You would think Sales Representatives be the last to go, since they’re the one going out to get clients and make a sale. Nope, not JobFox, they laid off a bunch of their sales workforce to better meet 2009 expectations. WTF are you thinking!? Here’s a simple test to tell if your CEO is clueless.
A better approach is to layoff across departments. Do you really need 5 developers when your application is in maintenance mode? You don’t need those software testers either, have the developers do the test for now. Get rid of the Admin staff, do the crap yourself. If you are not hiring any time soon, get rid of the recruiter.
I would keep those sales reps around (yes, even when the market is slow), but shift their focus on internal improvements / developments. Have them contribute to application design and/or assist with testing (quickest ways to learn an app, is to test one). When the market is ready, your sales reps is full of knowledge - selling is a breeze.
Statement from Barry Lawrence, Jobfox PR Director (here)
“We feel fortunate that we have managed the growth of our business wisely so that we are not forced to trim, like many U.S. start-ups, by 30 percent or more. No further workforce adjustments are expected.” (hmmm, you sure Barry?)
About: Launched in 2005, Jobfox is the fastest growing job site on the Internet. JobFox provide what no other job site can - Introductions between highly matched job seeking professionals and employers.
Source: Cheezhead
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Unless your sales team isnt selling, you dont just keep sales people on for kicks.
Back in October, Rob McGovern said that “we appear to be a long way” from a recession. Just recently he said that “employers are still waiting to see if this is a short-term economic seizure in the market or a long-term trend”. The quiz about knowing if your CEO is clueless was created with Rob McGovern in mind. Barry the PR guy saying Jobfox is the only start-up that isn’t laying off up to 30% of their workforce is an example of Rob McGovern’s arrogance.
For starters he can focus on internal improvements / developments by firing his idiot CTO Rich Ellinger.
Congratulations Jobfox, you are the only recession proof startup company EVER. The fastest growing job site on the Internet is now becoming the fastest failing job site on the internet.
Rob McGovern will sell out and fuck the rest of the company!
There is a spin on this, no doubt. Either that or Rob McGovern really is delusional enough to think that Jobfox is recession proof.
He will probably sell it as soon as he can. Screw all the rest of the JF team…
Cheezhead, it’s a good thing you’re not a freakin’ CEO. I’m just a sales manager in a store, but if a salesperson doesn’t sell a product to consistently meet their quota, then they should be fired. Economy aside–poor performance means you should get fired. When you add in a bad economy, then you DEFINITELY have to go. Companies cannot afford dead weight. How do you know why these people got the boot, anyway? It was like 7 people that got fired. Seven hardly seems like a “bunch” with a company that large. I guess it’s good you’re not a mathematician either.
Jobfox is NOT a big company!
Also, the point here isn’ all about the sales people were let go, but the egotistic announcement that states how well they are doing despite the fact that every other company is laying off up to 30% of their workforce - AND that no further workforce changes were going to happen. Rob is spinning something that will try to add to sales by claiming how well they are doing like “come to Jobfox!!! we’re financially sound!” Fact is that it’s BS and we will laugh when we find out that Jobfox has layed off 40% of his workforce.
Who didn’t see this coming? The PR guy there was so arrogant about his statement in December touting JF as a company that was soooo much better than all the other startups. Rob spends too much time spouting off about how great his company is and how great he is because he founded Careerbuilder… that was years ago. He needs to decide whether he wants to market Jobfox or talk about how wonderful he is as founder/CEO of CB.. It’s obvious that noboday cares…