The agreement, unveiled Monday, November 27, will create co-branded online recruitment sites for 36 of Freedom’s newspapers, which include The Orange County Register, and eight television stations. This is the first deal between a job board and a media company that encompasses television properties, says Michael Mathieu, president of Freedom Interactive.

Besides its partnership with Freedom, Monster announced a similar accord with the North Jersey Media Group of Hackensack, New Jersey. The alliance will give Monster access to northern New Jersey, northern Pennsylvania and Hawaii through such publications as The Bergen Record, the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

Monster’s media alliances now number 43 daily newspapers and eight television properties. Terms of the deals were not disclosed. The co-branded sites will be launched beginning in December and continuing into early 2007.

The string of partnerships comes on the heels of Yahoo HotJobs’ alliance with seven publishers—Hearst Newspapers, Belo Corp., Cox Newspapers Inc., Journal Register Co., Lee Enterprises Inc., MediaNews Group and E.W. Scripps Co.—which was announced last week. That deal called for the distribution of classified recruitment ads online and across 38 states through a network of 176 newspapers.

Mathieu says Freedom’s partnership with Monster offers convenience and effectiveness for job recruiters, who can buy ads for print or online from a single source.

They also will have access to bundled packages, which enable them to advertise a job opening and gain access to Monster’s extensive database, which draws some 40,000 new résumés each day, Mathieu says.

The Monster-Freedom deal also allows the job board to forge what Monster North America president Doug Klinger has referred to as a localization strategy—a tactic that gives Monster’s broad, national brand a personal touch in smaller markets. The job board believes its partnerships will help it reach new audiences nationwide, says Monster spokeswoman Danielle Perry.

Freedom’s network spans 16 states, with print properties that include The Colorado Springs Gazette and the East Valley Tribune in Mesa, Arizona. The company’s television properties serve Chattanooga, Tennessee; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Albany, New York.

Monster initiated its localization strategy in July through a partnership with Philadelphia Media Holdings, which owns The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com. Since the deal, there has been a 25 percent increase in the number of page views recorded on Philly.com's career page, according to Monster.