Las Vegas newspapers seeing decline in ‘help wanted’ ads

Kevin Ferguson

Tuesday, June 19, 2001 | 10:30 a.m.

If you are hunting for a job, you may have noticed that your newspaper's "help wanted" section has gotten thinner and thinner.

"The ... reason is because the economy is down," said Charles Diederich, director of recruitment advertising for the Newspaper Association of America, which represents 1,400 newspapers around the country.

"The latest ad rates are down, and that's because jobs are down and fewer employers are hiring," he said during a job recruitment conference last month in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas recruiting executives say they have cut advertising spending because they have accumulated a database of job candidates during this slowing economic period.

These cuts in cities nationwide are tough for the newspaper industry, which is also dealing with high newsprint costs.

"At a big metro paper, classified ads could account for as much as 50 percent of total revenue, and recruitment ads could make up 30-40 percent of the classified section," said John Morton, president of Washington, D.C.-based Morton Research. "So for a metro paper, it could be a very critical component."

Morton said newsprint costs have risen 15-20 percent since the first quarter of last year.

Help wanted ads are typically one of three major components of a newspaper's classified section. The other two are automotive and real estate.

In Las Vegas, the number of employment ads for the Las Vegas Sun and the Las Vegas Review-Journal in May was down 28 percent from May 2000, said an executive at the newspapers' joint advertising department.

"The reason is there is less job growth, not a lot of resorts opening up and companies are not filling as many positions," said Randa Todd, classified advertising director for the Sun and Review-Journal.

The Sun and Review-Journal are separate newspapers with competing editorial departments, but have combined circulation and advertising departments.

The slowdown of recruitment advertising has been most noticeable in the past four months, experts say, and is largely attributed to the decline of the technology industry.

"Last year we saw a lot of dot-coms advertising, and with those companies going out of business, it has resulted in double-digit declines in revenue for newspapers," Morton said.

Some newspaper markets were affected more than others, but even newspapers in markets with small tech industries have felt the pinch.

That's because the Internet reaches a global audience, and companies not even based in Las Vegas, such as Monster.com, used Southern Nevada newspapers to promote their business, Todd said.

Competition from online job sites is not causing the downturn in revenue for printed classifieds, Morton said.

"It has not been a big factor and that's partly because newspapers have been very aggressive in adding an online recruitment component," Morton said.

"Newspapers are selling (classified ad space) in print, and offering it online for a slight premium."

Another reason for thinning classified sections is that many companies have been turning to staffing firms to find job candidates. This has led to a consolidation of "help wanted" ads in newspapers.

"So the numerous independent businesses may not be placing as many small ads in newspapers, and instead I will place a huge ad (representing all my clients)," said Kitty Egger, regional manager in Las Vegas for staffing firm Eastridge.

Companies are also turning to an old-fashion hiring system: offering referral bonuses to their own employees who recommend quality talent.

"The idea is that if an employee recommends someone, (the candidate) comes with the air of credibility," Egger said.