The deal marks the second time in the past few months that Monster has bested CareerBuilder. In August, Monster rolled out a co-branded site with Philadelphia Media Holdings, owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com. Both papers had been CareerBuilder partners.

The Akron and the Philadelphia media properties were once part of the Knight Ridder newspaper empire. Following McClatchy Co.'s $6.5 billion acquisition of Knight Ridder, these and other outlets were sold off. Knight Ridder also held a stake in CareerBuilder. Under this vast umbrella, the job board was official partner of these and all other Knight Ridder media holdings.

A spokeswoman for CareerBuilder said the company had not renewed its affiliation with the Beacon Journal following the divestiture of the paper by McClatchy, but that the job board expects to continue driving substantial traffic and value in the market and maintain its leadership position.

"This agreement further illustrates Monster's commitment to accelerate our business by creating alliances that drive local market share," says Peter Newton, senior vice president and general manager of small and medium business at Monster.

In addition, the company hopes to leverage these types of deals to personalize its brand and tap customers in key markets. Since the launch of its venture with Philadelphia Media Holdings, Monster has experienced a 20 percent increase in job listings locally.

The Beacon Journal, now owned by Black Press subsidiary Sound Publishing Holdings, decided to partner with Monster to facilitate growth in the area of online recruitment advertisement, says Ed Moss, publisher of the paper and Ohio.com.

"Combining the strength of Monster, the leading online careers and recruitment resource, with the local strength of the Akron Beacon Journal and Ohio.com will provide advertisers with unparalleled reach and results that meet their employment needs," he says.

The Beacon Journal has a circulation of more than 286,000 during the week and 406,000 on Sunday. Ohio.com registered 334,000 unique visitors during August. The co-branded Web portal is expected to go live in mid-November.

This latest agreement underscores a burgeoning trend in the job board industry toward more inter-media alliances. Philadelphia Media Holdings and the Akron Beacon Journal may not be the only ones looking to play musical chairs with their online partners.

Jody Lodovic, president of MediaNews Group—which purchased the San Jose Mercury News and the Contra Costa Times from McClatchy—has made public comments about exploring an online classified advertisement relationship with Yahoo HotJobs.

—Gina Ruiz