There are more Internet based companies than there are stars in the heavens, at least it sure seems like that some days, so it’s a pleasure to read the news and find out that two smart and agile companies I follow have announced a partnership arrangement that’s a clear win:win for all of us.
Though the online job market is busy and saturated with solutions, from the 800 pound Monster.com on down, I’ve still been impressed with what I’ve seen of SimplyHired, a Palo Alto (CA) based employment search engine that aggregates millions of available jobs and offers a sophisticated and powerful search engine to let you explore your future opportunities.
I’ve also been writing a lot about LinkedIn, what I believe is the premier business networking site (as opposed to social networking).

It’s great to learn, therefore, that the two companies have jointly released a job networking system that uses the power of SimplyHired’s database and the social networking (really, if it’s business-related, I feel that “social networking” is a misnomer, but that’s the big buzz word) of LinkedIn to produce a powerful and fascinating hybrid.
As Josh Elman of LinkedIn describes it: “We have launched a partnership with our friends at SimplyHired so that users can find over four million jobs now on LinkedIn. With each job, we’ll show you how you are connected to the company.”
What a cool idea!
LinkedIn took the opportunity to announce two additional features that power users will appreciate: the ability to download ‘vcards’ for your connections and download your entire connection list, and the ability to send out a confirmation email once you’ve accepted a connection on LinkedIn.
Meanwhile, over on the BusinessWeek Tech Beat blog, writer Olga Kharif asks Is Social Networking Broken?, pointing out that once you’re part of the busy ‘virtual cocktail party’ of LinkedIn, you get request to connect from people you don’t yet know (which you’d think was why you were part of the network in the first place, actually). Ms. Kharif, I think that while some social networking might be ailing as spammers invade, LinkedIn is alive and well and working surprisingly well for a number of people who take the time and have the enthusiasm to learn about this online tool. My LinkedIn pal Des Walsh questions your research too.
Fortunately, I do have to point out that The Wall Street Journal gets LinkedIn, as highlighted in Eileen Gunn’s article on Expand Your Connections Through Online Networking.
And with the new capabilities, LinkedIn + SimplyHired gives us a whole new way of looking for jobs, something that’s remained the same since the first online classified section appeared pre dot-com.
You can read more about my thoughts on SimplyHired and LinkedIn in these articles: Interesting Software Job @ SimplyHired, My LinkedIn Power Forum, and How connected am I?