Note To The Membership of RecruitingBlogs.com

Last Thursday, I received a letter from Lawyers representing Jobster letting me know I had to shut down RecruitingBlogs.com immediately or Jobster would take action. They say that RecruitingBlogs.com is causing damage to their business and that I am in violation of my non compete.

I started RecruitingBlogs.com in its current form while still at Jobster because Recruiting.com was no longer a place that I could see and interact with the Recruiting Blogosphere the way I wanted to.

When I left Recruiting.com, people started writing encouraging and positive things about RecruitingBlogs.com and people started joining. It was not my intent to cause any trouble for anyone.

I believe that RecruitingBlogs.com and all of the recruiting related blogs that are written by Recruiting Professionals help the entire community, Jobster included and I believe the more content that is submitted to Recruiting.com the better off that site it.

I will not willingly shut RecruitingBlogs.com down. The site provides something that Recruiting.com and Jobster never provided. I think it is a mistake for Jobster to have their lawyers forcibly shut down RecruitingBlogs.com. I am a share holder in Jobster and the founder of Recruiting.com and I would love to see both of those entities succeed. My goal is not to mess with that.

I spoke to Jason Goldberg on Friday of last week and he was adamant about me shutting the site down. We did however agree that he would extend the deadline for 7 more days in order for me to show him how RecruitingBlogs.com is not a threat and how the two sites can help each other so that he would drop the issue. This seems like a positive step in the right direction though I have no confidence at all that I will come up with something that satisfies him.

My gut feeling is that Jobster would much rather see the site go away and I am very surprised by it but I am really thinking hard and talking to people to see if there is a way to make everyone happy. I mean, there are over 200 people responsible for making RecruitingBlogs.com what it is and if the site is forced down, all that effort will be lost and I would feel terrible for wasting everyone’s time.

I will continue as normal until there is some sort of resolution. I completely understand if there are any people out there who choose not to participate with RecruitingBlogs.com anymore because of what may be. I am really trying to think of a way for this to be a good thing for everyone.

Comment by Chad Sowash on June 26, 2007 at 9:28pm: Note to Goldberg

Comment by Chad Sowash on June 26, 2007 at 10:18pm: TechCrunch chimes in on the subject.

Comment by Glenn Gutmacher on June 26, 2007 at 11:22pm: For Pete's sake, doesn't Jobster have a better business model than to close down other recruiting blogs so they can acquire their domain names, and steer the additional traffic to Recruiting.com / Jobster.com in hopes of landing some more members/clients?!

I suspect the reason JasonG is having fits is that RecruitingBlogs.com is picking up recruiting industry traffic at a faster rate than his (your former) site is, and he can't figure out why (answer: because it's done in an interesting way that leverages Ning functionality and engages the community... and the occasional reminder emails from industry friends about cool content helps ;-). John Sumser has run Interbiznet (useful & informative, but really a one-way communication vehicle) for so long that I fear he's having trouble relating well to what a more open format could/should be in his Recruiting.com duties.

I hope John can return to doing what he does best, and Jason can instead look at what you're doing right and find people (someONE is probably not the answer, since Joel Cheesman and Jim Stroud are happy where they are) who can emulate what's good in the RecruitingBlogs.com model (and other growing recruiting blog communities) and ultimately eclipse it by providing more value. There's room for PLENTY of recruiting blogs and even recruiting blog portals. Clamping down on this site is NOT the answer he's looking for.

Comment by snor on June 27, 2007 at 1:07am: IF YOU SIGNED A NON-COMPETE THEN YOU SHOULD HONOR IT. REGARDLESS OF HOW YOU PUT A SPIN ON YOUR STORY, HOW WILL YOU RUNNING THIS SITE MAKE IT BETTER FOR JOBSTER, THEY BOUGHT A COMPANY FROM YOU, GAVE YOU A NON-COMPETE FOR A REASON. IT IS PLAIN AND SIMPLE. I THINK YOU SHOULD SHUTDOWN AND STOP CRYING. PUT YOURSELF IN THEIR SHOES,

Comment by Mary Margaret Walker on June 27, 2007 at 7:11am: It seems like the primary issue is your non-compete. Can this site be resurrected under a different domain name by a different entity? If so, I'd like to see those who want this site to continue to brainstorm on practical ways to achieve that goal. I'm happy to step forward with whatever is needed. Best! M&M

Comment by WorkFarce on June 27, 2007 at 9:27am: http://workfarce.wordpress.com

I think Recruitingblogs.com will be just fine...rest easily, Slouch..the law is on your side..

I LOVE YOU,
WorkFarce

Comment by Shally Steckerl on June 27, 2007 at 9:31am: My suggestion - hand it over completely to someone else. That way YOU are not "in violation of your non-compete." Wheather you actually are or are not is irrelevant once you are not involved in it at all. If you are not generating revenue directly for yourself by your participation in this community then its a moot point, IMHO.

Then of course you can renew your participation as volunteer or advisor or what ever other capacity once your agreement expires.

Comment by pam claughton on June 27, 2007 at 9:59am: "I spoke to Jason Goldberg on Friday of last week and he was adamant about me shutting the site down. We did however agree that he would extend the deadline for 7 more days in order for me to show him how RecruitingBlogs.com is not a threat and how the two sites can help each other so that he would drop the issue."

If he is the one demanding you shut down stating you are in violation of your non-compete, it's on him to prove that....not on you. The court will support you, until he proves otherwise, which as a non-revenue generating site, might be very difficult to do.

Comment by Alex Rudloff on June 27, 2007 at 5:04pm: It's always nice to find ways where everyone wins (including the community), but as others have pointed out, non-competes are very hard to enforce. Especially when there is no revenue at stake. ;)

Comment by snor on June 27, 2007 at 8:35pm: Ok, i hate to be the negative one here, but what about a non -compete do you people dont understand. They are signed for exactly this said reason. The agreement was entered upon by two parties, with rules, and i am sure even though this site doesnt generate any revenue, it is still not in compliance with the non-compete agreement.

Whether you make money or not from this blog, without even seeing the non-compete, i can say with a high degree of certainty that you are in breach of the agreement. I have had to sign non-competes before, and have come up with ideas to do projects in those space, but i had to HONOR my agreement.

It doesnt matter how you want to slice the story, if you breach your agreement with them, then you should suffer the consequences. Period.. if that means handing of the site, then that is what you should do, if it means shutting down then so be it, you word is your honor, when that is lost you have nothing left.

just my 3 cents.