Taking another shot at a MySpace for Job Seekers

A new silicon valley startup is in the works that is creating of a new kind of job seeker referral system similar to what H3.com has built. Blue Chip Expert, a San Mateo, CA company is set to release its version of a 'MySpace for top-level Job Seekers' according to this month's edition of Business 2.0.

The site will focus on "free agents" which amount to roughly 12 million contract workers in the U.S. They are targeting sought after experts like software developers, creative directors & consultants. The "cream of the crop" according to CEO and founder Scott Langmack.

Here's how it works;

1. create a Blue Chip profile outlining your skills
2. invite your free agent friends to join the site
3. if one of your friends gets hired, you get rewarded with a cut of their project fee

So if your friend gets a contract for a $200,000 project you get $4,000 as a reward. And if one of your friend's contact gets a $200k project you get $2,000. Kind of like Amway for job seekers. The fees extend across your network. Employers pay Blue Chip which then pays you.

According to the article these incentives are designed to "quickly build critical mass for a national talent bank".

This kind of site could be a headhunters dream since they would be able to refer tons of candidates via their own resume databases.

Of course to make this all work Blue Chip will need to register thousands of job seekers in a hurry. One wonders how they'll be able to do this without a major marketing campaign. Competitors like H3 dont seem to be taking off so it remains to be seen if the idea flies. On the surface it's a great idea, the question is will it work?