Outsourcing the handling of Online Job classifieds
Dagens Nyheter
Dagens Nyheter has been a client of MatchWork since 2000 and a classic outsourcing relationship has developed, with each company doing exactly what it does best.
The Company
Dagens Nyheter is a daily newspaper in Sweden and, although the bulk of its 345,000 circulation is in the greater Stockholm area, it is the only morning newspaper which is distributed nationwide.
DN, as it is usually known, is a favourite choice of Sweden’s opinion leaders for publishing articles on important issues and major debates – it is also the country’s leading medium for professional, managerial and specialist recruitment.
Fredrik Kronby, Sales Director for employment classifieds leads a team of 12 staff – all trained to meet the demands of the fast-moving world of classified advertising.
The Challenge
DN is a long-established publication, first published in 1864 and is conservative in its business approach. The first major change in the newspaper’s format – from broadsheet to tabloid, did not take place until 2004. Despite this, DN was an early mover within the online market, recognising the need to implement a system for job listings in the late 1990s and making a policy decision to outsource all future online requirements. A second and equally important decision was that, however the online presence developed, it would always be under the DN brand.
An initial third party supplier was found but, in mid-1999, DN set out to find a supplier with a much broader range of capabilities, prepared to search Europe-wide and beyond, if necessary.
The challenge was to establish and support a comprehensive outsourced service including automatic postings of job classifieds online, a CV matching system, comprehensive reporting and effective sales support.
The Solution
The solution was found close to home – in Denmark (MatchWork had not yet opened its Swedish office) and discussions with MatchWork began in 1999. In 2000, DN took a first step, choosing MatchWork’s CV/job matching system. The relationship developed and DN soon discovered the benefits of total outsourcing.
“MatchWork supports us with an excellent, trouble-free service which suits us perfectly and occupies very little of my time – exactly what an outsourced solution should do,” comments Fredrik.
Today, MatchWork provides a comprehensive service – taking care of DN’s complete back office function, including customer telephone/email support, registration of all online job ads and sales support to the DN sales team.
“We run two employment supplements a week,” comments Fredrik, “and my priority is to get these to maximum size and maximum revenue – every time.”
In DN terms, this means a 16-20 page supplement on Thursdays and 28-32 pages every Sunday – a significant volume of advertising. This buoyant classified market reflects Sweden’s current high levels of employment and the difficulties involved in recruiting staff, especially in IT, sales and specialist areas. Employers have to cast a wide net and online advertising has become an important part of Sweden’s recruitment media landscape.
“Every single job we advertise goes online automatically, thanks to MatchWork,” continues Fredrik. “This is very necessary and our advertisers expect it. We charge a notional 10% of the total media cost for the online presence and this has, in my experience, never once been questioned – on the contrary, most advertisers think it is very good value.”
“Full employment in Sweden means that we are in the fortunate position of seeing classified volumes and revenues rising – both in print and online as employers compete for staff at all levels. This means that site traffic on our website is high and this encourages banner advertising – a very useful source of additional revenue.”
The Result
Today, with a well-established relationship, DN and MatchWork work closely together and ideas and information flow freely between the two partners. Training is high on the list of discussion topics and there are regular training sessions for DN’s salespeople, as necessary, throughout the year.
Fredrik Kronby also draws on MatchWork’s knowledge and expertise - “Another benefit of working with a specialist is access to wide experience in other markets. MatchWork has this in abundance and we draw heavily on this knowledge.”
“Whenever we ask a question, there is a good answer, based on practical experience – and the same experience benefits our sales people who get regular exposure to MatchWork’s specialists. We have had three training and development sessions already this year and they are very valuable.”
The relationship with MatchWork has had a material effect on the functionality of DN. The latest innovation is the implementation of the “Top Jobs” feature – a good example of an idea proven elsewhere in the MatchWork network which has now been successfully implemented in Sweden.
And the future?
‘More of the same’ is Fredrik’s forecast. DN expects to continue the good relationship with MatchWork having established, to its complete satisfaction, that the ‘own brand’ approach chosen at the very beginning, clearly remains the right solution for DN’s online presence in the profitable and still expanding Swedish recruitment classified market.
“We can always get better,” concludes Fredrik “ we will continue to implement market-proven innovation and continue to look for ways to leverage the opportunities for additional revenue provided by the Internet. Our relationship with MatchWork continues to make this possible.”
“Are we satisfied overall? Yes, very.”
