I had the opportunity to speak with Jason Alba, CEO of JibberJobber.com. Jason is a former web developer who started JibberJobber in an effort to manage his network and career.
We recently reviewed JibberJobber in this post about job search organization tools. Because I had very little time to explore the application for that post, I wanted to make sure to give Jason and JibberJobber its fair shake. Enjoy!
What is JibberJobber?
JibberJobber is a website to help you organize contacts, companies and jobs applications and pretty much everything else in a job search.
If you are not in a job search, it can be used as a personal relationship manager to help manage relationships.
Why did you start JibberJobber? Where did the idea come from?
I was in a job search at the beginning of 2006 and used a spreadsheet to track all of this information. The spreadsheet was inadequate and I started missing appointments and follow-up, and I wished I had a CRM application that was simple to use and focused on relationships instead of a sales-based process.
My background is in web systems. I designed 20 screens and then handed it off to a guy who had worked with me in my last job – I knew if this was going to be successful I had to focus on the company and have someone else under the hood making great technology.
How much does it cost a job seeker?
There are three levels:
Free: the idea is you use JibberJobber for the rest of your career, not just as a job search tool right now. The value of your information snowballs as you use the system, even if you take time off from entering info.
Silver ($5/mo): The same bells-and-whistles but the limit on contacts and target companies is raised significantly.
Premium ($9.95/mo): ALL the bells-and-whistles and no limit on records entered.
Bounce back and forth between the free level and either upgrade level as needed. For example, if you are in a serious job search and want all the goodies, upgrade for 6 months, then after you land your job let your account go back to free. You don’t lose any data.
How many peopl use JibberJobber?
Tens of thousands of people have created JibberJobber accounts. Thousands have logged in multiple times.
Does JibberJobber integrate with LinkedIn? Can they use JibberJobber to manage their searches/networking/contacts on LinkedIn? Import contacts, companies, jobs?
I strongly encourage everyone to regularly export his network from LinkedIn on a regular basis. I export my contacts to a CSV and then import them into JibberJobber. I wish LinkedIn would let me have a tighter interface but so far they are being quite guarded, perhaps because they see what I’m doing as competition. It’s unfortunate because many job seekers would benefit from a tight integration between LI and JJ.
Do you have plans to integrate with other social media channels (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn)?
Yes, one of our next rounds of development will take us to the next level in this space. We already have various interfaces here and there, but we’ll look for much deeper interfaces to benefit the end user.
If I were a user, I’d want to know why would I use JibberJobber instead of LinkedIn?
They are two different things. Think of LinkedIn as a place to find and be found – a big professional database. They are starting to introduce some CRM functionality but I am skeptical about trusting all of that stuff to LinkedIn as they have been known to impose weird policies and limits, and they have deleted users accounts without notice. I think that comes with the “social” space… they walk some fine lines, including privacy and protecting their users.
Would you ever have a CRM that could, at their discretion and with notice or explanation, delete information you’ve put into the system? I wouldn’t.
Also, LinkedIn has to figure out where they fit in the social space and how they play with others. They can have some kind of relationship but there will always be an element of competition as they try and differentiate and increase the company value.
JibberJobber has been positioned as a central, hub-like relationship manager. Right now we aren’t searching on contacts, like LinkedIn – it’s a private place to store your private information.
Two very complementary systems, but JibberJobber also works well with your Twitter and Facebook contacts, as well as the people you meet on a mailing list or in person.
How does JibberJobber integrate with job search boards?
Right now a jobseeker needs to copy and paste stuff, like a job posting, into JibberJobber. We’re looking at interfaces but many job boards aren’t very advanced or open (APIs, etc.). Our job search function in JibberJobber is basically an Indeed widget… no big deal.
Have you measured the effectiveness of JibberJobber for jobseekers? How does it compare to traditional job boards?
Another apples-to-oranges comparison.
People go to job boards and look for jobs… and they can come away and say, “it worked,” or “I wasted my time there.”
You don’t go to JibberJobber to find a job… you go there to help organize and manage all of the information in a job search. What happened in the interview? Put that in JibberJobber. When to follow-up on a resume sent, or a phone call? Put that in JibberJobber.
Jobseekers have tons of information, and dealing with this information overload is more stress than we need (especially during an already stressful job search). That’s where JibberJobber comes in. It is not a lead generation tool (yet). It is more like an administrative tool. Many don’t think they need it at the beginning of their job search because no one really thinks they’ll be unemployed for very long. But as the months pass and you network and apply more and more, the information starts to pile up quite a bit, and that’s the pain JibberJobber alleviates.
How have revenue, customer-base, and users grown in the last year?
Back when we found out Obama was going to become president it really grew. I was expecting the growth but not in November. From then it’s been consistently strong. Summers usually slow down, but our lowest numbers last year were higher than some of our highest numbers the year before.
What are the main sources of revenue for JibberJobber?
Interesting question – I’m a fan of multiple streams of income. Because of the power of the free level I don’t have a lot of upgrades, which is fine. I heard a “freemium” model produces a .5% conversion rate, and we are above that. The main revenue producers for my company, including the upgrades, are my books, my LinkedIn for Job Seekers DVD and speaking.
What new sources of revenue are you looking into?
[Would not comment]
Where do you see JibberJobber going? Acquisitions?
I’m building a strong, sustainable company that can be an acquisition target. We’ve still got a lot of work to do before we are acquirable – at least, at the price I want.
What new feature sets are you excited about for future versions of JibberJobber and when can we expect them?
We have a list a mile long of feature requests. Some of the most important stuff we are doing is simplifying and making the system more intuitive – and that will take time. There are features we’ll enhance that have to do with the core functionality of the system and other features that will take us to totally new places (social features). We’ve been developing full-time since 2006 and we don’t have an end in site… so new features roll out regularly.
How does JibberJobber compare to its competition?
I don’t watch my competition too much – we all have pros and cons. I know we’ve been around longer than anyone else and I think we have the largest base of users and signups, which has allowed us to get a level of user testing that I’m guessing they haven’t been able to get.
I have met the owners of some of my competitors and have found them to be very nice, competent and classy people – which is kind of scary – I’d rather they were shady and incompetent but I’m sure this will heat up to be quite competitive. I’ll use my head start as best I can, though.
As far as feature comparisons, I think we’re all leapfrogging each other on certain things. For example, we didn’t have a calendar view for a long time while a competitor had it from day one. Then we got it plus a few other features and leapfrogged them. That’s just the way it is with this type of web product.
I tell clients, if they haven’t searched for a position in the last 2-5 years they’ve got some of catching up to do. Things have changed so fast in the last few years, not only do we have email and 3G connections on our phones and GPS devices, but now we’ve got Twitter following us around and Foursquare and etc, etc. Where do you see this going and how does JibberJobber fit into this type of world?
There is a lot of hype with the bleeding edge technology but what I see as I speak around the country is on a more basic level. People aren’t even thinking about those technologies… When an individual is out of work, life halts and they are anxious to get it back on track. Get me a job… I’ll get the cool phone and funky stuff later.
You are right that things have changed, but there are people who have not searched for a job in decades who are all of the sudden dumped into this crazy race, and many of them are facing age discrimination in some very nasty ways.
Where do I see it going? More people doing self-employment, especially as the “safe” companies can’t provide security.
How does JibberJobber fit into this? Whether you are “average” and look for a new job every 3 – 5 years or you start your own business, relationships will always be key, and I don’t know of a better way to manage these relationships than JibberJobber.com. That’s why I call it Career Management 2.0.
What’s a job search in 2015 going to look like?
Very little loyalty; almost like freelancers or contractors who are looking for 6 to 18 month gigs. I don’t know where job boards are going but social networking will account for a lot of jobs and gigs being secured. It’s already happening a lot with LinkedIn and Twitter NOW – in a few years it will be much more commonplace.
And more people will have a “multiple streams of income” attitude.
What’s next for JibberJobber?
Just keep moving forward!
Congrats on your success this far. Thanks for your time and thoughts. Do you have any last thoughts or insights for our readers and their career transitions?
My last thought is to the readers: No one – NO ONE – cares about your career more than you should (well, perhaps a spouse or parent cares more). HR will not take care of you. Your company can’t give you security. YOU have to manage your own career. No matter how safe you feel let me encourage you to take charge of your own career and future.
That’s it – good luck!
Many thanks to Jason for taking the time to work through these answers! I wish you and JibberJobber all the best!
