by Heather Stone, President,
myjobsearch.com
The Internet has revived the art of the auction. Everything from an old pair of socks once owned by Elvis to that rare 1970's original Abba album can be had by the highest bidder. The concept is spreading to specialty sites all over the place. There are auctions for antique photos, seafood, beads, home appliances- even Internet advertising space. It was only a matter of time then before someone figured out the possibility of auctioning people.
That is not a reference to anything illegal or an intro to a discussion of the world's oldest profession. The auctioning of people and their talents represents a revolutionary way to find a new job or a new employee. Instead of merely posting a resume, job seekers can attach a price to their talents and allow the market to find and bid to obtain them. It is a natural evolutionary step in posting a resume online.
Employers, HR professionals and recruiters have to smile at the idea as well. Imagine being able to click around online to find the talent needed for a special project in a remote location. Talk about a win-win.
The red-hot trend of home businesses and the need for Internet-savvy talent makes auctioning for work an appealing twist to finding a job. A job seeker using theirname.com as an Internet base can quickly build a credible and breathing resume of accomplishments. Never was hanging a shingle so much fun. All of a sudden, the marketing of skills has the animation, sound and interactivity of the Internet to top the black and white paper resume of the past. (These days you can toot your own horn with your online resume/web site and sell books with your bookstore affiliation at the same time. Is this a great country or what?).
While mainstream acceptance of this idea still awaits those that promote it, there are signs the overall job market is ready to embrace it. The explosion in the working-from-home market, the huge demand for IT professionals and the marketing ingenuity of the common American professional make auction-style employment an up and comer. The US Department of Labor maintains a bank of statistics to support these trends. The work-from-home and small business sector has grown by 200% since 1997. More than 45% of new jobs are IT-related. Everyone, it seems, is on the Internet and selling their wares and their skills on that wild new market of cyberspace. It was just a matter of time until the free-for-all in seeking talent turned to bidding.
Talent auctions are yet in their infancy. In a research study conducted by myjobsearch.com in October 1999, only two out of the top ten Internet job boards had a talent auction going. The largest, Monster.com, seems to be leading the early charge with nearly 24,000 active talent auctions in progress.
BestjobsUSA.com, another leading online jobs board, has introduced a program called Work Exchange that offers a different angle on the bidding concept. A freelance professional registers for the site and surfs the available projects posted by different companies. The companies post information concerning the scope of the needed work, length of the project and their anticipated costs. Then the freelancer bids their services on the project and the lowest bidder wins.
Much of this was inspired by a group of IT professionals that put their services up for bid on Internet auction giant Ebay. That experience was the springboard for bid4geeks.com. That same group now operates the fledgling web site because of the notoriety gained about the need for talent in their industry. Currently more than 200 IT-related talent auctions are running on bid4geeks.com and 14 people have actually placed bids for talent there.
The talent auction business faces an uphill battle in gaining mainstream acceptance. Like the inequity of resumes to jobs posted at monster.com, the number of auctions without bidders is staggering. Of the 250 talent auctions that were surveyed only 1 auction was bid upon. An online survey conducted by myjobsearch.com found that less than 10% of respondents knew someone that gained employment from an Internet talent auction. The 14 bids to 200 auctions ratio on bid4geeks.com hardly meets the standards typical of a successful auction web site.
Yet the concept is so new that it bespeaks more of market ignorance than anything else. The Internet-fueled explosion in business has companies screaming for talent. But they have not yet discovered the talent auctions as a ready resource in meeting their needs. A survey of XXX recruiters revealed that less than XX% of them turned to online talent auctions. Why didn't they go there? XX% of them did not even know they existed. Of those, nearly XX% plan to look into them in the future.
Online talent auctions have instant appeal for the more free spirited job seeker. It offers a viable alternative for the semi-retired. Students, homemakers, those seeking second incomes or one simply awakened to the reality of an Internet-based business future are drawn to the concept. Even the November 1999 issue of PC Computing makes reference to it as the "next big thing". Looking through his crystal ball, Paul Somerson at PC Computing writes that "most people may end up e-lancing" over the Internet in the years to come. Talent auctions are but a beginning to that transition.
The appeal to employers is obvious. It gives them a "try-before-you-buy" option in obtaining new employees. In this world of part time workers and telecommuting, talent auctions may well represent a less expensive means of recruiting. The size of a workforce within any given company can literally change at will. In the fast paced environment of changing industries clued in to earnings and stock prices, this can indeed prove to be a powerful tool of management.
While the opportunity and appeal of talent auctions still has that shiny-new-penny glow to it, job seekers would be well advised to sharpen their online marketing abilities. Internet-savvy competitors for jobs will have the edge. The tender sensibilities of netiquette must be observed. Connectivity with the right .com on the cyber resume will speak volumes of an individual's online prowess. Internet accomplishments need to be showcased by unbroken links, superb presentation, and timely online response. At one time the worry about an interview could stem from how well shoes matched an outfit. Now it may hinge on how long it takes a web page to load.
Online tools for job seekers are at a forefront in these endeavors. Internet resources such as myjobsearch.com address this new age of the job hunt. Offering training resources in negotiating, finding companies "in the hunt", polishing online resumes, networking and even relocation information are the backbone of myjobsearch.com and an invaluable free tool to job seekers.
The art of the auction is centuries old. There is nothing new about that. It always has been and always will be true that the highest bids go to that which is most in demand. In the brave new world of the Internet, creating the demand for **you** will take a great many skills beyond being able to pound a nail. That has always been true in searching for the right job.
Written by Heather Stone, President of
myjobsearch.com, the jobseekers supersite! Heather is president of
myjobsearch.com, the company behind the jobseeker's supersite of the same name. She frequently consults with employers on hiring practices and with jobseekers on the Internet job search process. She has spoken at computer and employment industry conferences, and she was recently recognized by Utah Business Magazine for owning one of the "Top 25 Woman Owned Businesses" in the state of Utah. She is a member of Young Entrepreneur's Organization (YEO), an international organization for company owners under the age of 40.
