Tuesday, January 8th, 2008 |
It’s been a while since I updated you on my personal career change efforts. As regular readers know, I’ve chosen the jobrepreneur path; I will keep my current employment while starting a business. A large part of my strategy is to create opportunities for career change through the active development of several different websites. U-Turn Ahead was the first of those websites that I started last November.
In past updates I spoke about the website Listonga.com. I’ve actually stopped development of that site for a couple reasons. First, I am considering changing the platform from a self-designed website created in Dreamweaver to using WordPress. The effort to design a quality website with the minimal skills I have was proving to be too much.
The second reason for delaying work on Listonga is that I wanted to launch another blog that I had been developing. On January 1st I made my first post at SevenActions.com. Seven Actions is a blog about setting goals and taking action to change your life. It, like this blog, is the direct result of things that are occuring in my own life.
So, I now have two blogs in place, another in development, and two websites on the drawing board. I am considering this time a learning experience for me. It is also a test of my commitment and interest in web-based businesses. So far, my interest is not waining.
Posted in Coryan Updates, Jobreprenuer, News | 3 Comments »
Sunday, January 6th, 2008 |
On Friday, Monster.com, the online employment company announced the purchase of Affinity Labs. Based in San Francisco, Affinity Labs began less than two years ago operating industry specific websites. Each website provides an online community for social and professional networking, job searching, information and resources. The purchase will cost Monster $61 million.
Monster’s chairman and CEO, Sal Iannuzzi stated,
“Our investment in Affinity provides Monster with an efficient vehicle for developing future revenue streams in vibrant career fields while permitting us to actively invest in product, technology, and brand support in our core business. We believe Affinity’s model complements the core Monster business and significantly enhances our presence in key verticals within the online vocational and networking market.”
This move by Monster into the social networking arena follows a trend in Internet development. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Konnects provide online connections, but each Affinity Labs site narrowed the industry focus and expanded the services and resources.
Here is a list of the existing Affinity Labs communities. They are worth checking out:
PoliceLink - law enforcement
NursingLink - nursing
TheApple - education
FireLink - fire and rescue
ArtBistro - artist community
GovCentral - public sector
TechCommunity - IT professionals
IndiaOn - Indian professionals working in US
WomenCo - Professional women
I believe this is a trend from the traditional employment website with top-down information sharing to a more horizontal resource for career development. I suspect we will see Monster develop similar sites for other communities in the near future.
Posted in Career Planning, News, Professional Development | No Comments »
