I got a PS in an email to me a few weeks ago that made me grin:
P.S. Your website (JibberJobber.com) is incredibly useful for jobseekers, perhaps even more so that LinkedIn. I’m surprised they LinkedIn hasn’t made you an offer to buy the company yet!
This came from someone who was on the JibberJobber user webinar, where the secrets of optimizing JibberJobber were unveiled :p
JibberJobber is incredibly useful for job seekers… even though not everyone gets it. People going into a job search are looking for what Monster once was… the place to go to find a job or be found by a recruiter. It doesn’t work that way anymore.
Perhaps the job search today is like the gold rush of yesteryear – more people coming to California didn’t mean more people were going to get rich – many died dirt poor looking, looking, looking. I’m not suggesting you’ll die dirt poor, but chasing the crowd, and doing the easy stuff in a job search, is not lonely… you’ll be accompanied by millions who are also looking at that same freaking awesome job posting you just found.
JibberJobber is different. You take initiative to fill in information on who you are networking with, the target companies you are tracking, etc. It’s not necessarily easy or sexy, but it’s sure important.
Regarding being more valuable than LinkedIn, I can see that for some people. LinkedIn offers value that we’ll never offer – access to 40 million professionals, and their networks. That is really, really powerful. But so many don’t know what to do with it -that’s why I created LinkedIn for Job Seekers, the DVD.
Regarding LinkedIn not making an offer yet, who says they haven’t?
Just kidding – they haven’t. I’m not sure where I am at on their radar. At one point they thought I was in competition with them, which is far from the truth. LinkedIn and JibberJobber are complementary tools for people who are into relationships (whether job seekers, salespeople or entrepreneurs).
The thing I’d LOVE is to have a JibberJobber application on LinkedIn – but it’s a very closed process right now, and they are doing things with CRM features that will probably mean I won’t get an application. Oh well.
How about instead of thinking JibberJobber vs. LinkedIn, it’s more of a JibberJobber + LinkedIn?
Quite frankly, I hope JibberJobber will stay independent.
I’ve been a loyal user of linkedin for a long time. It’s very useful. However, as they’re growing a company, I get the sense that their ambition is bigger than just dominating the career space (good or bad.) I personally think they’ve a golden opportunity to become the internet company in career/job space, but they seems to be focusing on a lot of different things. So, if they acquire JibberJobber, I’m not sure if they will get most out of it. 🙂
I too have been quite disappointed by LinkedIn’s API strategy — there are a gold mine of data. As a developer, I’d love to write custom application for it. And there are so many opportunities to connect linkedin data with other data sources. Unfortunately, linkedin is taking a very close-door approach in working with 3rd-party developer.
I played with JibberJobber app a while ago. For the lack of better words, I think you’re essentially “CRM app” for job seekers, which stores data and provide workflows. One idea I have for you is to make your app more integrated with browser — I used to use a product called Onfilio, which was acquired by Microsoft and become a free product. If you can add some Onfilio features into your product, and make it easier for job seekers to grab contents on the internet and organize them into JibberJobber, it’d be great. Just my 2 cents.
cheers,
Bill