[thelist] Does the Web need another Job-Placement site?

[Michael Wolfe]

Speaking as one who has intimate experience with the staffing market...


>1 The employer of record service to keep the legalities of contract work
>taken care of.  It also offers health insurance and other benefits to the
>contractors, if they wish.

It's been done...  Almost every one of the major job sites has transitioned 
to a new business model in which the job board is only a small part of a 
larger integrated system.


>2 Sponsoring H1b (technical foreign worker ) visas to the US.

Good luck.  With the relaxation of restrictions on H1b visas, sponsorship 
is no longer quite as desirable as it once was.


>3 The primary marketing focus is an affiliate program, offering a larger
>first commission (40% to 50%) AND offer an ongoing 20% commission on any
>further business we do with either a contractor that is referred OR a
>company.  Many existing affiliate programs offer around 1%.

If you really want to do this, suggest to your potential partner that he 
(or she) rethink the payouts.  In these post-.com days, free spending is 
frowned upon by investors, and you won't last long if you give your money away.


>I am a programmer and not much of a marketer nor a businessman.  I do keep
>my checkbook balanced most of the time, but that's about it.
>
>I am looking for advice on the feasibility of this business model.  I need
>to make a decision whether or not to join this project on a revenue sharing
>basis.
>
>Thanks,
>Hershel

My advice to you is to think carefully about whether this is a good 
business opportunity.  I can tell you from first-hand experience that it 
probably is not.  The major players have been slugging it out for the past 
year, in order to get the plum contracts.  It's now down to about five 
companies that have have divided up the market, and most of them have 
alliances with the major staffing and consulting companies.

In other words... There are easier ways to make a buck.




___________________
Michael Wolfe
Senior Software Engineer

eWork Exchange, Inc.
http://www.ework.com
http://www.ework.com/prosource
mwolfe at ework.com