Top Prospect and the H3 job referral patents

Yesterday there was an article in TechCrunch about Top Prospect. They are a candidate and job referral software engine that sits on top of Linkedin an recognizes who you know and then allows you to refer those people for cash to companies willing to pay a referral fee. If you have been in the recruiter software business for a while, it sounds a lot like H3 which was an employment referral system that never really took off. H3 owned a few patents and these patents often publicly caused blog spats with the likes of what was known as Jobster which is now owned by Zapoint .

One of the comments in the techcrunch was from an employee of Top Prospect and as it turns out, Top Prospect bought a patent from H3. The patent sale is also mentioned here January 12/2011. I remember emailing recently with Hans Gieskes who was the founder of H3 who has long since moved on asking him why there were a couple of pictures of hamburgers on the H3 website. He told me he sold the domain. I never asked how much nor did I ask what happened to the business. Now we know.

Comment by Jerry Albright on February 16, 2011 at 10:30am: I don't have time to check the link - so I'll just go with your summary of it.

Wow. Yet another site thinking everyone wants to be a recruiter. #DeadAlready

Comment by Alasdair Murray on February 16, 2011 at 11:06am: Not sure I'd thank any of my contacts for referring me for a job I am probably not interested in, anymore than I;d be comfortable referring any of my contacts. I'd rather they picked up the phone and told me about itif they know me well enough(which many on Linkedin don't) I can see a time when someone's inbox would be full of potential referrals and their contacts sweating on the possibility of earning a fee. No thanks.

Comment by Slouch on February 16, 2011 at 2:52pm: I spoke with them about a month ago and told them what I think. There is a flaw in it like all other referral systems out there.

Comment by Jerry Albright on February 16, 2011 at 2:54pm: The idea that everyone knows enough about each other to refer them to appropriate jobs is just plain lame. Sure - you know your buddy just got laid off. But is he a "design" engineer? Or a "process" engineer? Heck - who knows - just blast his resume around and cash in like the overpaid recruiters do.

It's easy!

Comment by Alasdair Murray on February 16, 2011 at 2:59pm: Not to mention whether he or she would fit culturally into an organisation. Big or small? Corporate or laid back? Dress down or power dressing? Team or autonomy? I'm no recruiter but I;veworked withmany successful ones in my time and the good ones have the whole shooting match nailed down, they didn't just match a job title to a vacancy. That seems to be a latter day trend.

Comment by Slouch on February 16, 2011 at 8:35pm: I bet the lady in this video could make it work. It's the double touch at the end that would seal those referral deals.