ZipRecruiter Falls After Pulling Guidance on Erratic Job Market

ZipRecruiter Inc. withdrew its annual earnings guidance due to “atypical hiring patterns” in the first half of the year, saying its customers are increasingly unwilling to pay for job postings and it no longer has a view on when that will change.

(Bloomberg) — ZipRecruiter Inc. withdrew its annual earnings guidance due to “atypical hiring patterns” in the first half of the year, saying its customers are increasingly unwilling to pay for job postings and it no longer has a view on when that will change. 

The recruitment company withdrew is full year adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization target of $178 million to $192 million due to “the rapidity and inconsistency of a cooling hiring environment”, management said in a shareholder letter Tuesday. It also opted not to give full year revenue guidance for a second consecutive quarter. 

“The number of job openings and employers’ willingness to pay for those job openings has been declining significantly from the peaks of 2021 and 2022,” management said in the letter, adding that the pullback is widespread — small, medium and enterprise employers are all posting fewer jobs and spending less. 

Still, ZipRecruiter did provide some insight into its full year outlook, saying it believes it will achieve adjusted ebitda margins in the low-to-mid-20% range, citing a “wide range of revenue scenarios.”

Revenue guidance for the third quarter of $147 million to $153 million missed the average analyst estimate of $171 million, sending its shares down as much as 14% in postmarket trading. 

The company cut its staff by 20% in late May citing a broad slowdown in hiring. The cuts, about half of which were in sales and customer support, were to be mostly complete by the end of June.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.