Notchup Review - Job Search Site With a Twist
I recently was invited into the beta test for new start up Notchup. They are a job search site with an interesting twist. People create profiles and companies search those profiles for interesting candidates. As a candidate you provide a public price of how much money it will cost to be interviewed. Thats right, you can charge for an interview. Think of it as a way to get back at those employment agencies that waste your time and deliver nothing.
Creating a profile was very easy. In fact there is a handy import utility to suck the data from your linked in account. It can also bring in your linked in contacts and invite them (which I DIDN"T do). Once done you set your price (I set mine at $250) and you are ready to go.
A potential employer can then review your profile and contact you regarding an interview. You can agree or not and go from there.
I know what your thinking, its too good to be true and must be easily gamed. What if I get caught by my boss? How do I make a living just doing interviews? Well they have a few safeguards in place.
First, they let you block certain companies from viewing their profile. So you can prevent your current employer from seeing your profile for example.
Second, they let employers rate your interview. This feedback is available to other potential employers. So if you are clearly not interested in the job and only in it for the interview money, it will bite you back for any future interviews.
They also have one other twist. They offer a 10% affiliate fee if you refer someone to the system and they get interviewed / paid. This really would encourage someone to invite everyone they know. During the beta I only invited 4 people I thought would be interested.
One last comment. I sent some constructive feedback to their feedback email and got a response in just a couple hours. Not sure that they can maintain that kind of turn around but still, it was nice to see commitment from start to end.
So far, I have no contacts from the system. Its only been a day, so I should probably give google or yahoo at least 48 hours. :-)
If you are interested in Notchup and want an invite into the beta, give me a ping. I can set you up. Just post a comment below. They were recently reviewed by TechCrunch and I suspect that they will probably be opening it up to a wider audience in the near future.
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I'd love to get an invite if you have any more.
I just tried to sign up to NotchUp. On the registration form I was disturbed to find that the Republic of Ireland was not listed in the very extensive list of countries. I can only assume that the founders are Royalists and refuse to acknowledge the Free Irish State.
Maybe they should read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Free_State
I think it's worth a revisit--they have some pretty clear terms about how they deal with your information, their lack of guarantees if you don't get paid and their lack of responsibility for just about anything.
Their site may be SECURE, but is your information and your privacy protected?
Read more: http://www.userglue.com/blog/2008/01/27/notchup-pr...
Really low.
As for the service, I doubt its worth it anyway. But hey, if you're really looking for a job anything is better than nothing.