Job platforms

How karriere.at and Stepstone fight for customers

Georg Konjovic, head of karriere.at (left), and Nikolai Dürhammer, boss of Stepstone Austria

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Reinhard Holl (Konjovic links) und Martin Jöchl (Dürhammer rechts))

The duel on the job platform market promises to be exciting. Two major providers are fighting for the clicks of job seekers and the advertisements of companies: karriere.at and Stepstone. We analyze where the two can score points and what other alternatives there are on the market for online job ads.

It's a David versus Goliath battle, with the smaller David having the edge in the Austrian job platform market.

The giant Goliath is the global company Stepstone, a subsidiary of the German Axel Springer Group, with activities in Europe, America and even Africa. Stepstone generates an annual turnover of over one billion euros. "We are a human resources high-tech group and have over 1000 software developers internationally," says Stepstone Austria CEO Nikolai Dürhammer.

The market leader in Austria is karriere.at GmbH, based in Linz
In Austria, on the other hand, karriere.at GmbH, based in Linz, is number one. The company focused on online job advertisements at an early stage. As of Thursday evening, karriere.at offered more than 20,000 vacancies in the app and on the website. By comparison. Just under 10,000 vacancies were listed on Stepstone. karriere.at CEO Georg Konjovic: "We have been around for almost 20 years and we are the clear market leader in Austria."

The domestic job platform karriere.at currently lists more than 20,000 vacancies.

(Bild: karriere.at)

Traditional job applications are a thing of the past
In January, karriere.at also took over the smaller job platform hokify, in which it had previously held a stake, in its entirety. Konjovic: "hokify has a clear focus on the app and on a simpler job-finding process. This no longer involves a traditional application with a CV, instead you have a job profile." hokify therefore appeals more to the younger target group.

Both karriere.at and Stepstone also operate other platforms. For example, karriere.at also includes the jobs.at website. Konjovic: "This specializes in jobs for blue-collar workers." Stepstone's portfolio also includes the websites hotelcareer.at and gastrojobs.at for vacancies in the hotel and catering industry. Stepstone also offers the website unijobs.at for temporary, part-time and student jobs.

Stepstone is active worldwide. In addition to stepstone.at, the Group also operates the websites hotelcareer.at, gastrojobs.at and unijobs.at.

(Bild: stepstone.at)

Applicants pay nothing, companies do
All websites can be used free of charge by job seekers. Ideally, applicants provide information about themselves (such as place of residence, qualifications, skills, etc.) in order to find more suitable job offers. The platforms earn money by selling job advertisements to companies.

The competition is fierce: kronejobs.at is also strong in Austria, while willhaben.at also offers a "Jobs" section. Internationally, there are also the social job networks Xing and, above all, LinkedIn, a subsidiary of Microsoft. Dürhammer: "LinkedIn is one of the biggest global players in e-recruiting."

Younger people more willing to change jobs
In general, the prospects for the industry are good because, according to Dürhammer: "People are increasingly willing to change jobs. The younger generation in particular is much more willing to change jobs, and loyalty to employers is no longer as strong as it used to be. Many people who already have a job say to themselves when they discover something else: I'll have a look at that, I'll apply for it."

Konjovic from karriere.at also confirms this: "Companies used to be able to choose who they hired, but now it's different: applicants can increasingly choose which company they want to work for."