WBC, City and State Come Together to Keep CareerBuilder Headquarters
WBC recently worked with the City and State to retain the headquarters of the world’s leading internet recruitment site, CareerBuilder LLC (“CareerBuilder).” The Chicago-based company has 25 locations and more than 2,200 employees nationwide, in addition to several international locations.
Explosive growth starting in 2003 led CareerBuilder to put employees in temporary locations around Chicago, awaiting a permanent location decision. CareerBuilder currently has 1,415 Chicago employees in four locations (which total approximately 220,000 square feet of office space). The company considered moving as many as 1,115 of these positions to Atlanta, Georgia and/or Phoenix, Arizona.
WBC helped CareerBuilder’s executive team find good reason to stay in Chicago and narrow the cost differentials. Last week Chicago’s Community Development Commission approved $2.9 million dollars from TIF funding; the proposal will now go to the full City Council for approval. In addition, the State of Illinois promised over $13 million dollars in EDGE program funding. In turn, CareerBuilder will retain 1,415 jobs in the City of Chicago and grow an additional 185 jobs over the next 2 years, resulting in a 2010 payroll of approximately $105M.
Under the chosen “Unified Chicago Headquarters” strategy, CareerBuilder will be anchored at several major Chicago locations: 200 N. LaSalle, 8420 W. Bryn Mawr, 1111 N. Canal and 180 N. LaSalle, with total office space equaling approximately 255,000 square feet. The company will also invest in improvements and infrastructure in those locations including expanding and renovating the 200 N. LaSalle facility, furnishing the facilities and upgrading the technology infrastructure.
The 200 N. LaSalle lease commitment and expansion will be among the largest financial commitments ever made by CareerBuilder and preparing the facility will require a capital investment in excess of $11 million.
Careerbuilder is owned by the country’s premier media companies including Microsoft, Gannett, Tribune and McClatchey. The global leader in online recruitment advertising, CareerBuilder serves clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses in the United States and around the world. In 2006, the CareerBuilder Network had gross revenues in excess of $650 million.
The core of CareerBuilder’s business model is technology enabled sales professionals who sell online recruiting products and services presented from the CareerBuilder.com web-based platform. Sales professionals are supported by information technology, marketing, finance, accounting and executive leadership teams. Employees are typically college graduates; the company-wide average compensation is $67,000 a year.