KANSAS CITY, Mo. – It could be called the eBay of job hunting.
A new Web site,
www.jobaphiles.com, is bringing to light a new-aged style of job hunting.
"It's basically just an auction site," said co founder Adam Blakeway. "It's for anybody who needs a job and thinks their set of skills can be used."
The premise of the site is as simple as it is disturbing. Employers post a job on the site and put a cap on how much they will pay for the position or task.
Potential employees start tossing out qualifications and "bids" on how much they would be willing to work for.
Bids come in fast and furious, each often trying to out-low the other.
The site doesn't come with a fast-talking guy in a cowboy hat yelling, "How much you gonna bid for it? Give me ten bucks an hour. I got ten. Do I hear $9.50?" but the system pretty much works similar to how people bid on cattle or antiques.
Only in the new E-world of job hunting, the person willing to work for the least has the upper hand.
The site was the brain child of three M.I.T. students who don't see their creation as a way for companies to low ball potential employees, proving even geniuses can be naive.
"Even in these very challenging economic times, I don't think anyone is going to work below what makes sense for them," said co-founder Thai Nguyen.
The site was originally created for college students in the Boston area who had either just graduated or needed some part time work.
It has since grown to include all types of jobs, from real estate to graphic design.
