The founder of UK job board Jobsite, Keith Potts  today announced the launch of new digital recruitment group “Evenbase”.  Potts,  takes the helm as Chief Executive Officer of the new business, which sees new responsibilities for key personnel in the team.

This is a bold but logical move to formally combine the complimenting services offered by the companies in the group, and provide a springboard for growth globally. The plan for Evenbase was formulated during a 4 month strategy project in 2010, with much of 2011 getting all the pieces and personnel in place during 2011. Speaking to Potts, he is clearly excited by this next stage of growth, whose roots lie in a porta-cabin in Portsmouth. It’s clear in what he says that despite the success of the business, his biggest pride is in the team he has built around him during this time.

For Potts, Evenbase means the day-to-day focus moves from operational to strategic.Potts puts much of the success of the business down to people, and that they have been able to retain the entrepreneurial  characters within the business, and this has impacted on the group. It’s the people who are at the heart of everything, and it’s the people who will continue to move the business forward. They have assembled an enviable team. The purpose of the Group is explained on the newly unveiled website:

“Evenbase is a global digital recruitment group. We discover and develop intelligent recruitment services that revolutionise the matching of talent with opportunity.”

The Evenbase portfolio contains market leading digital recruitment assets including Oilcareers, Jobsite and 10 other niche, generalist and vertical sector job boards, the leading multi-poster and unified search provider Broadbean, and technology partnerships including NHS Jobs, Northcliffe Media and Johnston Press. The structure of the business sees the formation of a central group executive, with four business units, each headed by a Managing Director and shares a vision to revolutionise how candidates find work and how companies source and hire candidates domestically and globally. Keith Potts, Evenbase Chief Executive Officer, says; “Today’s announcement is a significant milestone in the group’s maturity as a business.

Potts continues; “We’ve come a long way from a family start-up as Jobsite.co.uk, to the group of market leading brands and 330 employees we have today. It’s not surprising that our ambitions outgrew our structure and operating model along the way. Although many of our brands are already operating on the international stage, we see a far greater potential for Evenbase given the synergies of our portfolio as a whole.”

I see this as an exciting progression for each of the individual business. I see the 5 big factors in recruiting forward are:

> Collaborative technologies

> Data mining and analysis

> Local focus, global reach

>Innovation

> Ease of operation and interaction

There is no doubt that with a unified approach between the brands, on and off-line presents a powerful force in the market place, and ticks all these boxes. Whilst being big names in their own right, each of the individual brands have had a largely domestic focus until recent years, that said, they have by no means been parochial in outlook. The accumulated expertise across traditional media, on-line media and job distribution places them in a unique position for growth globally. Jobsite currently power all the on-line job advertising for 55 local newspapers, and reach 60% of domestic households in the U.K. The job board business has quietly launched brands in 5 countries, and Broadbean now service 65 countries with a growing operation in Newport Beach in Orange County, USA, employing 25 people in a relatively short space of time. Over the last few years, Broadbean have been switching their product offering from essentially agency focussed, to the corporate market, numbering some significant global brands in their portfolio. The NHS are the second largest employer in the world, and it is the Jobsite portal that powers all of the NHS jobs. There collective scale has perhaps been hidden till now, behind the individual brands. I know Keith, Felix Wetzel, Strategy development Director and Broadbean founder and CEO Kelly Robinson well from their involvment and support of #tru events. The candidate is always at the heart of their business approach, and I’m confident that Evenbase, with Potts at the helm will retain this focus, and that is good news for candidates globally. I’ve been impressed by how Jobsite and Broadbean have been using the “Big Data” available to them to develop their capabilities in data analysis and predictive user functions. I’m sure this will feature in new offerings from the group. Evenbase will have 4 key areas of operation:

1. Job boards: Focusing on the delivery of superior service and solutions across the portfolio’s generalist, niche and vertical market job board brands

2. Business Solutions: Providing award-winning, scalable job board and recruitment software services to the Public and Private sectors

3. New ventures: Focused on the international expansion of key group assets and roll out of new business models and initiatives.

4. Recruitment software: Providing recruitment software solutions for multi-posting, CV search, candidate matching and reporting tools Keith Potts added “Evenbase gives us a solid foundation for both international expansion and the fulfilling of opportunities not only for our brands but also for our clients, partners and candidates. Day to-day business will continue as normal for brands within the portfolio, while the Evenbase executive team will focus on our ambition to become a truly global digital recruitment group within three years.”

The Evenbase Executive team consists of: – Keith Potts, Chief Executive Officer – Damian McCallion, Chief Operating Officer – Felix Wetzel, Strategy Development Director – Graham Potts, Group IT Director – Mike Wall, Managing Director – Job boards – Heather Wozniak, Managing Director – Business solutions – Ray Duggins, Managing Director – New ventures – Kelly Robinson, Chief Executive – Broadbean – Dan Martin, Managing Director – Broadbean This is big news in the industry, and I’m delighted in particular for Keith, Kelly and Felix, proof that good guys need not necessarily come second. While this is a great move for the businesses that form Evenbase, I’m confident that it will be good news for candidates and companies alike, and expect to see some exciting innovations emerge from these collaborations. I wish Keith,Felix, Kelly and all the team the very best for the future. I’m expecting great things,with plenty of innovation.

Bill

LINKS Evenbase.Com