Job board

One of the hardest things to hear from a friend is that they’ve lost their job. Doesn’t matter if it’s a lay-off, a personality conflict with the CEO, a start-up changing directions… I’ve lost count at the number of close friends who are either actively looking for a job or giving serious thought to changing their current situation.

I got a call this morning from a recruiter. I could not be happier in the product org, helping to build Blogger, so I generally indicate that I’m not interested at this time, but to please e-mail me some info about the position and I’ll be happy to give it some thought.

In reality, I rarely get back to the recruiter. And I’m probably missing an opportunity to help some friends who might need that connection – the job may not be right but the recruiter might have other options to pursue. Which got me to thinking…

I want to add a job board of some kind to this site. Any time a recruiter contacts me looking for a recommendation, I want to post that job description to the board. Any time a friend tells me they’re looking, I want to share their details with recruiters and employers who might need their skills. LinkedIn feels too passive for this, but maybe there’s a way to make it work.

Other ideas I’ve given: a Google group that I can post to, which anyone can subscribe to (seekers and recruiters alike). I could take the RSS feed from the group and post it to the sidebar on the blog. Job board companies like job-a-matic, jobcoin, etc. all seem to charge potential employers to list the job. That’s a nice model, but I’m not looking to monetize this: I want as little friction between the employer and the seeker, and charging the employers seems like it’d reduce the likelihood of getting their participation.

So… what say you? Any suggestions for how to scratch this itch? The best possible outcome would be for one or more of my friends to get the right job. Hope I can help.

4 responses to “Job board”

  1. Rick – I believe (haven't checked it out personally) that Jeremiah Owyang at Forrester has done the same on his blog.s Worth checking out.

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