Very hard.

It will ruin a great reputation being built at no cost.

Further more, I didn’t see anything regarding the subject in the big blogs so I hope I’m being terribly wrong here. But still – here goes.

For some days now I have a strong feeling Facebook is becoming a Spammers heaven.

I’m getting something between two to four new friend requests every day. Usually – I don’t mind. It used to be old friends from pre-school (whom I’m happy not to be in touch with actually. they posting on my wall things I’m trying to forget. And no, Ranny, You biting me at 4 is still not funny!). But these new friends are something else.

I’m talking about good looking chicks, not wearing much, from all over the world, choosing me as their first friend ever in Facebook!

ME!

Now think of the effect this has on the clan: “So, Elad does have girls all over the world after all, ha? Like he always told us and we never believed. We’ll have to give him more respect from now on.”

But, alas, I don’t really know them girls. Sorry guys. No phone number either. This actually looks like bait for Phishing, or just plain and simple pre-SPAM platform.

I actually tried to contact the above (out of a pure journalist-curiosity, of course), got an answer (!) that “I seemed cute” (!!) and she’s “new to all this Facebook thing”. Right. Sorry miss. Buy a ticket to Israel if you want to get even, but I don’t buy. Or bait. Or what ever you fancy.

And dear Facebook: You’re going down a very slippery road here, mates. Better stop this before fast. You don’t want to go where this road ends. Spamville.

But heck. This smells so bad, I had to share what I think.

For a stealth website, NotchUp are doing a hell of a job. I got something like five invitations in the last 12 hours. Some from people I hardly know, and some from people having little to do with the web. The site is going viral like crazy. And for a reason. People are greedy.

The idea is simple. You’re a qualified professional, right? You’re not really looking for a job, but are willing to hear interesting offers? You’re not really being interviewed, it’s YOU interviewing prospect employers? So why not get paid for it? If you’re such a hot shot (which of course you are), make them pay just for meeting you! I’m so good actually, They’ll actually LEARN from interviewing me. It’s like consulting.

So here comes NotchUp. A job site (novel idea, no doubt), where you set a rate for just being interviewed. The default payment stands on $500 but why not make it $1,000? Now that’s new. How come I never thought of that? Why did I agree to be interviewed for free all my life? Darn. Not anymore! I’m going to charge from now on!

Oh. Small problem. It will never work. No employer with little brains to spear (and little experience) will pay. Trust me. I’m a recruiter. That’s (part of) what we do for a living (but don’t just trust my word on that).

Little math: For every open position we have, we’re getting potential candidates in the hundreds (qualifying for the job requirements). Sometimes thousands. We filter and interview tens. Double that by aprox. $500 per interview and you get tens of thousands of dollars paid just for recruiting. Add the first months drop-rate (not fitting after all, or found a better job), and you end up with astronomical recruiting expenses.

So where’s the catch? I’m guessing NotchIn are not at all a job site. They’re aiming to compete against LinkedIn. And they found a way of migrating all of LinkedIn’s database. Using the greedy mob itself.

In the NotchUp signup process you’re offered, for the sake of comfort of course (who has the patience to retype one’s CV?), to enter your LinkedIn user name and password and Voila! All your data is “comfortably” imported to NotchUp, ready to be searched by the stupid, yet rich, employers.

Oh, and of course, if you invite friends (using our comfortable “send to all your LinkedIn contacts” feature) you’ll be getting 10% of every interview they will be paid for (Oops. Now we also have all your friend’s emails. Oh sorry. We had it at hello. When you gave us your LinkedIn user name and password. Did anyone hear “selling your friends”?).

Right.

Ladies and Gentlemen. The king is naked. It’s a hoax. There’s no way any employer will use this service. They are ripping your LinkedIn information.

Nice UI though.

P.S.

I might be missing something here. Please tell me if you think I have. I’ll be more than happy to discuss.