John Sullivan, called the Michael Jordan of recruiting by FastCompany magazine, writes an article over on ERE today about NotchUp; the pay for interview site that is all the buzz in the recruiting community right now. In the piece John makes the point that great recruiting organizations have been utilizing this tactic for years and he specifically mentions Michael Homula. From John's article:
There is a new service that you need to be aware of that pays top candidates up to $500 for participating in a corporate job interview. Paying candidates to interview might seem like a new or radical idea, but it has actually been going on for years at some of the smartest companies and organizations.
Hospitals, for example, have found that offering nurses $50 for going to a job interview can dramatically increase both the number and the quality of nurses that show up. Anderson Consulting has paid MBA students $50 to come to practice interviews. Recruiting genius Michael Homula routinely offered $25 Starbucks cards as a thank-you for participating in interviews. Cisco once even paid attendees $5 at a professional meeting for just handing over a copy of their resumes.
The jury remains out on NotchUp and it's effectiveness. In theory the idea works and makes perfect sense from a tactical level. Given that the nature of the "pay for interview" or reward for interview concept is wired towards establishing and building long term relationships, something a website or technology has yet to master, one has to wonder if NotchUp will be all the rage for a bit and then end up in the same place as most transactionally geared recruiting technology.
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