By Gestin Suttle, LocalBusiness.com
Jul 12, 2000 02:13 PM ET

SEATTLE, July 12 (LocalBusiness.com) -- Job seekers interested in the rapidly expanding field of public relations have a new job-search Web tool from Futureworkplace Inc., a company aimed at providing recruiting services for high-growth industries.

The new site is www.workinpr.com.

It's the first of what the company hopes will be many industry-specific sites for fields that are on the fast track to high growth, Allison May, sales and marketing manager for Futureworkplace, told LocalBusiness.com.

"We're looking to replicate it for, for instance, the HR (human resources) industry," she said.

The site was created in partnership with the Public Relations Society of America (www.prsa.org) and the Council of Public Relations Firms (www.prfirms.org).

Futureworkplace's plan is to create more in-depth, or "vertical," sites specific to an industry, rather than the more far-reaching approach offered by career sites such as Monster.com or Hotjobs.com, May said.

Research shows that "a lot of (employers) are going to be focusing more of their money on the vertical rather than the broad-based" job sites, May said.

The company cited research from Forrester, which predicts that within four years, 57 percent of the $22 billion spent on online ads will be spent on such vertical sites.

According to a survey by Futureworkplace, which questioned chief executives and human resources managers from 30 worldwide public relations firms, nearly 70 percent consider attracting qualified candidates to their agencies to be their biggest challenge.

But these firms, on average, reported spending about 5 to 10 percent of their total human resources budget on recruitment.

"PR companies need more customized, cost-effective recruiting solutions,"

Jack Bergen, president of the Council of Public Relations Firms, said in a news release.

In the workinpr.com PR recruitment survey, the top incentive for companies to recruit online was cost savings. The average cost to fill a job opening using the Web is $152 compared to $1,383 for traditional recruiting methods, such as placing ads in daily newspapers or hiring search firms, according to a study by Thomas Weisel Partners LLC.

The PR survey also showed that 80 percent of firms recruit online, and that all of them plan to increase online spending over the next year.

A main goal of workinpr.com's partnerships is to draw new candidates from other professions to the PR industry. The company said PR agencies need to expand their recruiting into non-traditional fields - such as law, health care and education - and attract applicants with transferable skills to combat the intense shortage of candidates.

The outlook for public relations and related careers is expected to grow faster than average - 21 to 35 percent - than all U.S. occupations through 2008, according to the U.S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"Increasingly intense domestic and global competition in products and services offered to consumers should require greater marketing, promotional and public relations efforts by managers," the Bureau said.

Growth may be particularly high for management and public relations firms as businesses increasingly contract out their public relations needs, rather than hire additional full-time staff, according to the Labor department.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the median annual income of advertising, marketing, promotions, public relations and sales managers in 1998 (the most recent full year available) was $57,300.

All workinpr.com content and services are free for candidates. Employers pay $150 per posting to place ads. Volume packages are also available, in addition to advertising placements, such as banner ads.

In addition to the PR council, workinpr.com is partnering with The Public Relations Society of America to develop PR industry research and educational programs at universities and colleges throughout the country.

Futureworkplace, based in Seattle, was formed in February. It is privately owned and has 10 employees. The company is backed by seed money from its principals, May said.

Gestin Suttle covers Seattle for LocalBusiness.com. E-mail her with story ideas or comments.