Brian Weis Interview pt. I

Sometimes it is easy to understand why fate makes you cross paths with certain people. Someone who was a positive influence on my life, career, and future goals has agreed to be interviewed for this blog. This person brought me into their company and gave me the freedom and encouragement (and commission) to become the best salesperson I could be and it was a pleasure working for them.

Back in in 1997 I had just joined a company called Job Connection. Two weeks later I received a call from the owner of our biggest rival at the time, WisconsinJobs. Apparently I had made a sales call on a mutual client who impressed upon this owner that he should hire me. Our paths crossed for the next four years as I saw him at job fairs. Eventually I would become one of his top sales reps for the next seven years, becoming what our main competitor called “the faces of the company.”


I present to you...Brian Weis!

Everet Kamikawa:
When you started WisconsinJobs.com in 1997, online job boards had just started to tear down the wall of classified job ads built by the newspapers. By 2005 newspaper classifieds were hurting and now they are almost nonexistent. Do job boards still hold the value for employers looking to find jobs?

Brian Weis:
Great question. There will always be a need for employers to advertise their job openings and a place for job seekers to seek open jobs. I think the Internet is an effective media and job boards the right meeting place. Right now is a unique time, the unemployment rate is very high in comparison to the last few decades and it is an employer market place. There are so many candidates out there seeking that companies do not need to do as much advertising. In years to come when the unemployment rate shrinks the candidate pool will tighten and companies will need to do more advertising.

EK:
How has social media impacted job boards? Do they have a future?


BW:
I think of Twitter (GolfTrips Twitter page)and Facebook (GolfTrips-Facebook page)as a social platform for people to sound off, share their thoughts, post birthday photos, etc. Sure like minded people congregate. For employers/recruiters it is a candidate pool. I think it is an arrow in the quiver for companies to hunt for employees. (and for job seekers to job hunt) Will it replace job boards, probably not. Large companies with a diverse set of hiring needs will always need to a variety of tools - job fairs, campus recruiting, job boards, radio, social media, etc.


EK:
In addition to WIJobs.com, you also started a national recruiting board called LocalCareers.com that had at least one website in all 50 states. Before you sold the domains, how many job boards did you have under the LocalCareers.com banner and what inspired you to build a national network when most local job board owners were happy to just stay in their market?

BW:
I stopped counting after 100 sites. We had a national umbrella with LocalCareers.com and then a regional focus with state sites like ArizonaJobs.com, WisconsinJobs.com, we then branched out in industries like RecruitingJobs.com and later added diversity sites.

EK:
At the same time you launched WiJobs.com you also started RecruitersNetwork.com. What was the purpose of that site? Are you still involved in that site?

BW:
Recruiters Network branded itself as the Association for Internet Recruiting. Like I said we started when Internet Recruiting was barely a strategy for company. Ina few years we built a huge directory of resources and published a weekly newsletter. I am no longer involved in that organization.

EK:
SalesResources.com (SalesResources.com)is another of your sites, which you recently sold to SalesProgress. When recruiting was your focus, why branch out into sales?

BW:
As mentioned be got into several job board verticals focusing on industries with high turn over and higher hiring frequencies like Jobs4Sales.com. Advertising and reaching the passive job seeker was expensive so we built portal sites to funnel job seekers into the job board. I didn't have kids back then so I was able to worked 18 hours a day.

EK:
Looking back at your recruiting career is there anything you would have done differently?

BW:
I am a glass half full kind of guy. I cannot think of anything. Last time I checked you cannot change the past so I spend very little time worrying about what I should have done. I certainly try to learn from it, but as far as regrets....hmmm...I am drawing a blank.

That is a look behind. For what Brian Weis is doing now, look for part two soon.
Thanks Brian!
EvEven though we haven't worked together for almost two years, I still get asked by cleints whatever happened to this owner. I thought it would be fun for you to read all about what he has been up to in his own words.