Neat...as a side note, what are some prominent design/UX and PM type blogs? I have searched around and not found too many, especially those directed towards PMs. (For design/UX I am aware of Usability Post, Signal vs. Noise, and Functioning Form).
I keep an eye on Subtraction (http://subtraction.com/), Khoi Vihn's mostly personal blog, too. He's the interaction designer for NYTimes, second to none...other than our own Loc Ngo, of course.
Well, I just "applied" my blog but I'll repeat the part of that email that matters the most: I'm a big believer in the concept.
Job boards are, by far, the best way to monetize professional traffic to a particular niche blog. (Well, the second best way. The best way is to push the product you also happening to be selling.) And the cursory research I did in this area a while back showed a glaring hole in distributed job board networks.
I think you guys have found a real sweet spot. I wish you guys the best.
"... JobSyndicate is our way of getting jobs in front great candidates where they already live online. We can get targeted distribution for jobs by combining our ad widget technology with contingency recruiting “bounties. ..."
Since it's Alpha you can get away with alpha explanations but as more and more ppl use it explanations might have to be "pitched around the office" and get them to "say" what JS is doing then write them down. I'm crappy at writing at the best of times but my stab would be:
FROM
JobSyndicate is our way of getting jobs
in front great candidates where they already
live online.
We can get targeted distribution for jobs
by combining our ad widget technology
with contingency recruiting “bounties.
TO
JobSyndicate is an online service that
matches the best candidate to their
geographic location.
JobSyndicate acheives targeted distribution
for jobs using a combination of our "Ad widget"
technology and "recruiting bounties".
Replace the quotes with hyperlinks (and bold typeface) for "Ad widget" and "recruiting bounties".
[geotargeting isn't live yet, but it's coming, btw]
The idea of "putting jobs in front of candidates where they live online" is a fairly explicit pitch to HR managers & internal recruiters. HR folks are used to distinguishing between "active" and "passive" candidates. Active job seekers will, for example, apply to jobs at sites like Startuply and Craigslist (um in that order). Passive candidates - who are often the best - don't go job hunting, usually because they don't need to. JobSyndicate is for getting jobs to them without really changing their behavior; it's a premium service.
For pitching around the office, I'd say that JS is kind of like an inverted job board. Employers post a job once, it syndicates everywhere, and they pay only for results.
A pretty sweet startup CEO I spoke with also came up with the (very) unofficial elevator pitch analogy: it's like Adult Friend Finder for jobs.
People will always try to abuse a system, especially when there's a monetary incentive to do so. We manage fraud risk with a portfolio of approaches that includes building real relationships, designing good automated signals/indicators, monitoring the network closely, and having strong TOS + great lawyers.
Great model. In fact, surprised someone hasn't tried this yet.
This may work especially well for tech specific blogs. (Assuming tech related positions.)