Vault.com's not made of steel

Job and career site Vault.com is sending some of its own staff to the unemployment line.

The New York-based Internet company, which publishes an insider's guide to workplaces, is laying off about one-third of its staff Thursday in a cost-cutting measure. Vault employs about 100 people.

Vault.com CEO Eric Ober called the layoffs "painful but necessary" for the company's plan to be profitable before the end of the year.

"We need to make these cuts because we need to operate at a level to get us to profitability and without anticipating any outside financing," he said.

Layoffs at dot-coms have cut about 41,515 jobs from December 1999 to December 2000, according to Challenger Gray & Christmas, an international outplacement firm. In December alone, about 10,459 jobs at Internet companies were lost.

Vault.com, named one of the fastest-growing technology companies last year by Deloitte & Touche, competes with sites such as HotJobs.com, Monster.com and Careerbuilders.com. Last year, the privately held company hired several seasoned executives, including Ober, a former president of CBS News and the Food Network, and Howard Leifman, a former principal at William M. Mercer. In August, Vault.com raised $10 million in a second round of funding from investors that included the New York City Investment Fund, Rockefeller & Co. and technology pundit Esther Dyson.