A new startup wants to pay you — if you’re an in-demand tech professional — to listen to job offers.
Engineers, software developers and the like need only hear out recruiters to collect money, said Chicago resident Lane Campbell, co-founder and CEO of June Inc. (joinjune.com), which is scheduled to launch Aug. 30.
The online service says it will charge employers $60 and up to connect via phone with tech professionals.
Campbell said many companies find it difficult to get tech professionals to entertain job pitches.
“The most difficult part of filling tech roles today is getting candidates to even consider the offer,” said Campbell, 29.
As owner of IT staffing company Syntress from late 2013 through early this year, he said, “I couldn’t get any of the technical people to return phone calls. They’re happy. They’re well paid. They’ve got interesting work. They’ve got good job titles.”
“I asked people, ‘Would you take a phone call from me if I paid you a small amount of money, maybe $50?’ And the answer was yes.”
Many tech workers might be open to offers, according to a survey of 1,000 millennial IT workers released Wednesday by Progressive Insurance. Some 70 percent reported they were not satisfied with growth opportunities at their current job and were not afraid to move on quickly. Wakefield Research conducted the survey.
On average, respondents said they visit online job boards or company career pages six times per week and receive an average of six messages from recruiters.
On June Inc.’s platform, tech professionals will be able to charge what they want to participate in an interview, starting at $60, the company says.
June will keep 30 percent of the payment, Campbell said.
The platform will facilitate conference calls between potential tech workers and companies looking to hire.
Tech professionals will go to the site and build profiles, including their work histories, skills and special certificates, along with any requirements or special circumstances, such as visas and relocation assistance and authorization status to work in the country. It will cost tech professionals nothing to submit their profiles, Campbell said.
At no charge, companies will be able to search the database by skill and requirements. For $500 a month, Campbell said, companies will have the ability to conduct advanced searches — say for minimum level of education or experience — and get alerts when candidates fitting particular job criteria join the system or update their profiles.
Jeremy Treister, president of Chicago-based CMIT Solutions, said the June idea piqued his interest, even though he has had success recruiting tech talent through networking.
“It’s pretty creative,” he said. “If I was in a business where I needed to hire a specific database programmer and I could use a program like that, I think that would be pretty interesting. It kind of turns around the typical recruiting system.”
Chad Lilly, director of talent acquisition at Lextech Global Services in Downers Grove, said he’d not likely be quick to pay for a phone call with a job candidate. He said such a platform can’t guarantee that prospective job candidates are good at their jobs.
“It doesn’t jump out to me as something I would be dying to try out,” he said.
June Inc.’s Campbell would not say how much he has invested in the venture, but he said 16 people hold equity stakes in the company. Three of the company’s six co-founders live in the Chicago area, he said.
Source: Chicago Tribune