
Apply HN: Get your CV proof read by others - alouanchi
The idea is:<p>1. submit your CV and pay some fees(or find a way to give a reward).<p>2. Someone will correct&#x2F;review it<p>3. Let&#x27;s say others(max 5 persons) give a mark to the final CV<p>4. Iterate 2 and 3 if needed<p>5. 2 and 3 will get a share of the money somehow
======
danieltillett
I think you have identified a need and not a market.

My suggestion would be to charge a lot for the service (and hence be able to
pay a lot for the proofing process), but have the payment delayed until the
the applicant gets a job. This would align the interests of the proofreader
and the CV owner.

~~~
alouanchi
Cheers for the suggestion, I think it's good way to keep both parts
interested.

My first thought was to delay the payment till it passed the second review
(max 5persons).

However I think your suggestion will get more tractions, the only downside is
how to keep track on the applicant whether or not he got a job/interview. But
who says it will be easy :).

~~~
danieltillett
One way to keep track of when a candidate gets a job is to make part of the
service reviewing/setting up their linkedin profile as well. You then just
need to watch the LinkedIn profile to see when they get a job.

------
petervandijck
My first question is: do you have 1 real potential user that would actually
pay real money for this? If so, have you provided the service to them and have
they paid? You could do that.

My second question: do you have 10 users that have paid for this?

~~~
alouanchi
Be honest it is an idea I was/am thinking about, just started looking at it
and how to tackle it. And when I saw the thread about 'Apply HN', I said post
the idea and see what lessons I can learn from it.

~~~
alphydan
I have given advice on nearly 20 CVs. I have improved and redesigned CVs for
friends and relatives. All with pretty good outcomes :)

So at least you have one person on that side of the marketplace. However, I
think petervandijck's question is the critical one:

\- Are "fresh-out-of-uni" job seekers ready to pay? Can you do an experiment
at a career fair at your nearest university. For $1, $5, $10, $20?

\- What folks who want to make a career change? Where can you find them?
Perhaps at industry fairs, or niche career fairs? How much would they pay?

~~~
alouanchi
Thanks for the feedback.

I agree petervandijck's question has to be asked and getting the answers and
validating the hypotheses have to be done. As a start I should go to find
"fresh-out-of-uni" as you've called them to see if they can get out some money
from their pockets. As the summer break is close, should be a good time to run
the experience.

------
shostack
How will you differentiate from and compete against the horde of other
proofing services (not to mention the horde of proofing services that
specialize in CVs)?

~~~
alouanchi
First, I got this idea while ago when I moved to the UK from France, I was
struggling to find someone to review and correct my CV to match the county
culture and the market.

And to answer your question, most (ones I came across) of proofing services
are done by software and the result is not good enough to have a confidence to
send my CV to apply for job, my idea would use human to do so. This is why I
think having some sort of reward will good so people can commit to it.

~~~
shostack
That's awesome that you identified a problem you yourself had that you want to
solve.

I'd encourage you to do some more competitive research as there are a LOT of
proofing services that use humans. One can also hire proofers off of sites
like Odesk, etc.

So with the knowledge that there are lots of competitors with humans doing the
work, you might need to find a different strategic differentiator.

~~~
alouanchi
First, thanks a lot for your information.

Doing more competitive research would a good path to start with and I have to
say your advices/thoughts are really appreciated.

