Alright – pay attention. Because this one is one of those interesting ideas that at a glance would seem to be either falling flat or just not getting noticed. Granted, it’s no CraigsList killer or E-bay Eliminator – but it’s certainly an interesting take on how to conduct a job search… or recruit.
Anyone that knows me knows that I’m no fan of the “post and pray” tactic that so many lazy recruiters tend to use. You know the one – shoving jobs out to a board or two and then just sitting back to see how many job seekers stumble upon the postings and apply. I’m also aware that our current state of unemployment across the US is actually creating a false sense of security with the recruiters that seem to think this is a great tactic – simply because it’s working. (Yes, I know – a topic of debate that almost warrants it’s own article.)
So I rank lazy recruiters right up there with short sighted hiring managers. And as luck would have it there is a relatively new job board where the perfect storm of lazy and cheap is raging.
Jobaphiles.com has entered the scene – and recruiters can now post their jobs and wait for the crowds to come running. And thanks to a job bidding process in place they’ll have the luxury of watching candidates duke it out over how much the hiring managers are willing to pay for their experience. Er… I mean how much they aren’t willing to pay.
That’s right… people are out under-bidding others for jobs. Think of it as a twisted version of E-Bay… for work.
Traffic reports show that it spiked hard in February (which is when I heard about it) but that it took a noticeable drop in March. Will it tank? Is it too early to tell?
I’ve been watching the site for a few weeks now and can’t say that outside of an occasional administrative title that I’ve seen any notable jobs listed. In all honesty the most active or frequent types of postings I’ve spotted have been for bloggers, yard work, and web design. In fact, Jobaphiles has a feel about it that isn’t far off from what you experience when hanging out on sites where freelancers bid for work on small projects.
At first I thought this site lunacy.
Then genius.
Then it just frustrated me that I couldn’t make up my mind as to whether I hated it or not. So much so that I started asking around… and I got some seriously mixed responses.
Some hated it while others loved it. Either way, it seemed that all were a bit disappointed in being unable to find any truly interesting jobs posted.
Where do I stand today? Let’s just say that I expect that most hiring managers that use this service to fill any serious roles will get exactly what they pay for.
