Jobpostings.ca acquires Digital Media Zone startup

A startup based at the Ryerson Digital Media Zone (DMZ) has been acquired by Jobpostings.ca, it announced today.

Fanfare has covered its Web site with a one-page notice about the transaction and say that its services will continue to be supported byJobpostings.ca. But the trio of Christopher Alleyne, Latham French, and Trevor Subryan may not be joining the Jobpostings.ca team, according to Alleyne, Fanfare’s CEO.

“We’ll be deciding if we want to continue on or if we want to pursue other ventures,” he says in an interview.

Both Fanfare and Jobpostings.ca run their Web sites on a Drupal platform, which with smooth integration of the services, Alleyne says. The firms first made contact about a possible partnership one year ago. Recently, Jobpostings.ca came back interested in a deal.

“I think they’re starting to realize how integrated things are becoming,” Alleyne says. Fanfare’s model involves various types of user profiles for different purposes – student profiles for job seeking, employer profiles to find talent, school profiles to study student activity, and student association profiles to promote extra-curricular activities.

Fanfare has been based at the DMZ since early 2010 and sought to provide employers connections to Canada’s post-secondary schools and provide job listings for entry-level positions, co-op and internship opportunities. The service was free for students to use and also helped them find extra-curricular activities that could help build employable skills and networking opportunities. While the Web service started by targeting students directly, over the past year it pivoted to a business-to-business focus offering private white labelling of its platform while Alleyne focused more on a job at TD Asset Management.

“One of the challenges we had was getting scale,” he says. “When you’re looking at IT and a Web-based business, it’s hard to communicate your value proposition to a lot of people in a country as a big as Canada.”

That’s something that Jobpostings.ca can help with, the Fanfare CEO says. Jobpostings Magazine offers a print magazine distributed at college and university campuses across Canada and accompanying online content and jobs board.

Fanfare isn’t the only firm seeking to give Generation Y guidance on starting a career after graduating. Facing large student debts, a competitive job market, and a high youth unemployment rate in an economy that is both awash in university graduates and positions that are either temporary or part-time, so-called millenials could use a helping hand in starting their careers. Toronto-based TalentEgg also provides a free service to connect recnt grads with entry-level employment opportunities and internships.

Jobpostings.ca will be purchaing Fanfare, Alleyne says. Otherwise, the financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

   Brian Jackson is the Editor at ITBusiness.ca. E-mail him at [email protected], follow him onTwitter, connect on Google+, read his blog, and check out the IT Business Facebook Page.