Recruiting.com

John's take on Small is the new big meets with rousing approval from my corner (not that my approval matters to Papa Sumser), but he's absolutely correct in his ideas that the aggregation of communities into bigger media entities is not the world-changing events we were promised in the Internet age.

"Somehow, the band of critics who see an end to Monster's dominance of the market are championing an even less likely answer...unwilling consolidation at the very expense of precision targeting. It seems particularly unlikely that small employers in local economies are going to jump for joy at the idea that they're going to get resumes from 10,000 miles away. None of the consolidation efforts even think about making it easier for job hunters in x locale. They're all about huge."

Small is the new big, because small companies and individuals now have a voice and an opportunity to make differences without having it filtered through large media companies.

But now that I've agreed, I can't help but wonder if John is making the same mistake that Thomas Friedman does in the World is Flat. Thomas Friedman's major source of criticism is that he focuses on how big media reports news of globalization because Thomas Friedman is big media. John looks at the news that hits the newspapers and electronic recruiting sites because he is one of those players.

Yes, Vertical Search companies want to be big, but vertical search is not the only game in town. They are easy to talk about because they got venture funding and they are easy for reporters to discuss. John is spending a week writing about vertical search and aggregation, not as warning, but as a self-identified trend-reader. His audience is national corporations looking for trends, and the easiest trend is talking about vertical search and generational gaps. Trends are big, and John admits he focuses on them.

So what is he missing? Why the Small people that he praises! He asks who is "making it easier for job hunters in x local?"

Zoe and Gretchen, MNHeadhunter, StlRecruiting, ButLessAboutMe, MarketingHeadhunter, MagicPotOfJobs, and a host of other local bloggers that are writing about local issues and local hiring.

I'm writing on CharlotteRecruiting.com, SeattleRecruiting.com and KCRecruiting.com, but other communities have popped up at DCRecruiting.com, Utah Bloggers, and other communities not listed as blogs.

But where are the stories on these communities and these change agents? They aren't big enough to be trends yet, but they are making a difference in their local communities. In the long run, they won't have the impact that vertical search will, but they certainly will make a difference in their local communities.

John, how about a little more press for them, and a little less press for the drive-by lawn mowers?