profile updated Aug 20, 2008, 3:39 PM
When co-workers Gil Shabat and Brian Kent found themselves looking for a job, they discovered just how miserable an experience it can be. High-tech workers, they founded Novologies as a software and web consulting firm to support themselves while tinkering with a better, technology enabled recruitment process.
In June 2008 they introduced Scopings, an anonymous employment matching service that lets workers and hiring managers connect electronically to find out if they like what they don't see and maybe take the relationship to the next level.
If it sounds a bit like e-Harmony or Match.com, that's because dating and job-hunting both have a lot in common. While it may not be possible to entirely remove the angst from a jobsearch, Scopings tries to minimize the rejection factor by keeping candidates anonymous until they decide to uncloak.
What we like about the concept is that a candidate who is not actively looking, but may be receptive, can ask the recruiter or hiring manager enough questions about the job and the company culture to know if it is something worth pursuing. That works the other way around, too.
As might be expected it has bells and whistles to manage the courtship, including the ability to create “rounds,” which are elimination questions. These rounds of questions can be done online or by phone. The downside to the latter is that you have to listen to a bunch of voicemails. The plus is that you get a taste of a candidate’s communication skills without an interview.
Scopings is both a site and a service. Candidates can stumble upon Scopings to register and set up a 'scope', creating a database that will be owned by Novologies LLC, the Brooklyn company behind the site. (Still in beta, Scopings is offering jobs only in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, and Boston.)
Or employers can engage Scopings to handle one or more reqs. In that case, Scopings becomes the candidate entry point for applying, anonymously of course, and let the matching begin.
It costs nothing to try Scopings, even if you hire someone through the service. After that, the fee is based on a percentage of salary capping at 5 percent of the first year.
News & Updates 
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Scope Out Each Other Via Scopings, Anonymously (ere)
Jul 30, 2008, 3:39 PMThere’s a new recruitment site where a candidate doesn’t need a resume, doesn’t need to say who they are, doesn’t even have to go looking for the job.
Products & Services
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Scopings
Scopings is an anonymous, resume-less recruiting platform to help employers and jobseekers feel each other out before deciding if the relationship is worth pursuing. Candidates complete a brief 'Scope,' a skills, interests and experience mini-resume, which is matched against more thorough job reqs. Through a series of Q&A or structured rounds, candidates and recruiters screen each other. Scopings tells each candidate about as few opportunities as possible by learning what they want and what they don’t over time.