Oracle buys SelectMinds to boost capabilities gained from Taleo acquisition

Oracle on Monday said it has agreed to acquire SelectMinds, a maker of "social talent sourcing software," in a bid to flesh out the capabilities it gained through this year's US$1.9 billion acquisition of Taleo.

Terms of the deal, which is expected to close this year, were not disclosed.

SelectMinds' software aims to help organisations find high-quality job candidates through social media channels. Beyond posting job ads on sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, companies can create "talent communities" and help their current employees share information about openings, according to SelectMinds' website.

"Recruiting candidates through employee referrals is widely acknowledged as the most effective method to find talent through trusted contacts," said Thomas Kurian, executive vice president of product development at Oracle, in a statement.

SelectMinds' products already work with Oracle's cloud-based recruiting, performance management and HCM (human capital management) software, according to the statement.

Oracle's Taleo acquisition was seen as a competitive response to SAP's purchase of Taleo competitor SuccessFactors. While Taleo's products are centered on talent management, Oracle is aligning them as a suite along with its Fusion HCM product, which covers areas such as payroll.

Software vendors are eager to get a strong foothold in the HCM market because the applications can potentially be licensed for many or all employees within a company, compared to more specialized software, which may only be used by a single department.

That desire was highlighted by IBM's recently announced $1.3 billion acquisition of HCM vendor Kenexa. IBM has long maintained that it has no interest in being a business applications provider and competing with the likes of Oracle and SAP, but the Kenexa deal marked a shift in that position.