Today VOIS, Inc. (pronounced "Voice") launched a new social sourcing website (at http://www.vois.com/) aimed at slicing through the malaise and red tape of the traditional recruitment and employment model.Vois.com aims to be the first social commerce site that leverages the power of social networking to help a global audience find and offer immediate work. With VOIS, members can post work, find work and network -- all without ironing slacks or visiting Kinkos.
What's this all mean? Basically, Vois.com combines the super-charged social connectivity of Facebook with the job search savvy of a Monster.com. From the professional's perspective, you get to build rapport with peers, form virtual cross-functional teams, and then bid on and tackle both temporary and permanent projects. You can also fly solo as a freelance contractor with a skill set and a dream. Meanwhile, employers have on-demand access to individuals and teams to supplement bandwidth when needed.
Of course, VOIS is more than this; instead of encouraging anonymous, cookie-cutter relationships within virtual closed-in cubicles, the social commerce platform is more like an all-access networking mixer minus the watered down drinks. Buyers and sellers are encouraged to get to know more than each other's online handles and hourly rates through chat rooms, internal messaging, robust profiles and even a trusty rating system.
While standard freelance marketplaces typically take between 8-20% of the provider's payment by notoriously nickel and diming users with fees and fine print, VOIS is adhering to a "Freemium" model. This model offers a free version of its website to any member but is supported by paid credits of its most frequent users.
