Proven.com wants to prove there's job site for skilled tradespeople somewhere between the white collar networking of LinkedIn and the anarchy of Craigslist. A site focusing on the workers end has been up since last year. The employers end has been active since May under that site's old name, workersnow.com. Now both sides are good to go under the Proven banner. According to co-founder and CEO Pablo Fuentes, 400 new workers are creating profiles a day. More importantly for its new phase of growth, employers are joining the network at a clip of a little over 250 per day.
Workers create an account and list a skill set, along with any certifications and references verifiable to Proven through trade degrees or video samples of a worker in action. One unique feature that sets the site apart from LinkedIn. Workers can set their "Crew" of people with whom they enjoy working. Then it's on to an interactive map to find employers and submit profiles, regardless of whether they're hiring at that moment. Workers get five submissions per day.
Employers have to undergo a verification process before they can list whatever skills they seek on the map. Workers in those skill sets see employers as blue, outside that skill set they are gray and without a contact link. A company that is currently hiring appears as green and can privately choose from the profiles submitted to it.
Joining the Proven.com social networking sites is free for both workers and employers, but proven plans to roll out optional premium accounts for employers in the near future, as other site like LinkedIn have offered. Those accounts will pay to use more advanced filters to best find workers in their particular skill set. Premium-level workers accounts would only pay to cover the costs of opt-in verifications such as background or DWV checks, and even then Proven plans to allow users to earn credit through site activity such as referrals. Fuentes said Proven also expects to make money through partnerships with certain trade schools.
More information about proven social networking site for bricklayers at : http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/07/21/social-networking-for-bricklayers/?section=magazines_fortune
