The ticker-tape parade celebrating Monster’s comeback will have to wait.
According to parent company Randstad Holding’s latest financial results, the job board‘s revenue continued to drop in Q3, down 15 percent versus 16 percent in the second quarter. So, the pace at which the company is losing is improving, so there’s that.
Silver linings, right?
Additional positives Randstad highlighted was increased usage of Monster internally at the company, which is pretty low hanging fruit, as well as initiatives around new products and features, and, maybe most important, a financial house that is finally in order.
Readers will recognize Monster Studios, the scrapping of banner ads on the site, and new commercials as signs that the company is making strides toward a better future. Unfortunately, for them, the numbers don’t yet tell a story of profitability.
The company, however, remains optimistic.
“As Monster continues to evolve as a business, the company remains focused on innovating — by making improvements to its products, services, and the core job and talent search experiences — to better serve our customers and our candidates,” said Scott Gutz, CEO at Monster since July 2018. “These are critical foundations for our continued growth and we are focused on our vision, purpose, strategy, and prioritized activities for 2019 and beyond.
“We expect to see KPIs and outcomes for customers and candidates that will correlate to global sales and revenue growth. We are committed to accelerating our progress towards sustainable, profitable growth across Monster and look forward to continuing to introduce new solutions and services — like Monster Studios and Monster Talent Consulting — that meet the unique challenges that face customers and candidates alike in this new world of recruiting.”
It’s frankly tough to envision a future where Monster claws its way back to prominence. From the tippy-top, it’s dealing with companies like Google and Microsoft, which have seeming endless resources. A level below them, companies like ZipRecruiter and Indeed continue to set the pace in online employment.
While Monster hopes to create “Instagram for jobs” with Studios, LinkedIn is providing candidate insights on 550 million member profiles and an ATS. Ultimately, Monster may just be bringing a knife to the gun fight.
Fortunately for its parent company, though, times are pretty good. Randstad announced revenue of $7 billion in Q3. EBITDA rose 4 percent to $341 million. Specifically, revenue in North America increased by 3 percent compared to 2 percent for the same period in 2017.
