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November 15, 1999

Web Site Brings Together IT Professionals, Employers
SkillsVillage lets contractors post resumés, offers managers personalized services

By Jennifer Mateyaschuk

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nformation technology professionals who use the Web to look for work--and businesses that want to hire them--can get lost trying to navigate a sea of employment message boards and Web sites. SkillsVillage.com, to be launched this week, says it eases the process by providing an online community for contract IT workers and companies seeking help for specific projects.

SkillsVillage.com lets contractors post skills, career histories, and project preferences in expanded resumés called digital portfolios, and allows hiring businesses to post detailed project information. A service called Xchange matches potential contractors with employers and lets them remain anonymous, if they choose, until the final negotiating process.

SkillsVillage has been testing Xchange since last month. IT professional Chris Kozak has used the site and says he likes the concept of a detailed digital portfolio, saying it could do a better job of attracting companies that understand his skills. "Sometimes when I post my resumé on a site, the person contacting me doesn't understand my skills and value," he says.

After a contractor has completed a project, a business can post a rating for that contractor ranging from one to five stars. "This serves two purposes," says Kevin Kennedy, VP of business development for SkillsVillage. "For one, other hiring companies can weed out contractors with poor ratings. Also, good contractors can use the ratings to promote themselves for future work."

SkillsVillage also provides business managers with personalized services. The company's Direct program assigns an account advocate to each client to assist managers in their online search for contractors on SkillsVillage. com and help determine good employer-contractor matches. The advocate can consolidate online time sheets for hired contractors and billing for the contractor procurement process.

The site's job search services are free. SkillsVillage charges businesses and recruiters $1,000 for each successful hire. All digital portfolios are labeled as to whether they were submitted by individuals or recruiters.

SkillsVillage has also identified Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape and former chief technology officer at America Online, as a recent investor in the company. SkillsVillage co-founder and president Chris Wong is a former VP at PeopleSoft Inc.

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