New London business says layoffs part of strategic shift

New London — The downtown technology firm JobTarget laid off several employees Thursday as it shifts toward an international focus, the company said.

Tristan Jordan, vice president of marketing and partner relations at the State Street firm that runs hundreds of Internet job boards targeting specialized professions and industries, said the layoffs numbered fewer than 10. He did not have a specific figure but denied layoff rumors that had placed the number at 20.

Most of the workers had been part-time employees responsible for job postings, he confirmed.

“We have no additional plans for further decisions like this,” Jordan said. “The goal is to grow jobs, but we need to be as strategic as possible.”

Jordan added that the layoffs were not related to corporate performance, which has been strong.

JobTarget has been growing quickly on three continents, he said. The company, which last year during a jobs-tour visit by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was employing about 70 people, now has 150 employees worldwide, including offices in England and the Philippines.

“We’re in the middle of a growth period,” Jordan said. “We’re going more international.”

Jordan said JobTarget is finding more business overseas, where its services are years ahead of competitors.

With multiple locations, he added, companies often identify functions that can be performed more efficiently by one office rather than another. Customer-support centers, he added, must be able to operate in different time zones, and it made sense to move these services to the Philippines rather than operate 24 hours a day in New London.

Despite cutbacks on the job-postings side of the business locally, JobTarget’s New London headquarters continues to hire for other positions, he said, including in sales and management. Overall, he said, jobs have been growing at the city firm over the past several years, and he didn’t expect the trend to begin going into reverse.

“It’s part of keeping the business strong,” Jordan said of the JobTarget changes. “It’s not the start of a strategy to lower staff over time. ... We still intend to grow in the U.S.”

l.howard@theday.com