Traditional economics places great store on factors like worker mobility. But in the new economy, the physical location of a worker is increasingly becoming irrelevant. As more and more people get hooked up to the Internet, companies are starting to seek services from skilled workers worldwide.
The www.ecruitment.cjb.net site provides a marketplace for the exchange of services over the Internet. Set up on March 10 by the Kyiv-based MOST Translation and Emergency Services company, the site works in the same way as popular auction sites like eBay.com, but instead of auctioning goods, www.ecruit-ment.cjb.net posts offers of jobs for which people can bid.
MOST, which uses the term 'e-cruitment' to describe the provision of services over the Internet, hopes its site will take off in the near future on the back of booming demand for creative ideas from the West and the supply of skilled, low-paid Ukrainian computer specialists.
The site is the outcome of MOST's deal with California-based eLance Internet company. The deal gives MOST, a year-old translation agency, the exclusive right to provide access to the eLance's virtual global marketplace in Ukraine.
Roman Ponomarenko, MOST's director, says he first realized the Internet could be a source of employment when he was paid $50 for translating a document for the Tennessee federal court in the United States – a job he found over the Net. He then decided to expand MOST into Internet recruitment.
E-cruitment, already used in about 140 countries, gives employers a chance to get work done cheaply, while giving workers from low-wage economies a chance to make some money.
Here's how it works. Say a New York-based firm wants to have a company logo designed. Local companies might offer to do the job for $400, but via the Internet, the company has a chance to find someone willing to work for less. The employer enters MOST's site and chooses a category under which to post the offer. The employer describes the task, and sets a deadline for the submission of bids, with the longest possible term being 45 days. Employers may also post their own job price estimate.
In a few days, the company may have a proposition from Bombay, India, to work for $200, Ponomarenko said, and another offer from Kyiv to do the work for $50.
'So the New York company has the logo made for $50,' he says.
Employers receive bids via e-mail and pay for the work via a bank or wire money transfer. Most job requests center around graphic design, software development and translations – in short, anything that can be delivered online. The cost of projects offered varies from $5 to $500,000.
'If you have access to the Internet, it's a real chance to make money,' says Ponomarenko.
And MOST hopes for its cut. Although use of the site is free for Ukrainians, MOST plans to start charging commission on deals, with the money coming mostly from employers.
With Ukraine's massive supply of skilled labor and no lack of demand in the West, Ponomarenko believes his company is on the way to prosperity.
'A lot of people say Ukraine's a bad country – with stupid laws and no ways to make money,' he says. 'But the money is right here – it's in the Internet.
