Clearly, much of the employee recruiting process has moved online. And just as clearly, there are plentiful online job boards and proprietary job posting systems available for use. But while pundits would lead us to believe there simply aren't enough jobs, an important underlying aspect of unemployment is the difficulty that employers and skilled job candidates have finding each other amid the online clutter. The sheer number of displaced workers seeking employment suggests the need for new models of online matchmaking.
One of them might be emerging with hiredMYway.com, the an online recruitment web site which recently announced the launch of more than $1 million in bonus payments for job seekers who land a position using the system. The bonus program pays signing and referral bonuses of up to $4,000 every time someone is hired through the site.
A portfolio company of the Detroit Venture Partners, hiredMYway.com differentiates itself from other job boards in that job seekers can dip their resumes into a smaller pool of applicants, with promises that it will be viewed. Additionally, it eliminates the up-front cost employers traditionally pay to post their jobs online, because companies only pay if they make a hire. Every job on the web site offers a hiring and referral bonus.
The new bonus program increases exposure to jobs posted on the site and might well promote connectivity between job seekers and employers. However, efforts to harness the reach of social media could emerge as an equally powerful feature. Individuals who sign up as hiredMYway.com referrers share jobs with their friends and colleagues across the "big three" social media platforms Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. If someone they refer gets hired, they receive the bonus associated with the position and so does the person they referred. Bonuses are determined based on the amount the company is willing to invest to find the right candidate.
“First hiredMYway.com turned the online recruitment model upside down. Now, we are introducing a bonus program offering more than $1 million in payments,” said Matt Mosher (left), co-founder and CEO of hiredMYway.com. “hiredMYway.com allows companies to connect with serious, qualified candidates through our diverse network of referrers and job seekers. Driven by results, companies only pay for the positions they post if they find a candidate through our website.”
Positions posted on hiredMYway.com are geared for maximum exposure, to help companies fill their niche positions more quickly. Candidates who are serious about positions posted on hiredMYway.com can choose to pay $2 to submit their resume into a smaller applicant pool with the guarantee their resume will be viewed. If the candidate’s resume is not viewed within 15 days of applying for the job, the $2 fee will be returned to the job seeker’s account. Candidates may apply for positions for free, but will not be eligible for the signing bonus.
Companies throughout Michigan have already posted jobs on hiredMYway.com. They include International Bancard, Magna, Daifuku Webb, State Farm Insurance and Faith Rehab Solutions.
“Current online job boards are ineffective. Companies pay the same amount for a posting, regardless of the position, and we receive thousands of applications with no way to identify the most qualified candidates,” said Erin Spitzer, Executive Director of Human Resources for Daifuku Webb. “By allowing us to set the value for our postings on hiredMYway.com, we can find and identify the best candidates more easily without any upfront risk.”
hiredMYway.com is one of the first portfolio companies of the Detroit Venture Partners, backed by regional leaders Josh Linkner, Dan Gilbert and Brian Hermelin.
“Detroit Venture Partners is looking to invest in game-changing companies like hiredMYway.com that have clearly identified a problem with the status quo and will stop at nothing to develop and implement a creative solution to solve it,” said Linkner, who is also the founder and chairman of ePrize. “hiredMYway.com is the future of online job boards and the Detroit Venture Partners is excited to be a part of this innovative, Detroit-based company.”
MI Perspective: HR managers know the labor market can turn -- is turning -- very quickly. Practitioners I speak to daily say recruiting and retention is a rising priority at their companies, but they worry about existing mechanisms for finding skilled workers. The need is particularly acute in STEM areas (jobs requiring backgrounds in science, technology, engineering and/or mathematics), which are skills many displaced auto-industry workers in Michigan possess. Here's something HR recruiters also know: good people travel in packs. That's why harnessing the reach of social media is such a promising application for filling jobs, and why a venture such as hiredMYway.com might find considerable success.
