ReferenceBot Development Blog

Fixes, enhancements, more fixes...

2009-05-26T21:28:00.001-07:00

More fixes and enhancements incorporated... we will do an email blast probably next week to announce the new updates...

We are playing around with the full text search, once we have it done we will incorporate candidate suggestions in the recruiter's area. We will also allow users to upload their pictures.

Stay tuned!

International support

2009-05-25T15:43:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all our international visitors that registered in our site (from the Netherlands, Canada, UK, Brazil) unfortunately ReferenceBot does not have international support yet, but it will eventually... ReferenceBot is still a baby (12 days old!)

We added Alaska in the list of states, we have forgotten about it....

Thanks to everybody!

Some thoughts on the application

2009-05-25T14:18:00.001-07:00

Recently we read some reviews about ReferenceBot and one of them brought up a few good points:

"When a person writes a reference letter, it is supposed to include both strengths and weakness of the job candidate. This is sensitive information that is necessarily sent directly to the intended recipient."

My thought on this is: if you are looking for employment or new clients, you are going to list references that you know will speak somehow good about you... Think of it this way: if you are going to date a girl, you will most likely introduce her to people who like you, and not people who hate you or you hate ...

"If you require the letter to go through an unknown / untrusted third party on the Internet, the person writing the letter will necessarily water down their criticisms for fear of the letter being seen by unintended eyes, and for fear of liability."

That will happen regardless. If I receive a request for recommendation for an ex employee of mine (let's name him Joe) who was not very good, this means, Joe is looking for employment. I have no guarantee that the letter will not be seen by unintended eyes (or Joe himself), I will never know, and I can't ask the requester... so I will moderate my review anyway. Unless I have some kind of grudge against Joe (in which case Joe would NOT include me as a reference...) I would do a fair review (regardless of who's going to be reading it) and maybe help him out getting a new job without lying or exaggerating...

"Going through a third party may increase convenience, but it decreases the actual value of the reference."

This is true but relative. Maybe it will be decreased a little bit, but at least the recruiter will see the good things about the candidate, and that will help speeding the decision making process up a little bit.

We're very happy that our application is being tested and evaluated, that helps us improve!

ReferenceBot's life: 11 days and counting...

2009-05-24T18:15:00.000-07:00

ReferenceBot was launched exactly 11 days ago (or 264 hours) and we already incorporated so many exciting features to it, and there are a lot (a lot) more to come. What started as a simple side project to keep track of prospect's references has turned into an exciting project in an industry that is so deteriorated we hope we can help out with our 2 cents.

We will be announcing these new updates this week, so please stay tuned or follow us on Twitter @referencebotcom.

Thanks Michael Vandervort for featuring ReferenceBot in Examiner.com!

Some Sunday clarification about ReferenceBot...

2009-05-24T11:10:00.000-07:00

ReferenceBot has drawn some attention and mostly very positive feedback. A few visitors made some questioning about the functionality of ReferenceBot, so we wanted to make a few things clear:

-ReferenceBot vs LinkedIn: ReferenceBot does not intend to replace LinkedIn "recommendations" nor "networking" features. ReferenceBot is a repository for professional recommendations and intends to "consolidate" professional references for prospects, companies and references to make the process more agile, less repetitive and more public (hence the "social 2.0" tag). LinkedIn is a social network to connect and relate to other professionals.

-ReferenceBot rules: ReferenceBot has some simple rules to make the process (as we see it) work, some elements cannot be deleted after certain actions, etc. We will include a FAQ soon to make this clearer and future improvements will allow users to do a hundred new things (inlcuding the deletion of elements...) while keeping it simple (that's all what ReferenceBot is about: simplicity)

-ReferenceBot is in BETA: Yes, ReferenceBot was conceived in an hour, developed in 7 days (for the US), and investment total of $6.99 (for the domain name registration). But that does not mean "that's it, here is where we stop". We are constantly developing and enhancing the application every day, and we intend to do this as long as people keep using it and giving us feedback. We have a list of 12 major improvements on the works and we expect to have more, so please, give us some time!

Also we have a lot of very good feedback from companies in the UK and Canada, we are going to be working hard to fulfill their needs in the next few weeks.

Thanks to everybody for all the reviews!

ReferenceBot featured in ReadWriteWeb.com

2009-05-23T22:42:00.000-07:00

ReferenceBot has been featured in ReadWriteWeb.com.

Thanks Doug Coleman for reviewing our site!

Application update and other news

2009-05-22T13:27:00.000-07:00

Hello there,

We have uploaded some more new features to the system, new icons (yes, we know, we said we were not going to change them, but we did... they actually look better and more 2.0).

We also have the new list of updates that will make it even more "collaborative" and beneficial for job seekers, stay tuned, we will announce it next week after it is uploaded.

ReferenceBot was featured in Emily Chang's eHub. Emily Chang is an award-winning web and interaction designer and technology strategist, cited among the 50 most influential individuals in Silicon Valley.

ReferenceBot was also featured in RecruitingFly.com. Recruiting Fly is a site dedicated to bringing visitors the best in employment-related content.

ReferenceBot also featured in Web Dev 2.0.

As usual, we need more testers, testers, testers! Please get your account, it is free and also free of advertising.

Have a great weekend!

New changes live

2009-05-18T21:07:00.000-07:00

We already updated the system to reflect the changes we mentioned last Thursday.

Icons were NOT changed... we asked around and basically for now the current icons are clean and minimalist enough ... and we're still working on the RSS feed.

We also made some other changes for the domain and emails and also got rid of some errors so Google App Engine is running smoother now.

We have some more fixes here and there, such as:

-Set permission rules to edit or delete references information

-Set permission rules to edit or delete prospect information

-Counter for user page

-Quick Start Guide / How-to / Help page

-Beautify user home page

Other than that, a few more users have been added today, so hop in, get your free account and tell us what you think! www.referencebot.com

Official list of improvements

2009-05-14T17:08:00.001-07:00

Ok, here we go, the very first list of official improvements based on some feedback:

1. Change icons (just aesthetics, we know...)

2. Hiring / Subcontracting section: it will allow candidates to be grouped by position, project, etc.

3. Reference showcase page (www.ReferenceBot.com/YourNameOrCompany) will feature:

-RSS feed so other pages such as online resume sites, portfolio sites, etc can incorporate references from ReferenceBot

-AddThis button for quick bookmarking

-New icons as well and excerpt

That is it for now, we expect these upgrades to be operational this weekend... Anything else? We'd like to hear it from you.

Get your account now at www.ReferenceBot.com

Welcome!

2009-05-13T21:01:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to the ReferenceBot development blog!

We just launched it today and we are already getting reviews from sites like KillerStartups.com. Obviously the site has a long list of improvements plus the feedback of all the users that are starting to use it...

First, let us tell you what this website is about: http://www.referencebot.com

Think of ReferenceBot as the first "Internet professional reference repository".

If your company is looking to hire a new employee (or subcontract a consultant), this employee/consultant will give you references. Instead of contacting references one by one, ReferenceBot will send them a link where they can respond questionnaires and/or write a letter of recommendation with a single click. ReferenceBot will also alert you when a reference responds, allowing you to centralize all prospects and references.

And at the same time, if you are marketing your business and want to showcase what your customers say about your product/service, ReferenceBot also helps you collect and showcase what these happy customers have to say, and have all of them in one single place (you can then send your prospect customers a link, i.e. www.referencebot.com/mycompany, where they can see all the nice things they say about you).

One last interesting twist is that say you intend to hire Mr Prospect. Mr Prospect provided you with a reference (Mr Company). Mr Company wrote a reference about Mr Prospect. If Mr Prospect opens an account, Mr Company's comments will be automatically added to Mr Prospect's profile. This means, Mr Prospect will already have a reference in his profile to showcase to other/future employers and Mr Company will not have to "write Mr Prospect's reference again". Same applies if you enter a prospect that is already in the system, you will be able to see/read all his references.

Needless to say the application is free to use and also free of advertising.

Stay tuned, we will include a list of future improvements