Frequently Asked Questions
- Q: Where can I sign up for this program?
- A: You can sign up at http://www.rescuetime.com/intros
- Q: I’m an existing RescueTime Pro or Lite user, how do I get started?
- A: Login and go to your settings page you can opt-in to RescueTime Introductions.
- Q: Do you have any concerns regarding user’s privacy?
- A: Privacy is our number one concern. In surveying our users, 98% of them were positive to the idea as long as they had full control over what information was shared and with which people. We are not building a lead generation service for recruiters that they can use to message people without our intervention. We're calling it 'Introductions' because the idea is we serve as the agent, spotting the talent, asking the user if they want to talk to a list of possible companies, and then making the handoff with their permission. None of the users usage data is shared, only high-level items that positively reflect the user in the eyes of the employer that we can verify are true.
- Q: Will my email address be sent to staffing agencies or other companies?
- A: No, we do not share any of our data with any company or agency without your expressed permission. You will be able to pick and choose which companies you want to be considered for.
- Q: Ok, I’ve signed up for RescueTime Introductions, when will I hear from RescueTime?
- A: You will only hear from RescueTime if there is a distinct profile match between your skills and an open position at one of our partner companies. The best thing you can do to improve your chances of being selected is to continue using RescueTime to improve yourself and your skills online. If there is a fit, we’ll check your contact preferences and ask for your permission for an Introduction.
- Q: How do you choose someone for your Introductions program?
- A: We use machine learning pattern matching techniques to find matches based on "archetypes" - people we know who work at top companies who have the most stringent interview processes around. Patterns that are matched are things like ratio of time spent in productive categories, tools used, industry websites looked at, research done, etc. Things that are not as important - efficiency scores, downtime, distracted time. And, in fact, patterns in those areas can help spot someone who is good but is looking for a new challenge.
- Q: What is my RescueTime profile all about?
- A: It’s a place where you can show off your actual skills, tools used and other easily distilible information from your RescueTime use--and remember you have control over what is displayed. Here's an example profile of our CTO Brian Fioca: http://rescuetime.com/me/bfioca
- Q: What if my statistics look bad?
- A: It’s all relative. We care about a RescueTimer’s long tail journey and not just the last few weeks of someone’s work patterns. We are always going to give you the tools to make yourself stand-out while also showing you how you spend your time online. We know that anyone willing to open themselves up to this kind of self examination is by nature a self starter, over achiever--exactly the kind of people our Introduction partners want.
- Q: Who are your listed partners for your Introductions program?
- A: Dropbox, JustinTV, SEOmoz, eBay Local and the list is growing - but they have to be some place cool and some place we would consider working otherwise we won’t waste your time.
- Q: Where did you get this idea for RescueTime Introductions?
- A: Introductions came about because our friends at Y Combinator companies and local startups kept asking if we knew of any good programmers. It occurred to us that the same methods we use to screen our own hires during our interview process could be used large-scale, using usage profiles from RescueTime's 350,000 users.
- Q: So you are positioning yourself as a recruiting software company?
- A: No, we are not changing our model to be a recruiting company. We are not selling recruiting software - we are building a market where top talent can be noticed and introduced to top companies (should a user opt-in). All the while helping them get better at what it is they do. This will be one arm of our new model of generating revenue from our data. We love this approach because instead of advertising to our users, we can give them a benefit directly derived from the data we process of theirs.
- Q: Do you have any success stories that you can talk about?
- A: Several of our introductions are more than midway through the hiring process and one was hired by Google.
More questions? Contact us.
