I’ve been testing out a new (in beta) Ajax Job site called Jobby this evening. Unlike other web 2.0 job sites like Indeed and Simply Hired (which aggregate job listings from around the web), Jobby takes information directly from job seekers, and then focuses on helping recruiters filter through job qualifications fast via tagging and tag filtering. The results are quite stunning and I can easily see other services (not necessarily in the job space) copying some of these features (Ajaxian says its “combines a solid combination of interface and functionality”).
For a job seeker, you input basic information about yourself and you have the option of uploading a resume (a nice touch would be to allow a pointer to resume sites, like Linkedin). You then add tags about your qualifications and availability. I added “techcrunch” and “web 2.0” – for some reason I couldn’t add a tag “blogging”. For qualification tags, you also set your level of knowledge to “newbie”, “skilled” or “advanced”. The interface is exceptional and you don’t have to do more than click a couple of times on a tag cloud to set up tags. You’ll have to try it to fully understand how it works.
Job seekers also have the ability to post a summary of their qualifications directly to another website.
For recruiters, searching is very easy and filter based. Tags are shown and the recruiter simply checks the tag and level of experience desired, along with geographic information and availability. Each additional filter narrows the result set of candidates. A RSS feed is available for each search, so recruiters can keep on top of new candidates.
There’s a problem with Jobby. There are so many job sites out there that it will be very hard for them to get traction, and there is no real virality to the service.
However, the ability for recruiters to set, at virtually no time cost, highly specific filtered searches for exactly the candidate they are looking for means they will likely use it. And if recruiters start using it, expect job seekers to flow there as well.
Anyone building a new web company with search features should take a look and consider, cough, copying their interface. It’s really exceptional.
