Ask HN: Please, review my startup Strawlink (online job screening process)

[green]

Hello entrepreneurs,

I would like to ask you guys to review our recently launched project Strawlink - it is a Web service for the online candidate screening process. Our target auditory is mostly small business owners (who need to hire people) and professional recruiters (who hire people all the time).

What exactly Strawlink does can be explained very simple - we facilitate the screening process. Most of you, who were looking for a job, probably went through this process like hundred times! The reason is simple - especially nowadays, when companies receive hundreds (some receive thousands ;-) applicants for single job -- and employer needs to identify top talent fast and easy. And this is what screening is what -- you certainly cannot waste time for "face" interviewing everybody. And Strawlink is for screening of your job applicants.

We tried our scoring mechanism in different companies worldwide, internally, and because it worked out very well we decided to make it as a separate product. This is how Strawlink was born.

Please, all the feedback is very welcome. You can register here -- http://www.strawlink.com/referrer/hackernews Currently we will credit accounts of all new registrations, so you would not need to spend any money while trying us out.

I would really love to hear opinions from potential candidates (what do you like and what you don't like if you will be screened with us?) and from small business owners who hire people (what would you like to improve? do you want other pricing plan? anything else?).

Thank you!

[green]

Thanks for this valuable feedback! Want also to mention that if any of you will be hiring, or will need some help with screening -- use us! Register now (http://www.strawlink.com/referrer/hackernews) and you'll get your accounts credited right away. We will be turning off the new registration credits soon, but I want to say that if any of you will need Strawlink and will not have money to spend -- let me know -- [e-mail] I will do my best to help. As I mentioned before - Strawlink's goal is to help facilitate the screening process, and if we will learn how to do it better -- all of us will benefit. Everybody who create new jobs opportunities, and everybody who is looking for a job.

Thanks!

[icey]

It looks very nice, and I could see it being useful.

However, on the front page, I found myself really wanting to click on the words that you have randomly made bold in the text. I don't know why, and it may just be me.

I specifically tried clicking on the word "screening", hoping to get your definition of the word. Screening can mean a lot of things to me. Our screening process contains technical interviewing as well as verifying information that the applicant has on their resume.

I also think you should make your "Product Tour" link far more prominent; or change it so that the main image is clickable and takes you to the tour.

[green]

As for the Product Tour -- we'll try to "light" it up a little bit, so it will stand out on the page. Thanks for the advice!

As for the screening -- we've been talking to many recruiters, and usually they used the term "screening" as a process before the initial and face-to-face interviews. This is the step when it's only required to separate unqualified candidates from others. People just tend to submit resume even if they clearly are not a fit (by different research papers it states that more than 80% meet less than half of job requirements).

You may be referring to "criminal/drug screening" or "pre-employment screening" processes, which are more like verifying the information provided by the candidate.

But it's good you brought it to our attention -- we'll figure out how to put some "hint" about what we are actually mean by "screening" on Strawlink.

[mmelin]

From the product tour, this looks like a well-executed product which definitely can bring value to recruiters. Two things stand out to me: 1) charge more per contact or consider a different model, the value you are providing is definitely above $1 per qualified contact 2) please look into getting a copywriter to rewrite your website copy - currently the text gives a distinctive non-native feel

[green]

1) just answered it below (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=560420) 2) that's our priority, and we really need somebody, but being busy with the development/support we still have this problem

anybody want to help? or suggest somebody?

and thank you, I appreciate your feedback!

[Raphael]

Charge more so you don't have to make it up on volume.

[green]

Actually, we figured out that $1 is pretty right price for the value we provide. We have more features in mind, and we are thinking about something like premium membership charge to enable them, so we can make some profit from there also.

But we do not want to raise the price. At the end, it's the service to _help_ people when they are hiring. We are targeting every single, even 1-2 people, company. When they need, say, Ruby or Java developer for their own particular needs, they want to be able not to waste time (they have business to run!) but simply to figure out the most important moments about all candidates. It may be years of experience, how well they know the language, which frameworks and databases did they use and how long, etc. Crawling through cover letters, resumes, etc. definitely can do the job, but it is nor time effective, neither money wise.

Thanks for the review!