Ok, I admit it. When I saw this headline by the Associated Press the other day, I had to read it. It turns out that those employees who are in high demand are being paid to interview and they set the price. Yep, you heard me correctly…who knew there would be a market for such a thing?
That's the proposition behind the self-funded startup NotchUp.com. Its founders, Jim Ambras and Rob Ellis, say the site will fill a void between recruiters who charge 30 percent of a new hire's salary and resume job sites such as Monster.com.
Their audience are passive job seeks who are happily employed professionals who are just keeping their options open. Their web site indicates NotchUp is for you if:
- You’re happy at your job
- You’re good at what you do
- You’re not looking for a new job
Here’s how it works. You plug in your industry, job, pay and experience into a calculator on the site to help you set your pay for an interview. NotchUp typically recommends a range between $200 and $500, but you decide the final amount. Obviously a higher price may result in fewer offers to interview and a lower price results in less money for you. Then you submit your profile to the site. Ok, I’ll admit that I put in my information and it suggested I “charge” $850 to interview me!
Joining NotchUp is free, but you must apply or be invited. If a hiring company is interested in you, it deposits the money with NotchUp and talks to you. If you seem like a real, engaged candidate, NotchUp will transfer the money to your PayPal account once the interview is over. The site makes money by charging a transaction fee, which it estimates will be somewhere around 15 and 20 percent.
A number of large companies including Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Facebook are recruiting on the site, which interestingly bears a striking resemblance to Facebook. So far, the response from would-be job seekers has been warm. The site officially launched Jan. 28, but it went from 445 members to 10,500 in the five business days.
Since most recruiters have discovered that typically the best people you want to hire are the people who aren't in the job market, this will be an interesting site to watch.
