Yahoo! HotJobs BIG GAME PLAN Helps Job Seekers Discover Their Dream Job

NEW YORK, NY -- January 17, 2005 -- Beginning today, Yahoo! HotJobs (Nasdaq: YHOO), a leader in the online recruitment industry, is launching THE BIG GAME PLAN, a national sweepstakes that will award eight lucky participants an up close and personal opportunity to discover their dream job.

Yahoo! HotJobs is teaming with top companies nationwide to offer short-term experiences in the television, publishing, fashion, music, automotive, food & beverage, entertainment and athletics industries. Whether it’s walking the red carpet with reporters from Star Magazine, shadowing famous fashion designer Cynthia Rowley, or learning the ins and outs of professional football from record-breaking wide receiver Amani Toomer, each is a unique hands-on opportunity for job seekers still searching for their dream job. The Yahoo! HotJobs promotion launches on January 17 and will be active through February 8, 2005. Log on to http://www.hotjobs.com to enter.

January is a popular time to job hunt due in large part to the inevitable focus on New Year’s resolutions and the fact that HR hiring budgets are often renewed this time of the year.

"As the job market continues to improve, Yahoo! HotJobs is here to help people determine their true career aspirations" said Dan Finnigan, executive vice president and general manager at Yahoo! HotJobs. "We hope that THE BIG GAME PLAN encourages millions of job seekers to achieve their employment goals in 2005"

THE BIG GAME PLAN offers a chance for eight lucky winners to shadow noted business leaders in some of the most exciting industries. Yahoo! HotJobs invites job seekers to "get in the game" by logging on to www.hotjobs.com, submitting or updating their resume, and entering to win one of the following short-term experiences (full descriptions available on Yahoo! HotJobs website):

-- Star Magazine: Travel to Los Angeles to find out what it really takes to keep up with the stars. Tag along with a celebrity reporter and hear the hottest gossip before it hits the pages of everybody’s favorite celebrity news magazine. Hit the town for a red carpet extravaganza, where you’ll see the action first hand.

-- TLC’s What Not to Wear: We’re inviting you on a whirlwind tour of the TLC hit show What Not to Wear. Join hosts Stacy London and Clinton Kelly of the popular series famous for fashion interventions. Explore New York’s hottest boutiques to see how filming locations are secured, wardrobe changes are supervised and how the experts shop for the show. If you’re lucky, you might even get to help pick out the hosts’ wardrobes!

-- Conde Nast/Cargo Magazine: Cargo, the preeminent buyers’ guide for men, offers the chance to interact with the creative and dynamic people responsible for its success. You will travel to New York City for three days, where you will get to experience a power lunch with Cargo editors and attend and assist on a real magazine photo shoot. Then it’s on to help test gadgets and new products and see how this magazine comes together right before your eyes. And yes, your work could actually be published!

-- Epitaph Records: Visit top indie record label Epitaph, the present and past home of bands such as Bad Religion, Pennywise, NOFX, Rancid, the Offspring and Tom Waits. Spend three days in Los Angeles behind the scenes learning the ins and outs of everything from A&R, radio promotions, sales and public relations. You’ll even get a chance to attend a live show and hang out backstage with one of the bands!

-- Fashion Designer Cynthia Rowley: Join the glamorous world of the New York fashion industry and spend three days working alongside world-famous fashion designer Cynthia Rowley as she plans her Spring/Summer ’06 collection and oversees the ’Swell’ lifestyle line. Ms. Rowley’s staff will show you the inner workings of the industry, and a lunch with Ms. Rowley will give you the opportunity to learn the secrets of the trade.

-- Godiva Chocolate Company: Spend three days of indulgence with one of the most prominent chocolate makers in the world. Attend exclusive tasting sessions with the Godiva Chefs, participate in high-end shopping tours at Godiva boutiques and top department stores in New York City and learn how to make their luxurious chocolate covered strawberries. This is an experience for serious chocolate lovers.

-- Amani Toomer: Shadow pro football wide receiver Amani Toomer for a day. You may visit the practice area and see the inner workings of the sports business such as personal conditioning, watching film reels, and player strategy sessions. Or perhaps you’ll meet some of the people involved in the business -- coaches, agents, etc. -- and even get a glimpse of Amani’s extracurricular public responsibilities through the eyes of his children’s charity TURF (Toomer Urban Recreation Fund), which focuses on providing assistance to underprivileged youths.

-- Consumer Reports Auto Test Center: Do you dream of driving the newest cars in the U.S.? Here is a once in a lifetime opportunity to spend three exciting days with David Champion, senior director of Consumer Reports’ Auto Test Center and his professionally-trained engineers. You will be there as David and his staff oversee their extensive auto testing operations at the department’s site in East Haddam, Conn., the largest independent consumer automobile testing center in the U.S.! Watch as David’s team of auto engineers push cars to their limits on the test track. Ride with engineers and chat with them over lunch. Results of those auto tests are presented monthly in Consumer Reports magazine and online at www.ConsumerReports.org.

In developing THE BIG GAME PLAN, Yahoo! HotJobs conducted extensive job seeker research. According to the results, more than three out of four Americans (78 percent) believe there is a dream job out there for them...yet less than a third believes their current job is "the one" Curiously, the biggest challenge Americans face in pursuing their ultimate job is that they don’t actually know what their "dream job" might be. Indeed, finding the perfect career path is a challenge that ranks right up there in difficulty with finding the love of your life.

The Yahoo! HotJobs survey(1) also indicated that over 50 percent of respondents said they would take a pay cut or pursue an unpaid internship or apprenticeship to land their dream job.

"Everyone assumes that job seeking is always about salary and benefits, but we’re finding more and more that people are willing to forgo the usual perks and salary in exchange for finding a career that really complements their personality and lifestyle" said Marc Karasu, vice president of marketing at Yahoo! HotJobs. "People will accept internships or work for free just to expose themselves to a job and get a foot in the door"

About Yahoo! HotJobs

As a leader in the online recruiting industry, Yahoo! HotJobs (www.hotjobs.com) has revolutionized the way people manage their careers and the way companies hire talent. Yahoo! HotJobs’ tools and advice put job seekers in control of their careers and make it easier and more cost-effective for employers and staffing firms to find qualified candidates. In addition to its popular consumer job board, Yahoo! HotJobs provides employers, recruiters, and staffing agencies with progressive recruiting solutions and hiring management software.

About Yahoo!

Yahoo! Inc. is a leading provider of comprehensive online products and services to consumers and businesses worldwide. Yahoo! is the No. 1 Internet brand globally and the most trafficked Internet destination worldwide. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., Yahoo!’s global network includes 25 world properties and is available in 13 languages.

(1) More than 1,000 consumer responses were collected between December 22 and December 27, 2004 as part of an omnibus survey conducted by International Communications Research.

Contact Information

Lauren Meller

Media Contact

Yahoo! HotJobs

Contact via E-mail