More Thoughts on Notch Up |
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January 29th, 2008 -- by Susan Burns
The dialogue generated around Notch up has been quite interesting. If nothing else there will be lots of eyeballs watching what happens when they move from Beta to Live! So, here’s some final thoughts from the initial post, Joel’s detailed post and the many, many comments that have been shared:
The not so good:
1. The idea of paying for interviews, even with passive talent, is unsettling - lasting, meaningful relationships rarely begin with cash….well, maybe a lot of cash! When a recruiter reaches out to passive talent with a compelling enough opportunity their going to engage in a conversation - because that is priceless. Placing a price on my time to interview - hmmm, not so much.
2. The apparent relationship with Linkedin, which supports sending contacts to Notch Up so they can solicit their services is disappointing at best. LinkedIn has done so many things well - why this? Interesting to look at the privacy policy posted on LinkedIn - excerpts below. I realize that it is not LinkedIn directly sending the information but it is tightly integrated and highly suggestive. With social networking still being relatively new, LinkedIn has an opportunity to take a leadership position, which they have done - until now. Yes, as someone had responded, it is the person whose network you are in that is making the decision to share. However, given the newness of Social and related tools, it would be appropriate for LinkedIn to also provide some guidance to their Users - or refrain from offering this type of integrated relationship. it would be great to see LinkedIn respond to clarify their relationship and why….why….why! Perhaps they need to add an opt in to the profile set-up to confirm interest in being sold out.
“Your privacy is our top concern. We work hard to earn and keep your trust, so we adhere to the following principles to protect your privacy:
* We will never rent or sell your personally identifiable information to third parties for marketing purposes
* We will never share your contact information with another user, without your consent.
* Any sensitive information that you provide will be secured with all industry standard protocols and technology”
“Sharing Information With Third Parties:
LinkedIn takes the privacy of our users very seriously. We will never sell, rent, or otherwise provide your personally identifiable information to any third parties for marketing purposes. We will only share your personally identifiable with third parties to carry out your instructions and to provide specific services.”
The good:
3. Notch Up has done a great job making the profile set-up easy by partnering with LinkedIn so you can simply upload your existing profile. Would be great to see more of this for ease in managing profiles across networking sites.
4. Its fun to play around with the calculator to see what the going rate is for interviews. Wondering what influences the rates. Do they take into consideration market dynamics? Will these change over time along with market shifts and demand?
5. The overall interface and User experience on Notch Up is really good. The ability to make your profile private so your employer doesn’t find you is always a nice feature. I am curious about the approval process - which is indicated in the first email. Apparently, you have to be accepted by their HR experts - unless you’ve been invited by a friend - yes, one of those friends who sold you out thinking they could reap 10% of the interview fee. What are the conditions of acceptance?
So, time will tell if Notch Up takes off and is successful. Honestly, their interface is strong enough and User experience is good enough that they could possibly survive even without the pay to interview play concept. And, it would be great to see another approach to driving traffic without the LinkedIn sell out.
January 30th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Here’s a big one form their term and Conditions:
“If You are contacted by a Company on NotchUp and appear for an
interview at the request of such Company, the Company will be
responsible for paying Your Interview Fee to You within thirty days of
such interview. You agree to hold NotchUp harmless for any failure by
the Company to pay the Interview Fee. The Interview Fee is the sole
responsibility of the Company. Your sole recourse for non-payment of
the Interview Fee is to contact the Company”.
Do you bring a contract or a bill with you to the interview. Why doesn’t NotchUp bill the company and then pay the candidate when the money is received. Talk about a collections nightmare!
January 30th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
This is one of the stupidest ideas I’ve ever seen. Although I hope a bunch of celebrities apply. I’d pay to interview Britney Spears to be my kids nanny.
March 15th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
I would like to asked if any people really make money out of this?. I have read that it would be more easier to join NotchUp if you get invites rather than registering. It seems great to note that your making money through interview for the job, you’re opening up the possibility of people who become professional job interviewees—folks who sign up for interviews left and right while knowing full well they’re not really looking for a new job.