The idea is that this will help recruiters tie their dollars directly to their results. The recruitment community will get its first look at the product at the upcoming Society for Human Resource Management conference starting June 28 in New Orleans.

"Recruiters are being asked to find top talent using fewer resources than ever, and Yahoo!’s Pay Per Candidate model gives them the tools to increase the accountability of their listings," says Yahoo! HotJobs Vice President and General Manager Chris Merritt." With recruiters facing resume overload in today’s job market, the Pay Per Candidate solution will allow them to spend their time and budget on only the best candidates."

According to Yahoo’s site, Pay Per Candidate lets users:

- Closely manage costs for your online recruiting needs.

- Cap the number of Applies per job and re-allocate unused Applies to other jobs throughout the term of your contract.

- Save time, because when you use the HotJobs application process, you no longer have to evaluate candidates that haven’t been pre-screened by your questionnaire.

Recruiters can choose one of two application methods when using Pay Per Candidate: candidates complete the entire job application on the HotJobs site, or candidate clicks-through to their company’s hire site. With the first option, recruiters have the ability to pay only for pre-screened candidates. With the second, recruiters keep candidates on their career website for the application process.

More information about Pay Per Candidate can be found on this FAQ page (pdf). What do you think about the concept? 

Visits to career development websites grew 20% YoY, according to Nielsen, rising 41.5 million visitors in January 2008 to just under 50 million in January this year.

The vast majority of visitors to career development sites, around 17.8 million, are aged 35-49. However, Nielsen found a significant surge in visitors aged 65 and older, increasing 41% from 2.5 million unique visitors in January 2008 to 3.6 million in January 2009.  

It appears the need to generate income is motivating the older generation to stay in work, especially during difficult and uncertain financial times when their nest-eggs are less than secure, and they are turning to the Internet to seek out jobs. For many older job seekers who have lost long-term jobs, the Internet is a new medium through which to find new positions and opportunities exist for niche content to attract them.

This trend looks set to continue, according to a report out last year from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They state that while the total labor force is projected to increase by 8.5% between 2006 and 2015, when broken down by age group some very different trends emerge. In particular, workers aged 55-64 are expected to rise by 36.5%, but the most dramatic surge will be among workers aged 65+ – up an incredible 80% as Baby Boomers flood the job market. 

Overall, workers aged 65 and over are predicted to make up 6.1% of the total labor force by 2016, up from 3.6% in 2006.

In January CareerBuilder was the most trafficked job site with 20.8 million unique visitors. Yahoo! HotJobs came in second with 11.8 million visitors, while Monster.com was third with 9.5 million visitors.

GateHouse teamed up with Yahoo “as part of a larger local media consortium to provide recruitment advertising services to its daily and more than 160 weekly newspapers nationwide,” according to a press release.  Those 160-ish weeklies are also, according to release, the network’s first.

But there are just 160 (or so) of them.  Editor & Publisher writes, “The chain publishes about 1160 weeklies.”  Typos happen to the best of us, however, and another part of the article is illuminating: “GateHouse, principally owned by the private equity group Fortress Investment Group, has recently put an emphasis on increasing the Web presence of its community papers.”

Aligning its name with Yahoo’s should certainly help the company achieve that – as I suppose the existence of this article proves.  And as a bonus, GateHouse’s shares appeared to receive a slight bump upwards this morning due to the announcement.

Yahoo Says Americans Work Too Much

One day, I imagine I’ll have to violate my own rules. I’ve already caved in regard to using a cell phone at all. I have an answering machine. Sometimes I’m not home. Deal with it, I’ll call you back. Unfortunately, that plan didn’t completely stick. My cell number is the only number some people have. Ho hum.

Yahoo HotJobs just released new data showing that around a quarter of survey respondents felt that wireless devices kept them "on a permanent corporate leash" and that they were easily distracted by work-related email and calls during personal time.

That’s not as many as I thought would feel that way, especially since two-thirds of American respondents said they jack into work even while on vacation. Now, vacation is where I really draw the line. Work doesn’t exist on vacation. Period.

It turns out most people seem to like the flexibility – but Yahoo worries we might be overdoing it.

"Wireless devices have become a professional reality," said vice president of marketing for Yahoo! HotJobs Susan Vobejda, "so it’s important for people to set limits on when and how to disengage in order to maintain work-life balance.

"With 67 percent of respondents admitting to having used a wireless device to connect with work while on vacation, signs indicate that the American workforce may be facing burnout."

Vobejda says all that connectivity has changed the physical parameters of the workplace, and has extended the workday. And she be right about burn out.

An American in the 21st Century has to work 25 years to get the same number of paid vacation days that are mandatory minimums in Europe. In all, according to this source, American workers put in almost 400 more hours per year than their European counterparts. That’s TEN weeks. Well, eight weeks, if we’re talking Stateside hours.

Wireless connectivity is only increasing the work-a-holism. Twenty-seven percent of respondents admitted being so attached to their wireless device that the only time they’re not texting, talking, emailing, or monitoring work is when they’re sleeping.

Bet the missus doesn’t like that much, either. A third said they found it more difficult to get their point across through electronic means than conversation. So next time you tell her you love her and want her, it may be a good idea to use your voice box instead of your inbox.

Despite the reservations of the admitted few, most respondents to Yahoo! HotJobs’ survey appreciated the flexibility wireless connectivity offered them. Almost half reported they volunteered for virtual work access. Eighty-one percent stay connected with work via mobile phone; 65 percent via laptop; and 19 percent use smartphones.   

Interestingly, they say the always-on lifestyle they’ve adopted "enhance" the work-life balance – something I’ll take their words for and continue to turn off when I get home: 

The rest of Yahoo! HotJobs findings: 

The majority (61 percent) agree that wireless devices make them feel like they have more freedom;

Sixty-five percent say wireless devices allow them to work remotely and have a more flexible schedule;

Almost half (48 percent) report that wireless devices allow them to spend more time with family and friends; and

An overwhelming 70 percent agree that they are more productive thanks to a wireless device.