Job-a-matic

BlogHer Conference '07

We're sending two of our most trusted employees (read: the first two with blogs who raised their hands) to Chicago to attend BlogHer, the annual gathering of female bloggers. We are honored to be first-time sponsors of the event, which is slated to draw more than 800 bloggers to learn more about their passion (and in some cases their livelihood).

Because we adore bloggers, we have set up a special landing page for conference attendees at www.jobamatic.com/blogher. And if you attend BlogHer and set up a Job-a-Matic job board on your site (we're talking board up-and-running, not just sending in your info!), we will reward your efforts by entering you in a little contest we've set up. You'll be in the running for a $250.00 gift certificate to the spa of your choice. Not too shabby: your blog gets treated to a cool job site and you, if you're lucky, will get treated to a much-deserved day of me-time. Winners will be announced September 1, 2007, so start thinking about whether you're more into Shiatsu, Swedish, or Thai Yoga Massage!

Here are the rules, in case that's your thing. Meanwhile, Lucas, our Director of Marketing and non-practicing attorney (admittedly, one of the best kind), has been kind enough to boil it down. Attend BlogHer. Set up a job site at www.jobamatic.com/blogher. Get it live and working on your site. Live in the US or Canada (and where contests are legal -- see rules). Be 21 (no we will not ID you, unless you ask nicely.) Win. Get $250 towards a spa day. Do a dance of joy.

Good luck -- and remember, you need to play to win.

Spotlight on Stanford Publishing

Since 1978, Stanford Publishing Courses (SPC) has offered continuing education to working professionals in magazine and book publishing. SPC alumni include some of the worldwide elite of the publishing world, both in the traditional print media and in web publishing, as their Publishing on the Web workshop has been educating Web professionals in the art and business of content-rich online publishing since 1995. SPC even provides a Virtual Seminar Series, which allows cost-effective continuing education in the form of one-hour publishing seminars, delivered via phone and Web.

It’s no surprise that such a savvy, forward-thinking institution would be a proud user of Job-a-Matic.

The Stanford Publishing Courses job board (http://stanfordpublishing.jobamatic.com/) is a great example of a niche board that offers rich, relevant content for educated professionals looking for the right opportunity in both commercial publishing and related positions with academic institutions. As one of the elite academic institutions of the United States and in particular one whose long history of collaboration with the innovators of Silicon Valley has given them a cutting-edge reputation, Stanford needs to provide a rich, smart-looking, and usable interface for sophisticated users. This job board delivers it, with seamless design integration with the main SPC site.

They make their board visible and usable by linking to it right off the left-hand navigation on the home page, and all “child” pages have handy footer links so the job board is always easy to locate. At $40.00 per 30-day job listing, they’re selling modestly after about a month and a half, and making good use of the backfill feature to keep a steady flow of relevant job listings available for their users.

Holly Brady, Director of the Stanford Publishing Courses, is enthusiastic about the addition of an industry-specific job board for the SPC site and looking forward to the upcoming Job-a-matic features that let publishers further customize the look and behavior of their site. (Stay tuned!) Meanwhile, the SPC job board is already delivering great custom content to a highly discerning user base.

Do you have a Job-a-Matic job board you’d like us to feature? Drop us a line!

You're Invited!

Every Friday at noon, Simply Hired hosts a special catered lunch for employees, partners and friends.  If you live in the Bay Area (or ever plan to visit), we'd love to have you over for lunch. 

It's a great chance to meet the great people behind the product and voice your suggestions for future features. 

Please RSVP by , and we'll be sure to save you a seat!

A Bug for a Bug.

At a late night meeting this week, our director of engineering promised that sort and the location filters for backfill jobs would be fixed before the end of next week. However, our charming yet pugnacious nature refused to leave the issue alone. So we responded with the clever retort of "what if you don't?"

His answer? "I'll eat a bug."

I won't reveal whether beers were involved, but there is no denying that this idea is brilliant. We are even considering authoring a paper...

But since we like to think of all of you as one big happy family, we want to let you pick the bug he eats, if he doesn't deliver.