For years now, I have been teaching leadership teams the value of mining the collective intelligence among their front-line employees. This concept mines the people’s personal networks of contacts for the right people and for employers who need to find and hire experienced, qualified candidates. To a degree, this concept reminds us of the business-sharing of recruiter co-ops and other formal organizations that encourage recruiters to network among themselves for the right candidate.
How The Concept Was Born
Three years ago, a friend opened a restaurant called Nix in New York. Vegetarian and vegan Michelin one-star. James Truman, one of the owners invited A. Michael “Sherm” Sherman for dinner and to recruit a restaurant manager. He found that recruiting was “much easier” than working behind a stove; moreover, Chef Owner, John Fraser, who just opened New York’s renovated Edition Hotel also asked Sherm to recruit for him and suddenly, a new business model was born.
From the boutique Spanish company Mondragon, manufacturers of high tech kitchen equipment (a cooperative between the Catholic Church and vocational-technical students in the Basque region) came the concept of crowdsourcing solutions to big problems, and it was just a short hop to the concept of crowdsourcing candidates and organizations for a new entity, called the CandidateCollective.com.
A Deceptively Simple Concept
The Candidate Collective is a peer-to-peer referral service, providing vetted talent to the employer and financial reward to the referrer. It connects candidates with employers that are looking for the best talent. The organization is currently accepting referrals for all positions.
People who want to be part of the organization have two ways “to play.”
There are two ways to join The Collective: either they may: 1) Introduce the organization to a business that needs to hire their perfect candidate or 2) they may introduce the group to an individual who is exceptional in their field.
Profit Sharing That Is Very Attractive
The company’s placement fee is 10 percent of the hired employee’s annual salary. The referring associate receives 30 percent of that fee; the individual referring the employer receives 30 percent and the company (CandidateCollective.com) receives 40 percent.
A Long-Term Solution For Blind Recruitment Through Job Boards
Companies no longer need to hire blindly through job boards or classified ads. Now referrals come from qualified sources and are matched to the appropriate opportunities.
This company is the first of many in different fields that will use this low-tech solution of crowd-sourcing answers to problems. To join the Candidate Collective, visit CandidateCollective.com.
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