Poker News

Despite the massive amounts of money made by the online poker industry it remains fairly insular in terms of employment. Once you get your foot in the door all sorts of opportunities open up to you but until you get that first shot it can be very difficult to get anyone to even look at your resume. And even after you get your first shot the recruiting businesses is highly specialized with only a handful of firms doing the bulk of the industry’s head-hunting. If you don’t know who these recruiters are it’s difficult to even hear about who’s hiring and who’s not.

With that in mind, several months ago I decided to start a website that would hopefully bridge that gap and make it easier for people to find out about jobs in the online poker industry. I’ve been playing with the idea in my spare time since then and I’m finally ready to declare that Poker Job Search is out of beta and open for business.

Basically the business model is pretty simple. My blog attracts a lot of industry people. When I go to affiliate conventions, other industry events, or even big poker tournaments I’m still awed and humbled by the number of people who claim they regularly read Bill’s Poker Blog. So it seems like a natural fit to match this type of reader with jobs being offered in the industry.

I’m not acting as a recruiter but giving recruiters a very focused audience to pitch their available jobs to. At the moment I don’t charge for submitting jobs. I would rather focus on sponsorships where recruiting agencies or HR departments are given ad placements on the site and their listings will be highlighted [see here for sponsorship information]. Although that might change in the future I think it’s a good model because any recruiting firm or HR department can post their job offerings regardless of whether or not they have a marketing budget. And for people looking for jobs that means that they’ll see more job opportunities.

And as added value I plan on doing some things that will benefit job seekers. For instance, I’ve done interviews with Chris Hughes who was formerly Director of Web Technology at Full Tilt Poker and Hilly Ehrlich who was in charge of the Empire and Fair Poker brands at Party Gaming. They talk about what their jobs are like and give advice to others considering a job in the industry. I’ve got a several other people who have expressed an interest in being interviewed so this will become a regular feature.

So, as the title of this post suggests, I would like to call on my readers for some help in getting the word out. First off, if you’re already working in the industry forward a copy of this post to someone in your HR department who might want to post their jobs directly. Or if you have friends/contacts who work as recruiters, ping them as well and tell them that they’re free to post their job offerings on the site.

Second, if you have a blog or some other type of website, I would really appreciate some link love. I’m almost certain the site doesn’t compete with whatever you’re doing (it’s a fairly unique concept) so I wouldn’t be stealing any customers from you but it would help greatly in boosting my search engine placement so more people could find the site when searching for jobs.

Here’s the URL and suggested anchor text.

<a href="http://www.pokerjobsearch.com/">Poker Jobs</a>

And while we’re on the subject of link love, as many of you may already know, I launched a rakeback [what is rakeback?] site a few months ago called Rakeback Report. It’s doing well but getting links is a bit of a pain in the ass because everybody’s afraid you’re going to steal their customers. If you’re a blogger or have a website where you can add me to a blogroll that would be greatly appreciated. Oh, and if you want to become a rakeback affiliate yourself but don’t want the hassle of doing all the heavy lifting of servicing the customers, give me a ping. I can set that up for you.

<a href="http://www.rakebackreport.com/">Rakeback Report</a>

Lastly, if you are involved in the industry at any level and would like to do an interview telling others about what it’s like and offering advice on those trying to get their foot in the door please give me a ping as I would love to feature you on the site. And that includes recruiters, affiliates, third party vendors, and the sort. If you’re involved in the industry I think your opinions and insights would be valuable.

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According to the Hollywood Reporter Leonardo DiCaprio has been attached to an as of yet unnamed film being put together by Brian Koppelman and David Levien who wrote Rounders. Paramount Studios, Koppelman, Levien, and DiCaprio are all being tight-lipped about exactly what the film is about but have said that the film is set in the world of online poker.

I guess if they want to make the movie as realistic as possible DiCaprio will need to pack on about 150 lbs for the role and his wardrobe will consist of boxer shorts and t-shirts.

Seriously though, a film at this early stage isn’t going to see movie theaters for at least a year or two (or perhaps never) so it will probably be too late to help sway public opinion about the legality of online poker but it would be a marketing coup if it launched right around the time online poker was regulated and being offered to Americans. It could serve as the second Moneymaker-Effect and get the fishies pouring onto the virtual tables in droves.

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