Is anyone here using NotchUp? More to the point, has anyone gotten paid for an interview via NotchUp?
They claim to be a site for people who are happy in their jobs: apparently companies find you, and pay you to interview with them (amounts vary widely). They say that membership is by invitation or application only, but I have a feeling that they’ll accept anyone who has at least a college degree. (I’d be curious to know if there are any folks on there who don’t have a degree.)
I just had my application accepted today, but am still on the fence about actually creating a profile and making myself available for interview requests.
If I’m a company looking to interview people, the last place I’m going to look is a site that’s trying to attract people who aren’t looking for new jobs and makes me pay to interview them. It kinda reminds me of an old joke I saw about .ohshitwedoneedabusinessmodel being approved as a top-level domain back in 2000.
Yeah, it seems kind of weird to me, too. Their rationale is that paying to interview you proves that the company is very serious about you as a candidate. And, according to them, companies only have to pay people who actually show up and take the interview seriously. But the “weird to me” part is why I’m looking for information from anyone who has dealt with these folks.
The idea makes sense. I just tried the calculator thing. It says my interview price is $200. I’m happy at my job, I’m not looking to switch jobs, but I’d go to an interview for $200.
It’s very similar to something I learned at a seminar. The person running it asked if we feel that when we are interviewing applicants if we are getting the worst ones out there, the bottom of the barrel. To which he replied (to his own question) YES! you are getting the worst of the worst, the good ones alrady have jobs elsewhere. The he showed us how to poach people from other jobs. He said anytime you are out and about and you see someone working really hard, really being a team player, really caring about their job etc etc etc even if it’s another industry, rip a 5 or 10 dollar bill in half and hand them half of it and a business card. Tell them if they come in for an interview at your place, you’ll give them the other half. They don’t have to get hired, they don’t even have to want to get hired, they just need to fill out an application and talk to you for a few minutes. If they do it, they get the money, if they don’t it’s nothing lost for them.
It’s basically the same idea as this website.
My cynical gut reaction is that companies will just use this as a way to pay lip service to EEO requirements. I reckon that NotchUp can find out things about interviewees through their profile that would be illegal if a company or recruiter asked about them.
I’m a little confused by the “Membership by invitation or application only” statement, especially the “only” part-what other way could there possibly be to join a group? You ask them or they ask you. Where’s the exclusivity?
Keeping in mind that I know nothing about this place other than whatever info is available from their main page:
One of the things the site says is that you are anonymous until you accept an invitation to interview, and my understanding is that your profile is basically your resume – in fact, I believe that they’re kind of partnered with LinkedIn so that you can import your LinkedIn profile to the NotchUp site. What info do you think would be illegal to ask for but wouldn’t be on a resume?
Well, the SDMB doesn’t require an invitation or application. Neither does MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Anyone who wants to can create an account at those places and have a profile. I guess I’m confused about why you’re confused.
I’m confused. Who has ever been told they can’t join the SDMB? Or that they can’t create a MySpace page or LinkedIn profile? There used to be restrictions on Facebook, but those have been lifted. So I think I disagree, saying that for most – if not nearly all – social networking sites, yeah, everyone who creates an account does get to join. By contrast, at NotchUp I wasn’t allowed to create an account until my application was approved. This is not to say that they won’t approve everyone who applies, but they give the impression that nonapproval is a possibility. I’ve never seen any other social networking site say anything to the effect of “we might let you join.”
I wouldn’t put much trust in it, honestly; their calculator told me I should ask $200 for an interview…and I’ve been at my current job for almost two months, and am part-time, making $10 an hour. I smell bullshit.
A friend of mine in Tokyo sent me this a little while ago. The only way I’m going to get a new job is through an agency or a personal contact, so it’s possible that people looking to hire someone like me might go through a site like this. But not very likely; they’d almost certainly rather pay for the discriminating ability of an actual, real-live agent who understands what they’re looking for and can evaluate candidates based on that criteria.
That’s a really good idea. (And well put!) Actually, it’s not just that good workers already have jobs. It’s also that you can’t really judge someone by an interview, but here you actually see that this person is a good worker (and the boss isn’t even looking).
Re notchup: Looks like good stuff, more flexibility and efficiency in the labor market will help everyone. It’s another thing whether it’ll succeed as a website.
It told me my interview was worth $200, I’ve been at my current job 15 years and my pay is, well, considerably more then $10/hr. So either the profession you put in is worth a hell of a lot more then mine (I put in retail) or something is odd with they way they bracket people.
You said retail? Mine was hospitality – I’m in hotel reservations for a ski resort. It’s not the sort of job that requires a ton of specialized expensive skills, though I’m not saying it’s easy either. Retail isn’t as easy as people think it is, either, sometimes.
Given the difference between our jobs, I still smell bullshit on their calculator. Heck, I’d go to an interview for $20, let alone $200.
I haven’t created an account there yet, because I’ve been on the fence about getting involved there, but I guess it can’t hurt. Maybe I’ll set it up today.
This is the same question I (effectively) posed earlier in the thread, and the same possibility I’ve been allowing for all along. They lead you to believe that it’s possible for someone to not get in, but since I don’t yet know anyone who has been rejected it’s entirely possible that they’re just pretending to be exclusive.
