Former CareerBuilder founder and CEO Rob McGovern launched Jobfox in 2004 as a job profile site in which individuals could search through job openings displayed on the site’s boards. But the site was tough for recruiters to actively use because they had to comb through profiles of potential applicants. Today, Jobfox is unveiling a new version of the site that hopes to solve this problem. Essentially Jobfox allows corporate recruiters and headhunters to create private hiring networks. Job seekers can create a profile on the site and join corporate networks for companies they are interested in working for.
Jobfox says that the virtue of using its network vs LinkedIn for job seeking is that it is completely focused on job seekers and recruiters as opposed to socializing or sharing content. Because to connections made between job seekers and recruiters are confidential and not published on the network, it also ensures user privacy.
And the site will actually connect with LinkedIn and Facebook to alert you of your friends that work at the companies you want to work at, and it pulls in data from Twitter and company HR sites to alert seekers of job openings not displayed anywhere else.
Members can also “boost” friends or colleagues for jobs and earn financial incentives if the connection results in a hire. It’s important to note that Jobfox focuses exclusively on salaried jobs as opposed to hourly positions or freelance opportunities. Currently, 7,000 companies are represented on the site and roughly 140,000 jobs are advertised per month on the site.
While LinkedIn has also become a popular destination for job seekers, there is certainly room for a number of players in the social recruiting space. What LinkedIn has in it’s favor, however, is a massive userbase (which is nearing 100 million). But considering McGovern’s prior experience in the online job market, Jobfox is definitely worth a look.
