which they have not?
eg: a networking portal, integrated ATS, referral network, niche expertise, only company jobs, better search technology, Career Counselling service, Link to other jobs... etc

Position yourself as fresh and different from these giants. I am sure there is space available for New entrants.”


As usual, I also got some very direct answers saying, just run… Job site market isn’t going to take you any where. Place your money else where. Couple of comments are here:

Girish Joshi says, “Another key question I may ask aorund market opportunity for Job sites in the times of LinkedIn etc:-).”

Pranav (Peter) Parikh, Origin Canada Inc says, “Job site in India is not a feasible option. This is matured concept and naukari.com and other website already captured enough market share”

One thing common among all the answers I got, though not literally written, but clearly indicated is that – Innovation, better product, better service & a radically different approach will alone help a new entrant succeed in this market space. Money and Media Power are not going to help much.

So if you are planning a Job site, think radical, think different, think Viral & you will be able to make it big. Even Ambanis' or Tatas' aren't going to be successful without it.

All the best for the Entrepreneurs ready to take up this challenge.

And those who have some valuable ideas for Entrepreneurs, please do share it here.