Selecting staff from the net

By ADAM GIFFORD

How to earn revenue from the internet is a question which is vexing companies big and small.

Many choose to go against conventional business wisdom and give away some services which traditionally have been charged for. They hope they can make it up by increasing the volume of other charged-out elements.

In the recruitment sector, a commission is often collected based on the appointee's first-year salary.

Aucklander John Forrest is among those who have abandoned that model for his new site, Staffyourself.com. It is a database-driven site in which jobs or resumes are posted free.

Every four hours the database churns over, matching skill sets to positions and sending employers a shortlist of potential matches.

It is at the next stage Mr Forrest, who lists in his own resume recruitment consultancy and running a telecommunications company, and his partner Liv Fredericks, a former psychiatric nurse with additional business experience, hope to make money.

While employers are sent brief descriptions of the likely candidates, to get the full cv from the secure database they need to subscribe - $50 a month or $250 a year - and then pay a $10 transfer fee for each cv requested.

"I look at it as an employment resource. Employers can go in and look at the candidates up to the stage they want to see confidential details, which is when they are charged $10," Mr Forrest says.

He says Staffyourself.com also sends out fortnightly e-mail bulletins of what is happening in various industries, so people don't have to keep going back to the site for updates. The e-mails also act as a reminder for people to adjust the database if their skills or circumstances change.

Mr Forrest says the site went live on January 20, with the first registration on February 4. More than 200 job-seekers have registered, despite a minimal advertising budget, and about 40 have found work.

A dozen employers are using the service already, including a major telecommunications company, a car retailer and a bank, and he is talking to other banks and retail chains.

Most of the interest so far has been from New Zealand employers and employees, but there is nothing to stop the site having international appeal.

The free database has internet precedents, which usually involve a subsidy.

The biggest, America's Job Bank at www.ajb.dni.us, is a joint venture between the federal Employment Service and state agencies, and now has 1.5 million jobs and 1.7 million job seekers registered.

Meanwhile the executive recruitment business of PA Consulting Group has been bought by Futurestep, the joint venture between recruiters Korn/Ferry International and the Wall Street Journal. Futurestep combines a sophisticated on-line database and innovative video conferencing technology to source middle management staff.

Australia and New Zealand managing director Tim Nelson says that since launching the www.futurestep.com.au site in September, Futurestep has registered more than 22,000 candidates.

He says technology can't replace human interaction, however.

"By bringing on board a significant number of excellent recruitment consultants we are able to greatly expand our services to clients," Mr Nelson says.

Futurestep uses elements of the traditional charging model.