Work Network

My current contract was obtained through a reference. Same thing with the
one before that. And, if you ask around, the same holds true for most of
the good jobs. However, when I was last looking for a job/work, I was
reluctant to hit up everyone I knew for any opportunities. I'm sure the
same is true of people I know of who are looking. In most cases, I'd
definitely recommend them, but I don't even know they are looking.

Then, I was reading an article on Orkut, Friendster and the new open
source clone PeopleAggregator and started wondering about building a
social "work network" that isn't centered on friendship and dating, but
rather on professional relationships. If done right, if you were a manager
looking to hire a Java developer, you could search for anyone 2-3 levels
away from your current respected employees who would be recommended. You
could do this without having to bother any of them directly as they would
have described these relationships at this site.

So, the basic design would be for people to set themselves up in this type
of a system and would check for people they have worked with in the past.
Upon finding them, they could indicate the type of relationship with a
series of indicators. For example:

• I've worked with this person.
• I've managed this person.
• I personally vouch for this
  person.
• I'd put my reputation on the line for this person.

etc.
etc. etc. Each one of these definitions would contribute to the overall
score with varying weights. For instance, if you've managed someone and
would hire them again, that counts for more than someone just having
worked *with* someone. To avoid legal entanglements, I would leave out any
sort of negative indicator, preferring that people just not indicate any
sort of working relationship or a minimal one rather than anything
negative.

With personal profiles indicating things like skill profiles,
resumes, and availability, you could use the site both as an employer and
as a person looking for work.

I intend to build this site and the
software to run it. The site will be 100% free and the software will be
open source and I'd like contributors if anyone is interested in working
on something like this. I've got more detailed designs in my head and
think that something could be built fairly quickly.