Headhunter Nation

Every few years, there's a shakeup in the business world in which some function or other is shifted from a small group of specialists to a big group of - whatever. It happened in the Travel industry a decade ago. The move to online travel-booking was fast and dramatic. If I know the flight times and the prices, can't I book my own flight? The airlines thought so, and stopped paying commissions to travel agents.

We are overdue for a shakeup in the real estate industry. Realtors are dashing about re-confirming their value proposition. It's not access to the MLS - we all have that. Is it negotiating prowess? Knowledge of the market? Sell-your-own-place agencies are popping up everywhere, and discount brokers who offload legwork to their sellers (who are willing to do the work and save the fees).

It's the same way with headhunting. What do headhunters have? They have databases. I have a database, and I'm not a headhunter. You have a database. Why can't we all be headhunters? Because we don't have access to the employers. We don't know which jobs are open. What if we did? What if the employers said, "I don't care who fills the job, I just want a smart person in this role by next month."

That's the idea behind YelloJobs. Anyone can pass qualified candidates on to the employer. Anyone can earn a bonus for referring the person who is ultimately hired. All of a sudden, we all have equal footing. If I only know ten people but they're all brilliant technical folks, I may be a more important talent source for a startup than the best-connected headhunter in Silicon Valley.

This is why I love YelloJobs. It's time for something new and interesting in the hidebound online recruiting space. Take a look at this post from the YelloJobs India blog to learn more about how YelloJobs works.