Newspapers Try Expanded Help-Wanted Service

By: Lucia Moses Signaling a shift from the days when help-wanted advertising sales essentially meant order-taking, some papers are trying a new service that attempts to finish the job for employers.

The Center for American Jobs (CAJ), a recruitment-services firm, tries to help employers fill openings by combing a paper's database of job seekers for qualified applicants. It's an extension of its service that lets job seekers submit a profile to the newspaper either online or by phone. The system is expected to work best at filling hourly or entry-level jobs that turn over often.

"We're taking the customer-satisfaction service one step higher," said Jonathan D. Ahlbrand, CEO and president of the Harper Woods, Mich.-based company.

The McClatchy Co. plans to adopt the system at The News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash., and eventually all its papers. Fraser Van Asch, vice president of business development for Nando Media, McClatchy's Internet subsidiary, saw the potential to help McClatchy's papers compete for hourly job ads and maintain their position as leading recruitment outlets. And since CAJ makes money by taking a cut of the upsell amount, he said, there's almost no risk to the papers.