backFinancial Times
Business consultants to auction their skills online
Taylor,Employment Correspondent
The eBay online auction concept is coming to the jobs market this week as independent management consultants, expecting to earn up to £1,500 a day, hope to sell their skills to the highest bidder through a new website.
Four6one , which launched the service, says it could revolutionise the recruitment in-dustry. Similar online auction markets are being considered for other professional posts such as for accountants and solicitors.
Four6one, which recruits executives for FTSE 250 and Fortune 500 companies through more conventional routes, has established professional-associates.com to auction the services of senior freelance management consultants.
These must have a first- class or upper-second degree, or MBA; and, have five years experience with a recognised professional services firm, or have worked at no fewer than three FTSE 250 or Fortune 500 companies over the same period.
Job candidates will be allowed to set a reserve price and a premium "buy now" price, which can be triggered by potential employers be-fore the auction gets under way. Once started, each auction will last for four days. Candidates, under the terms of the website, will be required to accept the highest bid.
Pay rates are expected to be between £500 and £1,500 a day, depending upon the complexity of the task and the experience of candidates, according to William Jones, a director of professional-associates. Potential employers include leading management consultancies seeking to boost teams for specific contracts, as well as the "end-clients" themselves.
A rigorous selection process will be undergone before candidates' details will be placed on the website. "CVs and references are checked and candidates will be expected to attend an hour- long interview to ensure that their details and contracts availability are correct," said Mr Jones.
Candidates do not pay a fee for having their details advertised. But the successful will be expected to pay a licence fee for using the service and 20 per cent of the agreed daily rate of the successful job candidate.
The details of about 180 consultants had so far been posted on the website with another 1,000 potential job candidates being processed, said Mr Jones. Four6one, which said that it had failed to find any similar online auction services being offered, is considering launching a similar site in the US.