

After months of work I've launched my startup.  Any critiques? - brianculler
http://www.dropjobs.com
Elevator Pitch:  Hiring is a pain in the ass, juggling resumes and getting feedback from interviews, dealing with PDFs and Word Docs and keeping track of who interviewed for what.  Dropjobs streamlines the entire process from posting jobs on your website to reviewing and managing the applicants who apply for your positions.<p>So, caveats right out of the door.  Yes, of course someone "did it before".  Applicant tracking systems have been around for quite a long time.  However there are a few things that we're differentiating on:<p>1) Up front, easy, cheap pricing.  No sales people.  Most heavy ATS systems I looked at require you to call a phone number to find out how much it costs.
2) Simple.  Does this one thing and thats it -- so we're targeting the people who don't want a taleo hire-to-fire HR enterprise solution.
3) Has an embedded widget for letting people apply for your jobs straight from your own website.  
4) Uses scribd to display people's resumes directly in the Dropjobs website, so you aren't constantly downloading and opening adobe acrobat and crap like that.<p>I think the market is there.  It's good enough that I've launched it as a 1.0, so... any advice on next steps?  Should I just drop a few grand on advertising?  Unfortunately the world of hiring and HR management isn't all "web2.0" and glitzy, so I feel it will be hard to build any buzz through traditional social media channels.
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patio11
<http://www.dropjobs.com/frontpage> should be at <http://www.dropjobs.com> .
This is probably a technical limitation, but you're hurting your SEO something
fierce.

Title tag of front page should probably be "DropJobs | Keywords Go Here"
rather than "DropJobs | Tagline"

Search for the word "features". Features do not sell software. Benefits sell
software. You mention benefits, but only briefly, and they're given short
shrift.

 _Similar to Google Analytics, simply copy and paste the DropJobs widget code
into your company's existing website and we do the rest._

People with hiring authority typically don't use Google Analytics, and "easy
installation" is not what pushes the PHB's buttons about this feature: it is
that it looks like _their_ software, on _their_ website, with _their_
branding. Many of them also think this actually means the data is on their
Googles instead of on your Googles, and what they don't know won't hurt them.

Screenshots of software -- particularly software which is not visually
inspiring -- do not push the reward receptors in the brains of people who do
not make software for a living. Show a representation of the hiring manager
achieving success instead. Your software will make him the hero, get him the
promotion, get her home to her kids faster, clean up this effing mess in the
inbox, whatever the value proposition is.

~~~
mkull
minor note: Title tag should be "Keywords Go Here - Dropjobs" for maximum SEO
benefit, of course it could potentially be more usable to have "Dropjobs" be
the first word in the page title. Typically in my experience the SEO boost was
more valuable.

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srgseg
The idea of allowing HR to post job vacancies without having to involve IT for
every update is good.

However, this isn't a problem the IT department are likely to search for, and
this isn't the type of thing TechCrunch is going to be buzzing about.

I'm guessing your business model is predicated on a self service solution
where people click on your Google ads and sign up. I don't think this will
work well for you.

I'd increase your pricing to $xxx/mo upwards, and make cold calls all day to
HR departments pitching them a cheap and easy solution that will help them
post ads without involving IT to constantly push new HTML to their website for
each job.

You won't be selling the HR department in isolation. On your sales call, you
need to convince them it's a good idea and to arrange a follow-up call to get
the person that manages their website into that call. Only if both HR and IT
are convinced will you achieve a sale.

If this model works, hire more sales staff to pump up sales volume.

~~~
efsavage
"this isn't the type of thing TechCrunch is going to be buzzing about."

You say this like it's a bad thing. He's got a good idea here, and his
audience is a much larger superset of TC's audience, so I wouldn't hold the
lack of appeal in that regard against it.

~~~
joeag
I think that comment was directed more at the appropriate way of generating
potential buyer visits to the site - and I agree there is unlikely to be a
quick and cheap spike generated by TC.

I agree that this will probably have to be sold via cold calling, also it
could be the type of service that would go over well at HR conference, or
conferences where HR types are likely to be, including labor law, wage and
hour issues, recruiting, etc..

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weego
The business side I can't really comment on, so best leave that to someone
else more capable. UI wise I would suggest you really work on your typography
to improve the overall feel. At a glance a few pointers would be:

1) far too much of the real information is off the bottom of the page... I
don't really care so much about a screenshot of a fairly dry and grey page
product shot.

2) the vertical space above and below the yellow sign up button is different
and is slightly awkward because of it.

3) right aligning the features|pricing|signup text needs rethinking, also give
it vertical space away from the image.

4) you need more variation in your headers/body/navigation text styles. The
features|pricing|signup and also the pricing structure table really need more
impact and are currently let down by how they look.

5) be more generous with the padding around the text in the pricing table.

6) using bold white on the blue is completely lost.

7) your underlying grid changes between the light and dark sections and needs
to be rethought. Overall I think you need an extra column so you can get more
relevant info into eyeline.

8) your remember me option needs styling and also be more generous with the
space around it

9) the space between headers and paragraphs should not be the same (it's fine
below headers, tighten up between paragraphs in my opinion) also the space
below "Great Features" is not the same as other headers.

10) you have too many font styles and sizes in the blue BG area which is
making it feel unstructured and hard to read.

It's a good start, and any design can be picked apart so hopefully any design
comments will be taken as my own subjective feelings rather than true
criticism, but if I was to say any 1 thing really needs attention I would get
an extra column in there first and foremost.

------
ig1
Business critique:

My advice would be to concentrate on the SME market, to sell into the
enterprise market requires sales people and a much higher price.

You could target your enterprise product to freelance recruiters though.

Also if you're going for small companies it might also be worth offering
pricing on a per-job rather than time basis.

Also my gut feeling is that the pricing is wrong, talk to your customers and
find out how much they save by using your product and use that as the basis of
your pricing.

Website critique:

The features list looks a bit of a mess, rather than talking about features
(of your product) talk about the benefits (to your users). Accepting CVs in
JPG format might be a feature for you product, it's not a benefit to your end
user though.

The features list should describe how you fix the pain-points the user is
currently experiencing.

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jeromec
This is one of those things that makes me slap my forehead and ask why didn't
I think of that. :)

It looks good. The main thing I would critique is that it looks like there is
a price barrier to entry. I'd change the 'Sign Up' button text to 'Try it FREE
for 30 days now!', also the 'select' text in the price area to 'free trial'.
Other minor knick knacks like adding the word 'password' in the second top
box? Finishing up the FAQs section etc.

Edit: It's interesting that some constructive looking comments on this thread
are downvoted...

------
markbao
Congratulations!

You definitely need a tour page where I can take a closer look at your
software without using it. Something like <http://basecamphq.com/tour/> or
<http://supportbreeze.com/tour> (to put in a personal plug). I can't get a
really good idea of the app from the text; show, don't tell.

Your pricing is at 5 jobs for $20/month, 20 jobs for $50/month. I think you
can increase that pricing. Maybe sometime down the line.

You've got aliasing in your rounded corners that you should fix. (Sorry,
couldn't resist.)

Show me an example page that I would see if I were a job applicant.

Your site has too much small text. Condense your copy and make it bigger.

Otherwise, great work! Best of luck :)

------
Jabbles
Looks quite promising.

A few things that struck me quickly:

Why make Enterprise limited at all? No one's really going to fill up 1000 jobs
in a hurry.

I understand that you'd prefer people to go pro, but the "standard" label is
difficult to read (white on grey). Also, make the "select" buttons the size of
the whole option, not just the buttons.

I don't like the full-stop in "Hiring. Made Simple" - but that's personal
preference.

International pricing? $£€ options?

You like your capital letters! Try removing them from words like "the".

"Free trial" might work better than "Sign up".

Of course, these are only my opinions, and you should definitely try some A/B
testing to see if I'm talking sense or not.

Hope that helps, good luck!

------
akozlik
You should put together a screencast demonstrating the product. A few
paragraphs and a brief, general description of the product didn't convince me
to sign up to check it out. People will want more information on what they're
signing up for. You should put particular emphasis on how easy it is to review
resumes.

Also, make sure you point out what differentiates you from Monster or Dice.
You don't offer job listings, just application tracking, and people will be
unsure of why they should use your service rather than a job board.

Great idea though.

------
jorkos
\- take out testimonials link if you don't have any \- differentiate from
theresumator and countless others in one strong sentence at top \- keep going
with it!

------
car
A good idea in a good market, probably the most important things in a startup.
You have a clear path to revenue, and you are addressing a common problem,
which I can attest to as a hiring manager.

One suggestion to potentially extend your market: a multi tenant version. I
have been pondering to accept third party job listings on a topical website
I'm running, which would allow hiring managers within the industry to post
their jobs. If you could make this an option within your offering, I'd jump on
it. If you could also provide the billing etc, it would be awesome.

It's probably a considerable change to your site architecture, but this would
be a nice way to get exposure (e.g. on high traffic blogs), and an additional
source of revenue.

EDIT: I just checked how this is done on Techcrunch. They use personforce.com.

Additional thoughts:

\- A little bit about the company would increase users trust. If you have a
real address, put in a Google map image.

\- Demo of the site and widget.

\- Consider a name change (as pointed out in another comment)

\- Congratulations, the fruits of your hard work look great!

------
bbarthel
1) No about page? Who is Dropjobs, LLC? The about page is one of the first
things I look for when dealing with a company I've never heard of. See
[http://www.readwriteweb.com/start/2010/08/what-does-your-
abo...](http://www.readwriteweb.com/start/2010/08/what-does-your-about-us-
page-s.php) for some thoughts on what to include. I am basically just looking
to connect the company to something - otherwise you are just another faceless
internet page and I tend not to trust those.

2) FAQ link does nothing for me on Chrome. I don't care if anyone has actually
asked the questions - but several popped into my head while looking at this
page. (What do you mean by "X Jobs" - do you count open positions or just
posted? If I post a job in one month does it count against next months quota?
How do I post jobs? How do I review resumes? How do I select a resume for
interviewing? Am I always billed or only when I have positions posted?)

3) I am also in the "Where is the demo page" category.

------
torme
FAQ, Testimonials, and Sign Up links at the bottom don't seem to anchor
anywhere. Actually, it looks like signup anchors to the pricing section, which
is kind of confusing. Similarly, I feel like those links a the bottom should
actually bring you to different pages rather than anchoring. It's a little
awkward clicking the pricing link with the pricing already in view and having
nothing happen. When I click that link I feel like it should bring me more
information about pricing then whats already displayed. As a more general
rule, I think anchored links are only useful in excessively long pages to ease
navigation, such as with a table of contents. I think this page is far too
short to necessitate having these type of links.

Edit: Also, I might avoid using email address as the login. It seems that in a
business case like this you'll have multiple people accessing the same
account, and it might not make sense if a hiring manager quits to continue to
have to use her email address to login after the fact.

------
meterplech
I think that it looks overall very good- but under "Great Features" the page
doesn't look very polished. The white on blue headings don't differentiate
well from the italicized white on blue. And, it's tough to get a feel for the
main features at all. Clicking the "Features" link only takes my to this
cluttered section. I think if you had a link to screenshots/ more clean
features page that would help.

Also- I think the "Integrates Seamlessly" section is too wordy. Simply saying
"If you can copy and paste, you can use DropJobs. Similar to Google Analytics,
simply copy and paste the DropJobs widget code into your company's existing
website and we do the rest. Listing jobs and accepting applications has never
been easier."

With a link to your other features somewhere would get the major points.

Overall, I think this is a really nice idea for small to midsize businesses
and seems like a really great service!

------
aiurtourist
One competitor: <http://www.jobscore.com/>

This is a good niche to be in. Like some of the other comments mentioned, I
would target technical recruiters and hiring managers since their the ones
whose lives you're trying to make easier.

------
JabavuAdams
Looks good, graphically!

Are you focusing on medium to large corporate customers, or on small
businesses?

A problem I foresee with larger clients is that changing the website (even to
paste in some script) is a Big Deal. They also probably don't care about the
pay-as-you go offering. They have money to spend and might prefer to go with
predictable costs.

So, why not explicitly market this to small businesses? Pay as you go is nice
in that it doesn't require a huge initial commitment, or endless meetings to
secure buy-in. I.e. a proactive HR person might be able to use this and look
good to their boss. OTOH since changing the website at a larger shop is such a
big deal, there's no benefit to them of low barrier to entry.

~~~
brianculler
Yep I am specifically focused on small to medium sized companies. Large
companies already universally already have giant enterprise HR systems
installed as is anyway.

------
gzak
Just something to be aware of, you already have competition:

<http://www.theresumator.com/>

But remember that just because you're not the first, doesn't mean you have to
jump ship. Good luck!

------
mkull
What does the Dropjobs widget look like? Slightly annoying to sign up, see
widget code, but still not seeing any examples of what the actual widget looks
like (and the customizing options!)

------
raquo
A bit confusing: You click on pricing, and see the pricing table. You click on
signup, you see the same. I realize it was your intent, but it feels broken,
especially since the table has "Select" buttons, not "Sign up".

Regarding the signup form: The hints' font size is too small unless you have
perfect vision. You can increase it by 50% without changing the layout. Also,
I think you can drop this: "First user's personal information.", "You can add
additional users once logged in." seems enough.

------
Tichy
I don't know much about hiring, but my impression is that your tagline(s) also
don't tell me much. "Dropjobs lets you hire better, faster, and easier." -
that is the generic claim every software company has been making since the
beginning of time.

Also I don't care that you are hosted in the cloud. Whatever - just provide a
stable service, how you manage that is not my concern.

"Accept Word Doc, PDF, JPG, PNG, HTML, or XML Format Resumes"

Can't I do that with eMail already?

------
dpapathanasiou
This is a good description of what you're doing, but it needs to be made more
prominent.

Try it directly under the "Hiring. Made Simple." header instead of where it is
now:

" _Stop collecting resumes in your email inbox. DropJobs organizes all your
applicants into an easy to use interface that lets you make better decisions._
"

------
adaml_623
"No files to manage or download, view applicants right with their resumes
online."

This sentence doesn't make sense.

------
topbanana
Looks like a reasonable idea (but what do I know!)

Couple of points

* "Accept applications and resumes autonomously" doesn't scan very well.

* You desperately need an 'example' section, so I can see how it would look on my site for applications, and so I can see what my UI experience would be as an employer

------
angkec
I remember an article I used to read gave the advise that you should focus on
features in the price sheet instead of costs. In your case, I'd say use a
smaller font for Price per month and a bigger font for all the features. This
way costumers tend to get swayed by more features, not by lower costs.

------
Cafesolo
Critique:

Applicants usually submit their resumes via email.

You should let applicants send their resumes to [my company]@dropjobs.com so
companies can put this email address on their website along with the
embeddable jobs widget.

Congrats on launching. Good luck!

------
bwooceli
Typography specifically - sorry Apple guys, but my standard-issue corporate
desk monkey box does not have Helvetica and Arial is _not_ a great way to
"pop". I would _highly_ recommend either the $25/year for Typekit or hitting
up the Google font api.

------
angelbob
Your FAQ and testimonials links do nothing. If you _do_ have any testimonials,
put one or more somewhere visible. Right now you have no social proof.

------
benvanderbeek
Personally I like screenshots, and if they're there, I don't see them. If
there was a "tour" or "screenshots" or "demo" or something, you might convert
me.

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jorangreef
1\. The tagline "Hiring. Made Simple." communicates well.

2\. Add a newsletter subscription field at the bottom of your front page.

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csomar
1\. It's missing polishing. I mean make it look sleek. That's in the first
place.

2\. Make me understand better your features.

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peteypao
It's not clear to me on the initial screen why I would use this service over
managing it myself.

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adaml_623
1 picture = 1000 words!

Start work on that picture.

Edit: Oh by the way I love the concept!

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prakster
It might help if you add this benefit: "Automatically post to SimplyHired"

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xenonite
the name... drop a job? drop the application? also, it's too similar to
dropbox.

something like jobqueue sounds better to me.

but, now, it's probably too late for this.

~~~
car
I second this. Reading the name for the first time, not knowing the concept,
evoked thoughts of dropping one's job or similar.

I know how hard this is, but if still possible, I'd brainstorms for another
name.

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ahi
small thing. You might be missing a favicon.

------
MicahWedemeyer
linked: <http://dropjobs.com>

