Employmint Uses Ajax to Bring Web 2.0 to the Recruitment Business

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Friday, October 27, 2006; 02:57 AM

Web 2.0, is it the future of the internet or simply another buzzword? Chris Rowe, founder of innovative recruitment site, Employmint, is using the Web 2.0 model to turn the recruitment business on its head.

Think Google. When the company started, they created a super quick way to sort through the billions of web pages on the internet. "The global acceptance of Google grew to the point that people don't search any more, they Google." explains Chris. Google leveraged the search engine's popularity by creating additional services such as gmail, adwords and adsense. "Now anyone can serve Google ads on their web sites and make money." says Chris, "In addition, anyone can purchase Google adwords to promote their business - the business owner determines how much they are willing to pay."

The www.employmint.co.za site works in the same way. Unlike other sites where fees are charged per job posted, companies can upload jobs for free and decide for themselves how much they are willing to pay for a successful placement. Job seekers list for free and can either apply directly or refer candidates. It is the referrer who is paid the 'reward' for a successful placement. "It's about creating a community of employers and job seekers which makes it worthwhile to check regularly. If I check and see a job that's perfect for a friend of mine, I can not only help them find a job but be paid into the bargain." comments Rowe. "The site essentially incentivises job seekers to become dedicated head hunters."

The site is a Web 2.0 showcase, with many of the features commonly associated with the shift in technology. The site is built using Atlas, the Microsoft framework for Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) which means that the site provides a faster and more intuitive user experience. "In the past, web applications would post data back to the server and there would be a delay while the results page loaded." says Chris. "With Ajax, there is little or no delay as only the query results are returned - not the whole page." Tagging is another nifty feature of the site, with users able to tag the content in their own way and create personal tag clouds. "Let's say I'm a job seeker checking the site, I can tag jobs in any way I like, I may decide to tag them according to people I have referred, by salary or geographic location." explains Rowe. In other words, the user can create their own personal index. Like Google Suggest, the site assists searching by making suggestions eg. if you type "pro" it may suggest 'programmer', 'project manager' or 'promotions assistant' based on common searches performed by other users.

Personal blogs and communities is another Web 2.0 feature used by Employmint. Each job seeker gets their own blog when they register which they can use to promote themselves to prospective employers or share experiences with other job seekers. Companies can create an external talent network which includes their own staff and contractors or invited job seeker members. "Having a network like this is an extremely valuable resource." Says Chris, " If I need a C# developer for a short term contract, I can check my own talent network for people I have tagged as good C# developers, check their blogs to see if they are available and contact them directly." says Chris.

The site is built on a service oriented architecture (SOA) which provides the ability to easily plug into third party applications. It also means that other services can easily be added to the Employmint site. The site features 'mash ups', or integrated components from other Web 2.0 sites including the photo sharing technology of Flickr and social networking components of LinkedIn.com. "We are always open to improvements and suggestions from the user community." comments Chris. "The site is built in such as way that additional features can be easily integrated." It is this constant evolution in response to the users own requests that has coined the term 'perpetual beta'.

As with all Web 2.0 sites, the users themselves determine its success, Someone with a lot of young professional friends who checks the site regularly can develop a small business out of this system. Depending on the type of job and the size of the rewards offered, they can potentially earn an additional R5 - 10,000 per month.