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Pay to Get a Job?

Almantas

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Hi guys,

A friend of mine is running a business that helps job-seekers get their desired jobs. To me personally it seemed like an interesting concept and decided to share it here with you to see what others think of it.

I am not going to go too much into detail, but what he does is this:

Suppose you apply to a Deli Assistant job position in your local area. You get the call from the company that promises to get that job for you within few days, but within four weeks of your employment commencement you are required to pay your single week's wage to the company for helping you get that job. Also, you will be given four weeks to work in a company to see if the position is good fit for you - if not, you are free to leave and won't be liable for any service fees.

To me personally it seemed like a convenient solution, because I know how time consuming editing CVs for each job position, preparing for interviews, commuting to different interviews and so on is. Not to mention the fact that most people feel discouraged when turned down after an interview. I would gladly pay that fee, especially considering the fact that I would be given four weeks to see if I really like the position and staff I will be working with.

I know some of you may say it's a form of slavery, it's not fair charging people, he should follow typical recruitment model and charge companies (I hope you realize some recruitment companies take money off your hourly pay when you work through them and it usually amounts to thousands of lost euros per annum for an employee who works through such agencies) and so on. But IMO he does provide a convenient solution to a job-seeker, a solution that 100% guarantees a job and doesn't give false hopes as typical recruiters do.

The reason why I am sharing this is because this guy is one of my best friends. He is honest guy who wants to help people and of course make some money on the side in order to survive.

What are your thoughts on this?
 
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Tiger TT

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I think it's a great service. If I was looking for a job I would use it, but I'm focused on optimizing and scaling up my own fastlane business system. Maybe it's a better idea to ask this in a normal forum where there are lots of slowlaners.
 

DedicatedLester

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My only question about this business model so far is when will you be taking the pay check? Most slow laners live pay check to pay check and are terrible at planning in advance for their finances. If the slow laner does a job for the first week and decides it isn't good, then will they have worked 1 week for free without pay?

An way to get around this problem is to not take customers that have this financial situation, but I have no idea how much of a chuck of profits is that in your current business model.
 

Almantas

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My only question about this business model so far is when will you be taking the pay check? Most slow laners live pay check to pay check and are terrible at planning in advance for their finances. If the slow laner does a job for the first week and decides it isn't good, then will they have worked 1 week for free without pay?

An way to get around this problem is to not take customers that have this financial situation, but I have no idea how much of a chuck of profits is that in your current business model.

As I mentioned, it's not my business. I run a services business, but completely different to this.

As stated above, the guy only needs to pay in his fourth employment week. Which means he will get paid for each week for three weeks in a row, before paying the company for getting the job. If he decides to continue working at a company.
 
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ApparentHorizon

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I think if you move away from deli workers and apply it to growing industries, programming, etc. you'd have much better luck.

As DL pointed out, if you're looking for a deli job, the chance of you having sound financial practices is much lower.

Also, what if, instead of taking a chunk out of their monthly, take commission right away and spread it out over 3-6 months?
 

mayana

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Also, what if, instead of taking a chunk out of their monthly, take commission right away and spread it out over 3-6 months?

I don't know how big the market would be for something like this, but I don't think that wording it "A week's wages" would net many sales. Now if it were phrased as a $700 commission or finder's fee, in three monthly payments after the job was acquired (plus, extending the probationary period for the job to three months instead of 4 weeks), it might be an easier pill to swallow.

People are notorious for not liking to think directly about how much things cost in relation to how many hours/days/weeks they will have to spend working to pay for it.

I also agree with the notion of this not working with the lower strata of jobs. White collar jobs only, and it would be more profitable that way, too.
 

Almantas

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I think if you move away from deli workers and apply it to growing industries, programming, etc. you'd have much better luck.

As DL pointed out, if you're looking for a deli job, the chance of you having sound financial practices is much lower.

Also, what if, instead of taking a chunk out of their monthly, take commission right away and spread it out over 3-6 months?

He covers all industries, not just deli workers. I used Deli Assistant as an example.

Also, he charges ONLY single week's salary - which must be paid ONLY in a fourth employment week. In addition, if the guy who got the job decides to leave the company until the payment is due he's not liable for any service fee - which is single week's salary.

Let's say salary is 400 euros per week. So, you would get paid 400 euros for 3 weeks in a row until your payment is due. IMO this gives enough security and time to collect money for a service provided.

Just personal thoughts.
 
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ApparentHorizon

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He covers all industries, not just deli workers. I used Deli Assistant as an example.

Also, he charges ONLY single week's salary - which must be paid ONLY in a fourth employment week. In addition, if the guy who got the job decides to leave the company until the payment is due he's not liable for any service fee - which is single week's salary.

Let's say salary is 400 euros per week. So, you would get paid 400 euros for 3 weeks in a row until your payment is due. IMO this gives enough security and time to collect money for a service provided.

Just personal thoughts.

Good point about EU - from my understanding, it's much more acceptable to pay in full. Whereas in the US, installments are preferred.

In any case, it sounds like a solid biz, as long as your friend has some cash reserves in the event of a series of bad placements.
 

Almantas

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A very quick google shows this is illegal. (atleast in the U.K)

He's not running it from the UK. I did not analyze law regulations in detail, but what he does is different from an ordinary recruitment service. It's more kind of job-seeker consultancy services instead. He just started few months ago, no website as per now. From my understanding he's trying to find a more effective solution for job-seekers, because most recruitment agencies are geared towards the companies.
 

happybhoy

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He's not running it from the UK. I did not analyze law regulations in detail, but what he does is different from an ordinary recruitment service. It's more kind of job-seeker consultancy services instead. He just started few months ago, no website as per now. From my understanding he's trying to find a more effective solution for job-seekers, because most recruitment agencies are geared towards the companies.
Say it is legal, won't he be doing all the work of a traditional agency for only a 2% commission rather than 20%ish?
 
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Almantas

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Say it is legal, won't he be doing all the work of a traditional agency for only a 2% commission rather than 20%ish?

From what he told me, it's very similar to a recruitment agency, just a reversed model. A model that charges for services that helped a guy secure a desired job position and doesn't charge anything up-front and allows guy to work for 4 weeks to get some taste of the company and the role, before paying money for provided services. He's trying to provide an effective method for people to help them secure desired jobs I guess. He's not an experienced entrepreneur, so it will probably be more of a trial-and-error.
 

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