Workthing.com, the career portal owned by the Guardian Media Group, has acquired e-cruiter PeopleBank for an undisclosed sum.

The deal, announced on November 30, creates one of the leading online recruitment offerings in the UK, with over 225,000 candidate records.

Negotiations are thought to be have been instigated by Andy Baker, managing director of Workthing, who admired what had been achieved by Bill Shipton, his counterpart at PeopleBank. ‘I’ve been an admirer of Bill and what he and his team have achieved at PeopleBank for some time,’ Baker explained. Shipton joins Workthing’s board as commercial director.

The deal is one of the first between online recruitment sites with different business models. Workthing is advertising-based while PeopleBank operates the database search model. This is seen as one of the most attractive aspects of the acquisition.

‘This is a great deal,’ said Baker. ‘Most HR managers and line managers want a single point of contact to catch a response, whether it is a newspaper ad or site online.’

Baker denied that the deal would lead to cuts in staff: ‘Job losses will not be a big feature of the deal - we’re acquiring PeopleBank’s corporate recruitment site team, something Workthing doesn’t have.’