VentureBeat

Career-building and recruitment sites are all over the web. Paidinterviews believes that nobody has been able to do it just right in the age of Web 2.0.

The McLean, Va.,-based company has created an online recruiting site where companies pay a fee if they wind up hiring a job candidate. But the company tries as hard as online dating companies such as eHarmony to make sure there is a match between the employer and the job candidate. Paidinterviews comes up with a score for the candidate and the company to establish how likely the match is a good one.

Even if someone has a good job, they can test his or her market value. Job candidates can fill out profiles and then talk about their ideal jobs. They can spell out how much more they would like to be paid to be lured away from their current jobs or where they would like to be employed, geographically. Employers can look at that information and see if it’s realistic to start a discussion with the person.

The site lets you do things that other social networks such as Linkedin have done; namely, you can create a social network for career purposes. You can import your contacts from other networks and join groups of like-minded job seekers who can pass on referrals or send messages. You can also upload video or audio resumes and upload samples of your work.

“We want to be a destination site, not one where you post and forget,” said Jim Weaver, chief executive of Paidinterviews.

One of the Web 2.0-style features of the site is the Watercooler. There, members can leave comments about companies that they have worked for and rate them on a scale of one to five. This serves as a warning system for employees to stay away from certain companies.

The company competes with a Jobfox, Jobster, Careerbuilder, Monster, Notchup, and Recruiters. Paidinterviews is self funded. As an example of how the sites are different, Notchup launched last year and pays candidates to do job interviews. But Weaver says that doesn’t work well for potential employers.

The company has seven employees and has raised $1.5 million from friends and family. It is looking for a $3 million to $5 million venture round. It was founded in September 2007 and went live today.

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