Coworkers.com introduces affiliate program

Affiliates generate revenue with referrals

Coworkers.com is pleased to introduce a new program that allows affiliates to earn money through referrals. The program is targeted primarily at career and job experts such as consultants, coaches, recruiters, and trainers. By referring paying customers to Coworkers.com, these people can supplement their income with no obligation and little effort.

“Since we launched our Professional (subscription) service in November, we have been approached by many career-focused business people who tell us that our service facilitates exactly the type of interaction they already recommend to their clients: ongoing, constructive, multi-party feedback” said founder Jonathan Clay. “Since these experts are already effectively selling what we offer, we decided to give them a way to profit from it.”

The affiliate program offers a one-time, 15% “bounty” to affiliates when they refer new customers who sign up for Coworkers.com’s Professional Edition. Each affiliate gets a unique “discount code” which is used to tie referrals back to them. Suggested methods of promotion for affiliates include blog entries, podcasts, and e-newsletters.

“This is truly a win-win deal,” said Clay. “With this program, we provide enterprising small businesses a way to generate passive revenue streams. End users get a substantial discount via the affiliate who referred them. And of course, we are happy to have a new distribution channel that will help us spread the word about Coworkers.com and gain new customers.”

Program details can be found at http://www.coworkers.com/affiliates

Use your LinkedIn Account to instantly Sign up for Coworkers.com

We're excited to announce that new website visitors can now use their LinkedIn account information to sign up instantly for a Coworkers.com account. This is made possible thanks to the recently announced LinkedIn API.

How does the sign up process work?

If you have not yet registered with Coworkers.com, you can do so quickly, without a password, by signing in to your LinkedIn account. Simply visit our Free Registration page, and click on the "Connect via LinkedIn" link at the top of the page. We will import some information from your LinkedIn profile, such as your name, location, and work experience - so you won't need to enter it again. After you have registered, you can log back in to Coworkers via LinkedIn.

What about people who already have a Coworkers.com account?

If you have already signed up with Coworkers.com but have not yet filled out your profile, you can do so quickly by clicking on the "Import from LinkedIn" link on the Account page. This will instantly transfer information such as your industry, company, and work experience from LinkedIn.

Over time, we plan to add tighter integration with LinkedIn to include features that will benefit existing Coworkers.com users. We will continue to develop simple and effective tools for analyzing and improving your work, while leveraging the networking and messaging capabilities of LinkedIn, as well as other sites. We will keep you updated as we roll out new integration features, so be sure to login in to your Account Settings and sign up for our newsletter by selecting the "Send me periodic web site announcements" option - if you haven't already done so.

What is the difference between Coworkers and LinkedIn?

We realize that professionals use a portfolio of online services and tools to advance their career. Coworkers.com and LinkedIn work well together. LinkedIn is primarily used for networking – finding and connecting with other professionals, with whom you may or may not have work experience. Coworkers is focused solely on the people you have close working relationships with.

While LinkedIn has the concept of "recommendations" which are focused on personal marketing, Coworkers greatly expands the range of collegial input you can receive and share, giving you privacy control, the option for anonymity, templates, analytics, and other features focused on professional development. Bottom line: LinkedIn and Coworkers have different missions and serve different purposes, and we think you should use both – which is why we've made it incredibly easy for you to do so!

NY1's Employment reporter Asa Aarons features Coworkers.com

We recently had the opportunity to speak with Asa Aarons of NY1, New York City's 24-Hour News Channel...

New Websites Provide Inside Look Into Jobs

"The Internet is where practically all of the good employment information is showing up these days. Two new companies are promising ways to help job seekers land their dream job...

...Staying with the idea that feedback is a good thing in the career world, check out Coworkers.com, which is based partly on the idea that successful people thrive on honest feedback...

"Coworkers.com is all about the question 'How's my work?'" says James Young of Coworkers.com. "We provide tools that let you get feedback so that you can figure out what your strengths are and promote them, and also figure out where your weaknesses are so you can improve them and advance your career."

• Watch a video of the full segment on NY1.com

RiseSmart: "Coworker feedback: transparent versus confidential"

We have been featured on The RiseSmart Blog

Here are some highlights: "...Transparency is great… for recommendations, which are meant to seen by strangers, and need to be trustworthy and verifiable. But for improving your current work habits, without switching jobs or involving a recruiter, isn’t confidential feedback more valuable and timely?

That is where Coworkers.com comes in. They launched about a year and a half ago, and the purpose of the site is to let you accumulate frank and private evaluations from past and current colleagues. You are evaluated in terms of your core values, your interpersonal skills, your general competence, and your productivity, and given analytical tools to help you interpret and improve your skills..."

"With this broader focus, the site is mixing private and public feedback. The site also has a paid section that is targeted at Human Resources, and aims to assist in researching candidates and managing employees...

...But I just haven’t seen anything with the scope and ambition of Coworkers, particularly with this recent drive to be used by entire teams and supplant enterprise software with a website. Very interesting, indeed."

• Click here to read the full article

Image credit: Risemart.com

Coworkers.Com Launches Career-Managing Site For Competitive Times

We're out of beta and officially launching!

Flexibility, Honest Feedback And Performance Analytics Put Pro-Active Tools In Users’ Hands

"New York, NY, August 26, 2009 – A new web-based career development and reputation management solution, Coworkers.com (http://www.coworkers.com/), launches today with fresh, innovative features that enable users to build a powerful, authentic professional profile grounded in honest feedback, performance analytics, and focused networking. The analytical approach is a more practical and reliable career enhancement tool than periodic reviews or sporadic feedback.

Coworkers.com gives professionals at any level, those in transition, consultants, and small businesses, the tools to instantly create a personal dashboard to manage their work, analyze their performance, gain feedback on overall performance and get reaction to specific deliverables, events, and job milestones. Companies can use the site to monitor and analyze employee performance, and recruiters can gain access to detailed candidate profiles. Businesses with virtual teams or multiple offices will find a complete suite of tools to communicate, share feedback, and monitor workgroup performance without costly enterprise software..." Full press release below.
Coworkers Com PR 2009-08-26

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE COWORKERS.COM LAUNCHES CAREER-MANAGING SITE FOR COMPETITIVE TIMES: FLEXIBILITY, HONEST FEEDBACK AND PERFORMANCE ANALYTICS PUT PRO-ACTIVE TOOLS IN USERS’ HANDS New York, NY, August 26, 2009 – A new web-based career development and reputation management solution, Coworkers.com (http://www.coworkers.com/), launches today with fresh, innovative features that enable users to build a powerful, authentic professional profile grounded in honest feedback, performance analytics, and focused networking. The analytical approach is a more practical and reliable career enhancement tool than periodic reviews or sporadic feedback. Coworkers.com gives professionals at any level, those in transition, consultants, and small businesses, the tools to instantly create a personal dashboard to manage their work, analyze their performance, gain feedback on overall performance and get reaction to specific deliverables, events, and job milestones. Companies can use the site to monitor and analyze employee performance, and recruiters can gain access to detailed candidate profiles. Businesses with virtual teams or multiple offices will find a complete suite of tools to communicate, share feedback, and monitor workgroup performance without costly enterprise software. “The current environment demands a more robust and authentic solution to career and reputation management,” said founder Jonathan Clay. “Coworkers.com puts career advancement into the user’s hands. You no longer have to wait for your boss to tell you how you’re doing, or what you need to do to address any issues. With Coworkers.com you can find out quickly and painlessly, straight from the people who know you best – the colleagues that you interact with every day.” The easy-to-navigate, intuitive home page features four built-in tools including Get Feedback, where users can tailor a survey to get honest, anonymous feedback from colleagues and coworkers (requests can be sent via email or links embedded in social networks, blogs, etc.); Give Feedback, which lets users give fellow employees or colleagues public kudos or private viewpoints on their work; and Improve and Share, which analyzes feedback data, and offers unique, and powerful graphics tools to generate analytic charts and graphs that visually map and measure performance. “For a generation of professionals that has learned to build careers using social networking tools like LinkedIn®, Coworkers.com opens an important channel of communication between coworkers and potential employers,” noted Jason Whaley, COO of Fitzgerald Analytics, an IT/strategy consulting firm. “Coworkers could become an indispensable tool for managing the 21st century career.” During its Beta period, Coworkers.com responded to market demand by evolving from a simple performance rating system to a customizable assessment and feedback tool that helps individuals take greater control of their career development. “We’ve made the site truly flexible and adaptable to individual needs,” said Clay. “Both public and private data can be managed throughout a person’s career. Social networking can be as much or little as you want. The depth of feedback can be quick and top-line, or in-depth depending on the project. Do you want a quick assessment of your presentation, or a comprehensive take on your at-work image? The site was designed to meet your work needs regardless of the matter at hand or the stage you’re in.” About Coworkers.com Founded in 2008, Coworkers.com Inc. is a privately funded company based in New York City focused on creating on-line solutions that apply web 2.0 and social technologies to facilitate career development and enhancement. # # # Contact: Suzanne Mannion Newsmaker Group Office 201-445-8451 Mobile 201-725-0471 smannion@newsmakergroup.com 

Visit our Coworkers.com Press Kit Page for additional media information.

Recovering From Negative Reviews

WSJ.com Video: "A Web site can be a marketer's lifeline with its customers, but what happens when it's marred with negative reviews and comments? Bruce Weinberg, marketing professor at Bentley University, tells WSJ's Erin White how to address and recover from poor feedback..."

This video addresses how to deal with reviews of a company or product Website. However, it's broad message is applicable to many situations. Feedback received, good or bad, is still better than not knowing about potentially legitimate problems with your product or performance. Watch it here...