Most corporate recruiters (and some agencies, I'm sure) get bombarded with "new", "innovative", "money-saving" recruiting products and services. I've looked at a few lately, and seen some innovations so I'm going to examine a few of them.

I recently tried BountyJobs.
https://www.bountyjobs.com/

Basically, it is an online recruiting marketplace connecting corporate recruiters with agencies/independent recruiters. The nice thing about it is that it allows corporate recruiters to interact with agencies to fill positions without having to put a contract in place, and to set the direct placement % you are willing to pay. It works on all positions from low to executive. I gave it a shot on a couple of positions we had open and was very pleased with the results. Some of the things I liked about it:

-Serves all of North America (Canada as well as US)
-You pay BountyJobs, they hold fees in escrow for you with a money-back guarantee
-Recruiters submit "bounties" on jobs you have listed. Easy interface to accept or deny the bounty
-Profiles that you can decline or accept
-Communication can take place completely online

This is most decidedly an advantage for corporate recruiters. So I'd say, yes, giving an "auction" business model to recruiting is positive, and innovative step forward.

NotchUp
http://notchup.com/?q=i

OK, this has got to be the most perplexing stab at a "new" recruiting business model I've ever heard of. Companies *pay* candidates to interview? Are you serious? Their FAQ section gives some interesting statistics, but I wonder where they truly *got* them? 

Here's an interesting read about this bizarre offering.

http://www.cheezhead.com/xtra/2008/01/29/more-thoughts-on-notch-up/

My thoughts? Yeah, not so much for me. It really makes no sense as a business model to *me*.

theLadders
http://theladders.com

OK, when the Ladders first came out a few years ago, it was actually an interesting business model. Basically the premise was that job seekers pay for job postings from employers, and employers could post their $100K plus jobs for free. I actually got some great candidates from the Ladders.

And then...

At the end of 2007 the Ladders changed their business model (probably due to lack of funding). I had signed up for a free trial when I commenced my new position, and at the end of it the sales rep gave me a really *hard* sales pitch. The company had started charging companies for job postings, and it was a hefty amount. At this time, it was for unlimited postings for a year. Now, here's the problem with this.
 
1) The sales pitch was "sign up in the next 48 hours and we'll give you this hefty discount but only if you sign up during this limited time offer period." Not so enticing.

2) Not all of the jobs I have are over $100K.

3) Their subscription fee has no provisions for single postings.

4) Not built into my recruiting budget for the year.

And to me, the really duplicitous part of the business? They are still charging applicants those fees to have these jobs sent to them. Yeah. It's now just one more job board, the only differentiator is that you know the salaries will start at $100K. I queried my local recruiting community when I got the hard line sales pitch and found that they'd done the same thing and that the subscription amounts and "trial period" varied *vastly* from company to company.

Final analysis: leaves a really nasty taste in my mouth.

Honorable Mention for creativity:

DevSelect Recruiting

This is a local recruiting agency, and I'm impresssed with something they have done which takes advantage of the local recruiting economy. Here in the Seattle area, one of the biggest employers is Microsoft. They employ a *lot* of contractors (in fact, yours truly has made a career out of it, you might say.)

Now, due to a nasty co-employment lawsuit MS found themselves in a few years ago, they have some very strict guidelines for contractors. As a contractor through a temp agency, I have 12 months that I can work at MS. I could do one year in one group, or several smaller contracts within that year. But at the end of that twelve months, I am required to take my "100 Day Break". This is exactly what it sounds like. I cannot work in any capacity at MS for that 100 days (unless I'm hired full time; no limitations on that.) During that 100 day break I have been known to: travel, get another job, go on unemployment, take classes, etc. In fact, it was after my last contract ended that I started at my most recent employer.

There is a whole local lexicon about the whole MS Contracting lifestyle. While on campus during your contract, your email alias starts with "a-". So, my email alias has in the past been "a-kfife @ microsoft.com". It's also been a couple of variations on that.

So, at any given time there are a pretty significant number of contractors on their 100-day break. DevSelect has come up with a program to work with them. I asked Bob for a summary for this blog and hey, it's a free plug:

“What if … you knew precisely when Microsoft’s top “ay-dash” contractors were coming off contract?  And (because you’re special), you could “cherry pick” people from the list to fill positions at your company before the rest of Seattle knew they were available?  Program, product and release managers, on-line marketing specialists; development & test; even internal IT lab managers and tech support.

You should know about DevSelect’s new experiment – code-named “Preview”.

DevSelect (http://www.devselect.com) has been in the NW contract staffing and recruiting business since 1999 -- usually associated with high tech and telecom.  In October, DevSelect began compiling a list of Microsoft contractors who were nearing their ‘break in service’ dates and quietly looking for their next assignment.  In January, DevSelect began publishing the list – with weekly updates - to a small number of favored clients.  The weekly updates are free – DevSelect makes its money when clients contract or hire someone through the program.