Placement Raises $3 Million for Its Marketplace Job Board – Plans To Disrupt Staffing Firms By Charging Placed Candidates for 18 to 36 Months

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We’ve all seen this model before. Companies that want to charge a percentage of your income for some period of time as their fee for finding you a position. In this case the startup Placement is charging 10% of a new placement’s salary/compensation for 18 to 36 months. We’ve seen it online with other job board marketplaces that ultimately all pivot back to employer-paid fees for ads or higher touch services. We also saw it back in the 1970s and 1980s when staffing firms would charge candidates in a similar fashion. It was a bad idea then. It’s a bad idea now.

Candidates, or let’s call them consumers, will pay for value ad services to improve their ability to find or secure a new position. I’m a big fan of companies that provide a valuable service that helps people gain a better understanding of how to navigate a job search or reach their career goals. Candidates have myriad free options to find open positions. They do need help in better understanding those options and how to navigate a hiring process.  However, that’s what staffing firms do for free for candidates, and 10% of income for three years is the equivalent of a 30% fee to the candidate. It’s just flipping the payment for a staffing model onto the candidate.

Help candidates. Don’t charge them.

Source: Placement is the much-needed talent agent for jobseekers | TechCrunch