Your Thoughts On This Niche? - Helping Our Intern Build An Online Service Offer

[Chabrenas]

Kay, headhunters (executive recruitment firms) are brokers who put people in touch with one another. As far as I know they never take any liability for the success of the resulting contract - they just get paid (quite highly) for being good at finding people with the desired qualifications and experience. DD and the handling of the contract with the worker is entirely the responsibility of the hirer. But you're right, a hirer who ends up with an unsatisfactory employee may well decide to try a different headhunter next time, so it's wise for the headhunter to do a bit of basic DD on both hirer and worker.

[Kay]

Kay, headhunters (executive recruitment firms) are brokers who put people in touch with one another.

I know, Chabrenas. It seems rather patronising to explain to me what a headhunter does.

As I said:

Can I claim damages from the headhunter company? Probably not, because my contract would be with the developer

But you're right, a hirer who ends up with an unsatisfactory employee may well decide to try a different headhunter next time, so it's wise for the headhunter to do a bit of basic DD on both hirer and worker.

Sorry, I don't see that basic DD will be enough to protect the headhunter or the hirer. How can it help the headhunter predict accidents or personal crises? And what sort of DD would establish how likely the hirer was to irrationally blame any failure of the employee on the headhunter?

[TryBPO]

As I see it, the offer is NOT cost free, because if I take up the free offer of getting someone else to find a developer for me, then I still have to commit $xyz to the project and spend my time dealing with the developer who's been selected for me (or even by me from a short-list) and then if the developer stuffs it up, I'm the one left with the mess on my hands and will probably have to pay someone else to fix it up. Worst case scenario perhaps, but I don't view that as a cost-free offer.

You're right in that it's not cost free for the actual development work, but he's assuming the person he's talking to is planning to do that work anyway. If he was pushing someone into a project they didn't want to do, I guess there would be cost that wasn't expected there, for sure. Also...there's no requirement that the customer actually go with any of the developers/designers that are hand-picked. Having to pay extra on the chance or with the risk that the original person stuffs it up is always the case...I don't think his offer would add any more likelihood to that happening. (And would hope it would add less risk there...but that remains to be seen, of course)

I think the best way to think about it is like any other service that helps to find you the right person. Staffing companies or head hunters would be the best example, but I think a RE agent looking to help you sell your home would fit too. Let's say there's a new agent that has been in the industry for a while, but hasn't worked as a seller's agent before. He knows how to find good buyers, but doesn't have any direct experience with it. The plan would be to test through it with you, doing the best job he possibly can so that he can get a good recommendation and experience through the process. I think your question is: "Would you be willing to risk something so critical to someone with less experience, even if it is free?" That's a fair point...

In which case, where would the liability lie?

If I pay for a head hunter to find me a developer and the developer makes a backside of the job (could be for any reason - maybe he's no good, maybe he's had an accident and can't work, maybe his girlfriend dumped him for the girl next door and he can't face work any more) where does that leave me? Can I claim damages from the head hunter company? Probably not, because my contract would be with the developer, but I sure as heck would not be a happy camper to be left in a mess because of the head hunter's recommendation.

It's probably an emotional response, "I'm not using that guy again because it turned out badly last time". But emotional responses can be very powerful driving factors when deciding to do business with someone or not.

As mentioned in later comments, I don't think the responsibility would lie with the person that sourced the work but, you're right, IF they agree to let him find someone and IF he does a bad job and IF they irrationally put the blame on him and IF they decide to give him a bad recommendation, sue him, etc...I could see that being a problem. Still...I think that's getting way ahead. This is barely out of idea phase at this point!

[Graven29]

I am really not sure what this is about. Are you helping us with our blogs on wordpress for free? Or, are you helping us find somebody to help us with our blogs, but we have to pay for that help, just not pay for you to help us find that help?

[TryBPO]

Ack...Graven...probably didn't make this as clear as it should have been.

Target Audience:
Marketers and Entrepreneurs that are less technical

Platform:
Free information on blog with paid services attached (Podcast/newsletter maybe down the road?)

Problem:
Trying to find the RIGHT developer/designer/programmer to complete your vision can be difficult if you don't know the right questions to ask, the skillsets to look for, etc. You'll get lots of people saying they can do it, but are they really suited for the work required? Do they have the technical know-how needed? Can they communicate their skills and understand your vision in terms they can work with?

Solution:
Free DIY information on how to find the right guy to fit your needs with skills to look for, questions to ask, etc. The blog will eventually include checklists, interviews with programmers, case studies, etc.

Service Offered:
Paid service where John will listen to you explain your vision of what the product needs and looks like, put up job postings, weed out potential hires, interview those that seem decent, and present you with 2-3 options to help you get what you need done. (He's currently offering this to 3-4 people for free to test it out) Estimated price: $300? $400? Depends on demand and time required

We were looking for feedback regarding the niche, content strategy, service offering, pricepoint, etc. What do you like, not like, think would be good to add, etc.

[akirk]

I think that the idea is a good one - but not all good ideas make businesses...

Being in this field myself - a lot of the issue in employing coders is that even for an identical bit of code the needs are not always the same - there is a need to match personalities with those running the project... skill sets need to match now and future requirements - you need to understand whether the business owner can project manage or not - who is going to set / monitor / maintain coding standards / etc...

coding requirements tend to be either small little bits of ad-hoc coding, or bigger projects - very different needs - it would seem that your service is best suited to the latter - yet that is where there are a lot of issues...
I have seen huge numbers of issues in projects because coders are a specific type of person - and not often persceptive to other needs etc. - your comment about John's abilities - showing surprise - backs that up...

So, I think that you have a possible business - but it is also potentially full of huge numbers of issues - and with what you are suggesting that you are offering then you may hold liability...

Alasdair