The $45 million acquisition of TMP Worldwide’s recruitment advertising operations marks the second such move by purchaser Veronis Suhler Stevenson to tap the projected growth in corporate spending on workforce expansion.

Last year, the media-focused private equity and mezzanine capital investment firm made its initial venture into the recruiting sector of the human resources market by securing a financial stake in PreVisor, a provider of online pre-employment testing and assessment solutions.

The question now is whether Veronis Suhler Stevenson’s acquisition of TMP’s recruitment advertising business will satiate its hunger to ride increasing corporate demand and investment in the employee selection and recruiting sides of business.

“Hiring and retaining a high quality workforce is a top priority for companies, and becoming increasingly difficult due to an aging population, competition, and regulatory and compliance issues,” says Michael Kessler, a managing director of Veronis Suhler Stevenson. “We expect to benefit from the projected growth in spending on employee recruitment and selection.”

Trent Hickman, also a Veronis managing director, says the TMP deal offered an especially compelling opportunity for the investment firm to serve its media, communications, and information portfolio.

“We believe that TMP Worldwide is an attractive platform company in the recruitment advertising agency sector because of the company’s demonstrated commitment to its customers, many of whom have partnered with TMP for over 10 years,” Hickman says.

Not surprisingly, Andrew J. McKelvey, chairman and CEO of Monster Worldwide and founder of TMP Worldwide, reinforced that view of the Veronis opportunity with the TMP media property.

“Although Monster.com was originally a service offering of our advertising business, it has since become the core of a global media company,” he says. “We now believe that TMP Worldwide’s customers can best benefit from advertising counsel, planning, and services that are not directly affiliated with any other media or advertising ownerships.”

As part of the deal, TMP Worldwide will maintain its present organizational structure and staffing throughout its regional operations in the United States, Canada, and India. The company will also remain part of the TMP Global Alliance of Companies, serving international relationships in the Americas, Europe, and Asia/Pacific.