After Divorce, Making Ends Meet

    Shannon Davis knew she needed a more flexible work arrangement. And she knew she wasn't alone.    

The former Ernst & Young manager and busy mother of two launched BeyondMotherhood.com this October from her Cleveland home to connect mothers who are looking for part-time work arrangements with employers who offer them. It's a network she thinks is particularly useful for mothers whose work situations are affected by divorce.   

 "I have a couple of friends who have been stay-at-home moms and they're in the process of going through a divorce," says Davis. "They're in a position where they have to go back to work to support themselves and help with child support for their children."    

Davis' new company  joins a growing group of online job boards targeted to moms looking for flexible or part-time jobs. They are among an emerging category of niche job boards that focus on lifestyle rather than job specialty, like SnagAJob.com, for hourly  workers, and GrooveJob.com for teens and students. Such  job boards are attracting increasing attention  from recruiters as retiring Baby Boomers and job-hopping younger workers create job openings faster than employers can fill them.   

"Recruiters are going to be receptive to all of this because they have no choice," says consultant Peter Conti, Jr. senior vice president of Borrell Associates Inc., a Williamsburg, Va., research and consulting firm that tracks local advertising and helps online companies develop executive strategies.    

His company's research shows that niche job boards are stealing market share from the big boards like Monster.com and Yahoo! Hotjobs  because they  reduce the fire hose effect of  the general job boards and connect employers with the specific kinds of workers they need. This is particularly helpful as companies look for new hires among stay-at-home parents and retirees.    

Davis says she came up with the idea for BeyondMotherhood.com while talking with her girlfriends. "We'd say we're all amazing, educated, talented women and there should be a way we can be with our children, but still leverage all we've done over the years."    

Now her site, which she describes as a "Monster.com for moms," has lined up 60 employers ranging from retailers to consulting firms who she says will start  posting jobs in February. That's when she expects the 350 women who have registered so far will grow to 1,000 women looking for part-time or contract work. "The majority of the employers are very excited," she says. "They have a need and they  didn't know how to approach women. They know they're talented and educated, but they didn't know how to find them."    

The founders of CareerWomen.com got in on the niche job board game early, launching their job board for women 11 years ago to help companies interested in diversity hire qualified candidates. The firm now called Career Exposure Network expanded to offer DiversitySearch.com, MBACareers.com and offers jobs from thousands of employers, according to the company's director of marketing Lisa MacKenzie. "The founders thought there was an opportunity to utilize the web to serve a distinct market, to target different demographics," she says.