Concussion: Mental Effects

In this series of articles I've been explaining what it is like to have a concussion.
 
The physical effects of a concussion are easy to see, and to see the progres as they heal.
I could see my cut healing and can see the scar fading.
After a month you could barley see the scar, unless you knew where to look.
The initial pain of the head impact wears off, and the localized pain and numbness goes away or becomes less.
The mental effects are a lot more subtle and longer lasting.
Sometimes they sneak up on you like a bear grabbing a salmon in a river.

Vertigo is probably the biggest issue. Several months after the accident I was standing on a floor at work next to a table. The floor was sloping downward to one side because of the building settling. Normally your body senses that and you adjust to it.
That recognition for me is more pronounced with every change in the slope of a surface compared to before my concussion, and makes me stumble or couch my steps somewhat.
From sidewalks to driveways, if the surface goes up or down even slightly I notice it and that change in angle throws my balance off and makes me dizzy or stumble.
After several minutes of working at this table, I realized I was drastically leaning to one side to compensate for the floor slope! I was leaning over so much someone else in the store asked why I was leaning to one side! Any situation that involves something other than having my feet planted on a smooth level surface gives me a sense of vertigo to one degree or another. Most of the time I work through these moments figuring it is a chance for my brain to relearn how to act in these situations, however if there are other times like on a ladder or roof that I feel vertigo coming on I get down fast rather than risk falling. Going up ladders is fine, however a quick look down even without moving my head brings vertigo on.

Fast moving things going to the left or right also bring on vertigo. I was walking on a beach as the tide came in. As the waves flowed back into the ocean I started stumbling to the right towards the ocean! My brain wasn't processing that it was the water moving and not the land. While fishing I looked down to the water near my feet where some rings were flowing outward from where a fish jumped, and it felt like I was going to fall in even though I was perfectly upright. Movies with fast zoom in and zoom out scenes bring vertigo on too. The opening scenes of the movie "Sing" where the characters are introduced singing in their homes and it zooms from one house to another makes me dizzy. The famous scene in "Star Wars" where the X-wing fighter zooms into the Death Star trench and you see the gun turret shooting through the cockpit of the fighter really makes me feel woozy.

I have a short temper.
I used to have a lot of patience and the ability to be calm at all times. Don't even come close to being on my bad side now. Bears being poked with sticks don't explode with anger as quick as I do. The bad part is I don't feel the anger building in order to control it. It is like a light switch, either on or off. If you need to tell me something bad you did, you never know what version of my temper you'll be getting.  I can't look at computer screens or phone screens very long without a blue filter.

I can't laugh. Science has found that humor starts in the left side or our frontal lobe. That side is the logical side and thinks through the joke to see if it is funny. The humor then moves all around and ends at the right side of the frontal lobe and it is that side that makes you physically laugh. I've always been able to have deep, long lasting, laughing fits. My friends refer to me as "losing it" when those laughing fits start. I haven't had one of those since September 2016. My accident was in the first week of October. For the first three months after I could not laugh at all. I would see something that was clearly funny and my type of humor. My brain would tell me it was funny. I swear I could feel the humor energy impulse inside my brain move all around from the left to the right and then just stop.
Nothing could make me laugh. At most I could just give a quick smile. Later it went to a a quick "ha." Now I can smirk and give a quick laugh, but nothing like what I used to do.
It worries me because it has now been ten months and any laughing I do feels forced and not natural. The very first "ha" that comes out seems more natural than last month, however any laughing after that is forced. No one understands this result, but I would pay a bunch of money for a couple of good belly laughs like I used to have!

When I try and say something funny, it often comes out extremely sarcastic or mean sounding even though I didn't mean it to sound that way.
I don't know if this is correct, but I feel it is related to me not being able to laugh. I'll say a "zinger"  and the humor portion of my brain doesn't put the correct accent/spin/emphasis on it to be recognized as humorous by others. Meanwhile I stand there with a grin on my face thinking what I was saying was funny (because the analytical side of my brain put the statement together and KNOWS it will be funny), and other people pick up the statement as being mean spirited by a mean guy who is enjoying his meanness because he is standing there grinning.

My smile is not the same as it used to be, I notice it in recent pictures.
When I try to smile it feels like I can't, as if I don't remember how.
Some may look at the pictures below and not notice, however as a photographer my whole life I've seen my smile thousands of times. Look at the shape of the smile, but mostly look at the eyes. There is no spark, or what portrait photographers call "catch lights." The lines around the mouth and face are tense. The first picture is from May 2016, the second is from February 2017, six months after the accident.

Things don't always taste the same as I used to think or remember that they taste like.
Since I don't use a lot of spices and flavorings in my cooking, my food at home seems the same, however going to restaurants that have a signature spice is when I notice it the most.
Outback Steak House is one example where the seasoning they use on their meats doesn't taste the same. Less of a spice and now more of a salt. Denny's seasoned fries also taste funny. Kind of an Oreo taste rather than a salty spice taste.
This could also be because of the restaurant changing flavors so I'm not too worried about it at this time, but something isn't always right so I need to add it to the list.

I still have an urge to sometimes see the scar.
I think this is because by looking at the scar it given me a sense that I am healing.
I get frustrated because I know things are not the same with me as they used to be, but I can't change it.

More about this later.

Ev
A Heck of a Nice Guy...with some marbles out of round

Concussion: Physical Effects

There has been lots of news over the last several years about concussions in the NFL, NHL, major league baseball, auto racing, and in high school sports.
You may have had, or been told, you suffered a concussion at some point in your life.
At least on two occasions after car accidents I was told by chiropractors that I saw for treatment that I suffered a concussion in the accident.
I was never given any tests to prove or disprove these diagnoses. I was told this because I had cases of whiplash and they assumed I must have hit my head at some point.
I'm now doubting those occasions because I never went through any of the symptoms that I've been experiencing since getting hurt at my job.

The easiest way to describe my injuries is to divide them into the physical injuries and the mental injuries. For the physical injuries I received two blows to the head right next to each other. One to the front top of the skull and another blow right behind that, both on the right side. The doctors are treating this as one big concussion.
For the first two weeks there was pretty severe pain all the time. It wasn't the focused sharp pain that you might get with a traditional headache, rather it was across the whole head as if it was being squeezed in a vice. Moving my head either up or down would increase the pain. Side to side was okay, but I couldn't lie on that side of my head. This made sleeping interesting because I would start sleeping on my left side, however if I rolled over during the night it would wake me up if I went on my right side. If I was lying on my back and turned my head to the right that would also wake me up. The pain was usually mitigated by ice packs
and anti-inflammatory medications, however for the first few weeks it never went completely away.

For the first six months after the accident, half of my head was completely numb.  Doctors could take a pin and push it into my skull and I could not feel it. It tingled all the time, kind of the same tingle feeling you get when your foot falls asleep. The numb feeling made it interesting when it came to putting on the ice packs because I couldn't feel the cold on the area of the head that was numb. If I didn't pay attention and take the ice packs off before 20 minutes my skin would be frozen. I couldn't feel the cold on my head. Almost ten months later the constant tingling sensation has diminished somewhat, however 1/4 of my head is still numb. The numb areas don't seem to be as bad, but there is a clear difference between that area and the same area on the other side of my head.

I was also pretty dizzy for the first three months. Any place I walked I had to walk with my arms outstretched and guiding along a wall or chair or anything else I could grab onto in case I tripped.
While I didn't fall on flat surfaces, going up stairs I stumbled up on several occasions at home and other places. Only once did I stumble down the stairs, and on that occasion I was able to catch myself with the railing. Walking on surfaces with a sight grade either up or down it seemed my balance was even more affected than normal. One day, several months after the accident, I was working at a location where the floor was sloped to one side. I was standing at a table and stumbled to one side. I realized that I had been leaning to one side to compensate for the slope in the floor and fell over. To this day there are still times when I have to walk with my arms out in case I need to grab something.

Close your eyes.
All you "see" is darkness or blackness.
When I close my eyes I see red.
Sometimes I see bright lights like winking stars or flashing lines like the hyperspace effect in Star Wars.

Writing this post, emails, texts, or anything involving looking at a screen is hard. For the first three months I couldn't write anything on a screen because by the time I would finish writing a sentence such as this one, I would feel nauseous and/or my head would start screaming in vice like pain . I've been told that my brain is sensitive to blue light wavelengths that come off of monitor screens. If I look at screens too long, especially my phone screen, the muscles in my head and around my eyes constrict and it feels like my eyes are closing and I get a lot of pressure as if my head gets squeezed in a vice. I have a blue light filter on my screens so when someone else looks at them the screens are very dark and red in color. Since then I can work on a computer screen for about 30 minutes before symptoms come on. I have both an android and Apple phone and those screens I'm still lucky to get about three minutes before I can't work on them. Voice dictation is my best friend for email and texts using my phone.

Since the accident as I get tired or under times of stress the dizziness returns.
The numbness gets more intense and me head starts hurting again.Speaking of vices my head often feels that way at the end of a long work day, too much driving, not enough water, too hot, too much fast moving hustle and bustle around me, bright light, or any other of a number of factors that cause my brain to "overload." The best way to describe this is that a normal brain can hold a five gallon bucket of sand. As we go through a day we can ordinarily dismiss tasks, items, events that are no longer needed. It is as if we reach into the bucket and toss out a handful of sand, leaving some room in the bucket to pour in new sand, or in this analogy all the things our brain stores. In my case sand never gets taken out of my bucket and more sand continues to pour in, spilling all over the sides. When my brain gets full I get really anxious, scatter brained, can't focus on anything at all, the numbness gets intense and the vice like feeling returns full bore. I can't even keep my eyes open as all the muscles around my head contract. The only way to deal with this condition is to lie down in a dark room with little or no noise and just lie there for an hour or two. Sometimes I can sleep which seems to speed the process up, other times the intensity of what I'm experiencing doesn't allow sleep and then it takes a longer time as everything stays intense until finally I can get going again. When this occurs it is very debilitating.  

Any concussion has the potential to do any of these symptoms or more to an individual.
When I was 11 I got hit in the side of the head by a thrown softball.
I never suffered anything like what I;m going through now.
The car accidents I was in that my chiropractor said I might have had a concussion, I don't believe I actually did.
I never had any symptoms on those occasions either.
A concussion has the potential to change your life in ways you don't expect.
I'm experiencing that now.

Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy...currently with some addled wits

Concussion: Sympathy for Co-workers

Ever have a co-worker, job candidate, or client that you knew and after some traumatic incident they "didn't seem quite right" after recovering?
Two quick stories:

Many years ago my father was mugged in thrown to the ground by the attackers. It split his skull, causing hemorrhaging and seizures. Part of his treatment required lots of medication, and was not himself whatsoever. His ability to speak disappeared. He couldn't walk.
He didn't laugh like he used to  He didn't smile. He seemed a lot less sure of himself and what he was doing and what he used to be. He couldn't sit up or do anything else on his own. He couldn't talk and existed in a zombie like state. After a number of years of rehab, he regained a lot of what he had lost. Back then people would attribute his change in personality to just being a little torn up from his injuries as a victim of an attack. However we now know that he had serious repercussions from his concussion.

I also worked once with a woman who was a very bright and energetic sales assistant.
She was the darling of the sales and management staff, always being able to help out with tasks and get projects done on time. During a birthday celebration for a co-worker, she was standing next to a pole in the middle of the room. While clapping with others for the person's birthday, she turned her head the wrong way and accidentally ran into the pole she forgot was there. From that day forward she was never the same person. She was always depressed. She couldn't taste any of her food. She was very lackadaisical with no ambition. Many people could not understand what was happening to her, got frustrated with her attitude, made fun of her behind her back, and eventually the company fired her after six months.
During that time she would tell me I was the only one that was kind to her.
I could relate to what she was going through because my father was going through his troubles at the same time. I had seen the same symptoms in my father and understood that she had had a serious concussion, even though to everyone else in the company it seemed like a silly small impact at the time, and they didn't give her any sympathy to what she was going through.

I'm going through all the stages of concussion currently. I'd like to share my experience so employers, co-workers, friends and family might understand better what it is like to deal with an injury that no one can see, including me, yet it is as real as broken leg or arm. 

When dealing with customers, job seekers, and co-workers who are involved in any form of trauma involving their head, look for some of the signs I've described here and in the other blog posts I've written about my concussion.

If you know someone has had a concussion there are a few things you can do to help them.
1. Get them to walk or do other exercise.
Many co-workers go for walks during lunch time or leave to work out at a gym. Make sure the person with the concussion joins you or check in with them to make sure they are exercising. Research is showing that getting high blood flow to the brain helps with healing by bringing more oxygen to the brain.
2. Be patient with them
People with concussions will often need more time to find their words or need prompting to stay on task. Give them the time to remember what they are going to say, and help them focus with gentle reminders when needed.
3. Recognize they have been hurt and there is nothing they can do to speed the healing process, so be supportive in whatever way suits you, them, and the situation.

Concussions are life altering events.
A person may never be the same, or be exactly the same.
Each concussion is different because each person is different.
Recognizing that fact, and some of the symptoms described in these posts, can help you better understand what that client, job seeker, or co-worker is going through.
Your support and patience is appreciated by all of us.

Ev
A Heck of a Nice Guy...Currently a bit addle brained

There Are No Illegal Interview Questions

The following is a great article by Mark Thomas. It is a great start to a discussion on how we answer, ask, and prep candidates for our jobs. Great job Mark!
To read his original article click the link:
There Are No Illegal Interview Questions by Mark Thomas

It is an article of faith that there are interview questions that are illegal, and may never be asked. My quick Google search returned 3,050,000 results for “illegal interview questions.” Hiring managers are trained by HR departments, who have been counseled by their attorneys, to avoid a broad list of interview questions relating to age, gender, race and other topics or face legal action. The concept of the illegal interview question is well and widely known and most people carry the idea of illegal questions into the interview with them. 

When you are the candidate that is a problem. You need to build rapport quickly and effectively. When you consider a question illegal, you are naturally resistant or even adversarial in responding. Behaving this way can kill the opportunity by killing rapport.  The fact is, there are no illegal questions, at least as far you as a candidate should be concerned. 

Consider a client I worked with. Sylvester was an engineer, 35 years old, with great experience. A recruiter contacted him, complimented his great experience, and asked his first question: “How old are you?” 

Sylvester’s training told him this was an illegal question, and he should not answer it. He knew he had to say something, so he dodged:  “I am old enough to have that great experience, and young enough to have lots of career left.” Pressing, the recruiter noted that engineering is a challenging program, and many from Sylvester’s college take 5 or more years to finish. “How about you? Did you complete your degree in 4 years?” Sylvester remembered that graduation date was a trick way to get to age. Nonetheless, he was proud to have finished in 4 years, and said so. The recruiter said “So you are 35 years old.” Committed to avoid answering, Sylvester said “Somewhere around there.” The recruiter noted he had been recruiting for almost 40 years. “That would be longer than you have been alive, right?” Committed to avoiding these illegal questions, Sylvester said “That might be.”

Next, the recruiter asked “Do you have kids?” Another illegal question Sylvester knew should not be asked nor answered. “I want to talk about my engineering experience rather than my family situation.” 

The recruiter said “Here’s what I am going to do. I am going to hang up, and throw your resume away.” And he did. 

Certainly, the recruiter was a bit of a jerk. Just as certainly, had Sylvester simply answered “35” to the first question, he would have started to build rapport, signal his honesty, and most importantly show his age did not matter to him. It would have been the same if he shared he had a son he coached in little league and was very proud of. Those responses would have shown his confidence, his personality, and his humanity. Instead, he poisoned the well by being uncooperative, even antagonistic.     

Perhaps this was going to be a great opportunity, perhaps not. Sylvester never found out. It is particularly disappointing because at 35 age was not going to be an issue until he made it one. If he was 55, or 65, where age might be an issue in the mind of the employer, it would be even more important for Sylvester to matter-of-factly give his age and show he could care less if they asked, because his age is just a number that does not scare him, does not bother him, and does not matter to him.

Don't Forget Radio, TV, Newspaper for Your SEO

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO.

You have heard the term so often and probably done so much to get to the top of your search engine that I bet you have ignored all of the other forms of advertising you used to do (or maybe do more of) like radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, even…the Yellow Pages.
You’ve probably been so focused on Search Engine Optimization that you’re convinced the other forms of media don’t work anymore and you don’t need them.
You’re wrong.

While it is true that the way we find information has changed forever (sorry Yellow Pages), those other media contribute to your organization getting to the top of the search engine results.
I won’t go into a long explanation here, however I will illustrate it with a couple of examples:

1. Radio stations have websites to encourage listeners to tune in whenever and on Whatever device they can. Carry your smart phone and click on the app for your favorite station or search for them on the web. An ad will probably open as soon as the station site does. Click on the link to stream and you have to listen to an ad first before the station starts. As you’re listening ads appear on the station page and change without you doing anything.
Do you think these are random advertisers that the station pulls off the web somewhere? No.
They are paid clients of the station that have bought air time or advertising space. All of them have a link to their site on it.
Part of SEO is how many people click on your site and various parts of it. Traditional media like radio still hold the advantage that they can reach a bunch of people at one time. Customers hear or see your ad and go to your website.
The search engine realizes your page is popular and ranks it higher.

Print, whether it is electronic or traditional works the same way.
People see your ad on their device, or heaven forbid actually hold something made of paper in their hands, and see your web address. The more they see it, the more it is top of mind and the more likely they will click on it when they need or want it.
Old School SEO.

Look up a company that just uses online advertising. Then find a company that uses a combination of online and traditional advertising. I'll bet you find the former isn't as successful as the later in most cases.
Take some of the money and time you spend on traditional advertising and build up your online SEO. Just don’t ignore your traditional media because old school SEO helps your new school SEO.

Ev

A Heck of A Nice Guy

December 2015 Jokes

What did the baby shark do when it got lost?
It whaled!

Why was the bird wearing a wig?
Because it was a bald eagle!

Where do young fish go every morning?
To their school!

Why do pigs write a lot of letters to each other?
Because they are Pen pals!

Why was the elephant mad at the hotel bellhop?
Because he dropped his trunk!

A policeman saw a woman walking down the street with a hippo.
He said to the woman, "Ma'am you need to take that hippo to the zoo.
The next day the policeman saw the woman again walking the hipppo.
He told her, "Ma'am I thought I told you yesterday to take that hippo to the zoo.?!"
The woman said, "I did take him to the zoo and today we're going to the movies!"

Happy New Year!
Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy

Bert and Ernie's "Gift of the Magi"

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Enjoy and remember that it is our family and loved ones we always need to take care of.

Bert and Ernie's "Gift of the Magi"

Thank you for everything you've done for me!
Ev

A Heck of A Nice Guy 

Ev's Recruitment Answers: Why I Write this Blog

This is my 500th blog article.

It is also the 15th anniversary of my monthly client newsletter that started as an email and now morphed into this blog.

I've written before on why I think you should read this blog:

why-read-this-blog

and why I write this blog:

why-i-write-this-blog 

However those of you with good memories have noticed that the name of the blog went from "Ev's Recruitment Answers" back to the original name of "Ev's Sales Answers."

I changed back to the original name because I've always tried to continuously define who I'm writing this for. There are two target audiences.The first is obvious...you. My clients, prospects, and thanks to the digital age- readers and fans who find me through the search engines.

I always try to keep you informed of changes in the industry, ideas that can help your business, and remind you that I'm a resource for you for networking, advice, or resources. Plus I like to voice my opinion on subjects and like to hear yours. The digital age allows all of us to have a voice and I appreciate you reading and listening to mine.

The second reason is that sales is a career I've never shied away from and has been a part of my life since I sold the first fund raiser items for cub scouts in second grade.

Sales has been a part of every job I've had and I've been fortunate to experience and learn things that I want to pass on to you and to my family.

I started selling Kirby Vacuum cleaners in 1991. It was my first professional sales job.

Our daily sales meeting started at 8am and

I averaged 4-5 demonstrations each day. 

It was not uncommon that my day would end at 10 or 11pm.

Every night my dad would wait up for me.

He was a great salesman.

He would ask how my day went and would go though each appointment and my conversations with the clients and he would explain what I did right and wrong. 

It was during these talks that I got to know my Dad and he me. These conversations and early sales experiences taught me many of my core beliefs on selling and customer service.

There isn't a day that goes by in my sales career that I don't think of his advice and lessons.

Many of them I've talked about in this blog, and with you over the years.

I write these blogs not only to help you and others, but to pass along my Dad's lessons to my son. Even if he doesn't go into sales for a career, the lessons from his Dad and the Grandfather he never met will be out in cyberspace for him to read and to get to know us.

Thank you to all of you for everything you have done for me.

Thank you to everyone who have read, or are reading, this blog or my client emails.

Ev

A Heck of A Nice Guy

My son unloading food donations for Cub Scouts

Why Newspaper Job Ads are Dead pt. 4: Poor Customer Service

As a veteran of the job posting wars of the 1990's and 2000's I just wanted to jot down my thoughts, because back then the newspaper recruiting classifieds were the biggest method there was to find a job besides networking. I helped chip away at that big rock, until now that same job section is about two pages. Here is the fourth part of this article. To read the others click the links below:

pt. 3: Not Local
pt. 2 Revenue and Pricing
pt. 1: A Local Perspective

Lets review a couple of points from the other articles first:

Why were so many companies trying the internet and taking budget away from the newspaper? The internet boom was on! Remember all the DotCom companies that were popping up? The fuel they provided for the economic boom of the late 1990's? Now days we look back and wonder how did we ever live without our internet connections? Companies were searching for other ideas to reach job seekers. There was a talent shortage going on (and still is). Companies were willing to try anything to find the employees they needed.

Price was another factor. Internet ads were usually $100-$300 with full color and were unlimited in size. You could ad color, pictures, logos, anything that could be placed in the ad. The same money might buy you a 15 line classified ad. No pictures. No color. Placement on the website didn't usually matter as much as in a newspaper. Small companies with small budgets were treated the same as large companies with large budgets. A small retail store could compete equally with a retail giant chain because the cost of getting thier ads noticed with additional services like homepage logos and featured ads were affordable to all.

Both of these lead to another reason why newspaper ads died, poor customer service.

Poor customer service was a problem. A big chunk of the clients I sold in those days were fed up with the mistakes in the layout or billing. The mistakes they could have forgiven if they were given an ounce of cooperation by the paper, however since the newspaper had always been the recritment advertising industry leader they were very inflexible with package price and "make-good ads." They thought they would always be the big player in the room and they could do whatever they wanted and always be profitable. Customers would often tell me horro stories of trying to get someone on the phone, only to not have calls returned or be passed on from one person to the next and never seeing their corrected ad run. With job boards the customer could change the ad almost instantly if they made a mistake when they posted it themselves, or were able to call someone local if they needed help to correct an ad.

The fact that customer service was located nearby also helped. Companies liked the fact that if they had a problem they could call "Ev" who was located in the same city just a few minutes away. They got to know "Ev" as a face of the company. 'Ev" took them to lunch, met with them to follow up on their results, and became a consultant or friend that valued who and what they are as a company and what they were trying to do. As long as what "Ev" said made sense and they liked who "Ev" was as a person and salesman they were willing to give the job board a try.  Snotty customer service reps locally for the newspaper or anonymous customer service reps for bigger newspapers who didn't know or care about local company "X" except to get them to pay their bill so the rep would get their commission.

Longevity of account reps was also a factor. I stayed in the industry for 13 years. Clients and prospects knew who I was. I was that old pair of shoes in the closet that may not be the fanciest, but sure were comfortable and looked good. Others stayed in the industry for several years too. Newspaper reps, not so much. More and more companies switching over to online ads complained that they never know who their rep was. Couldn't get in touch with them when they needed to buy ads or make changes to an existing ad, but always heard from the rep when the rep needed to make their monthly goal. Clients see through that very fast. Then all you become is a commodity and no one wants to be treated like that.

So if you have read the other articles, here are the three big reasons newspaper job ads are dead:

1. Pricing
2. Not Local
3. Poor Customer Service

Maybe this is great insight or not.   
I don't know. 
It is just the view of someone who was there and helped make it happen.

Thanks for reading!

Ev

A Heck of A Nice Guy

Journal with another lame website

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has gone with another partnership with Monster.com in an effort to boost recruitment advertising.
Since I got into the business in 1995, the newspaper has tried a number of different iterations in an attempt to gain back the recruitment advertising revenue lost from the print side.
It started in 1998 with Employment Wizard which was just the paper scanning the print ads and putting them online.

When compared to their main rivals at the time, WisconsinJobs.com and MilwaukeeJobs.com, it was a novice site. That changed into a better attempt with JSOnline, then a partnership with Monster.com. That ended with the paper going back to promoting their own job section on the website. Now the partnership with Monster is back.
The problem the paper faces hasn't changed, how do you recover the dollars that were spent on recruitment advertising with them and are now going somewhere else?

Currently MilwaukeeJobs.com is the remaining local big player, however even they are under threat by LinkedIn.com, Indeed.com, and social media, what is the Journal Sentinel to do?
There are no easy answers, however having been part of the local recruitment wars from 1997-2010 and seen first hand the changes the paper made to their site over that time, I would figure out what my strengths are as an organization and resource. What is the community lacking and can our organization fill that need and more importantly dominate it?
For example I would find out what demographics read the physical paper and more importantly use the website. Then create a job website based around and marketed to those demographics. If the data showed the website was popular with medical personnel and lawyers, I would concentrate on a design and features that would cater to those groups and focus my marketing efforts on those groups. It would be a niche website, but I would work to be the absolute best recruiting website for those demographics so that no matter what other sources a company uses to get those people they have to include me somewhere in the mix.  If other companies wanted to advertise other positions I wouldn't turn them down, however I would understand that revenues would be grown strictly from my dominance of that category of job seekers. The hard part is figuring out what that niche would be. If it was easy all companies would have that figured out and never struggle.
Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy