Judging by the response to our post last week on TheLadders, high-end job sites are blossoming around the globe. A few more for your consideration:

Dallas-based RiseSmart, which just recently launched, bills itself as a human-powered job search service that prescreens online search results for time-starved job seekers. First, RiseSmart's search engine scours myriad job sites for opportunities that match the job seeker's criteria. Next, a dedicated, human "RiseSmart Concierge" sorts through the results to arrive at a list strongly matched to the candidate's profile. New results are gathered and presented to members weekly; the cost is USD 54.95 per month.

In Australia, meanwhile, Six Figures is gearing up to launch this month with exclusive access to six figure opportunities and more relevant information up front, including salary and benefits. Six Figures will also enable members to present and sell themselves beyond the usual resume, including the ability to upload videos, links to personal blogs and community site profiles. Membership for job seekers will be free.

Finally, while we're at it, we'd be remiss not to mention two contenders that have been in the business since the 1990s: 6FigureJobs, which offers thousands of prescreened postings for jobs paying USD 100K and more, with free membership for job seekers; and Netshare, which works with a network of more than 7,500 recruiters and corporate HR departments and charges membership fees of USD 40 monthly.

Websites: www.risesmart.com — www.sixfigures.com.au — www.6figurejobs.com — www.netshare.com

Spotted by: Paul Sethi

It's not uncommon for pizza chains to let their customers order online or even via text message and the mobile web, but a new tool from Domino's adds a social element to the process.

Michigan-based Domino's revamped its online presence last month as part of its "You Got 30 Minutes" brand re-launch campaign, including adding the new BFD Builder for custom online orders. Short for Big Fantastic Deal, the BFD Builder lets consumers create the pizza of their dreams—specifying the type of crust, the amount of sauce and cheese, and unlimited toppings—for a flat rate of USD 10.99. A 10-day contest last month even promised USD 500 in gift certificates for the most creative design. What's really interesting, though, is that consumers can name and register the pizzas they design in Domino's BFD database, where they can be viewed and ordered by other consumers. Nearly 12,000 pizzas have been registered so far, including the "Happy Birthday Aaron" and "Rhonda Half Doug Half," for example. The site even tracks how many people have ordered each registered pizza so far, and consumers can view the database with the most popular pizzas first, as well as by newest, oldest or alphabetically. Top of the "most popular" list, incidentally, is the "Ciao Bella!" which has been ordered over 83,000 times.

Customization is a distinctly gravanity-stroking process, and the public element makes it even more so.* If pizza ordering can be made social, think how many other products and services can, too!

Website: www02.order.dominos.com/home/bfd

Spotted by: Ozgur Alaz

* From our sister-site’s 2003 briefing that coined the term gravanity: “trendwatching.com predicts museums selling sponsorships of even the smallest works of arts (or just the frames!), […] and Domino’s introducing pizzas named after cash-rich, attention-poor pizza lovers who will reveal their favourite toppings to the world.”

Today's consumers may exhibit varying degrees of infolust for new products and services, but their interest doesn't often extend to direct mail. Enter Matter, which is taking an unconventional approach to direct marketing by sending out boxes of "interesting stuff" instead.

London-based Matter works with product manufacturers to compile collections of items carefully designed to please specific audiences, and it sends them out to consumers at no charge. Each participating company creates and contributes an item—something that explains what the company does, says something about its ideas or values, or can be tried out.

Matter then combines the items in a targeted fashion and sends them out so that they arrive on a Saturday—when consumers are more likely to spend some time with them. The pilot box, which just hit consumers' doorsteps on February 2nd, included items from Sony Ericsson, Stolichnaya, Nintendo, Nissan, Penguin and Virgin Atlantic, among others. Sony Ericsson's item, for example, was a small figurine of the Music Monster—a cultish figure intended to represent consumers' personal musical desires—packed in a straw-lined case complete with bite-marked brochure. Nissan's item was a set of "crayons" that are really soap—intended to send the message that the brand is not what consumers expect, according to the Matter blog. The next edition of Matter will be aimed at males aged 25-35 and is scheduled to ship out this summer.

Matter is a collaboration between Artomatic and Royal Mail, and it targets consumers in the UK only. One to experiment with in other parts of the world?

Website: www.matterbox.co.uk
Contact: contact@matterbox.co.uk

Spotted by: NOTCOT

In the Philippines, text messaging has caught on in a huge way. Two years ago, according to Pyramid Research, the Southeast Asian archipelago became the first nation on the planet where network providers saw revenues from text messaging exceed what users spent on voice. With its Share-A-Load programme, Philippine network provider Globe Telecom has capitalized on the local love of SMS messages by allowing its customers to send their phone credit (or ‘load’) to someone else. Globe charges PHP 1 or about US .024 for each transaction, making its service an easy way for parents to send money to their children, for example, to make sure they’re able to stay in touch.

Both prepaid and postpaid subscribers can share their airtime or mobile wallet by typing in an amount and their pin code, and sending it to a 4 digit-number followed by the recipient’s mobile number. Upon receipt, the both recipient and sender receive a confirmation by text message.

SMS remains a technology with lots of potential applications waiting to be discovered and implemented—for everything from payment systems to information on demand. Given the mobile network operators’ strong desire to maximize profits, a good idea from a start-up has an excellent chance of getting heard.

Website: www.globe.com.ph

Spotted by: Jo-An Chua

One of the challenges for charitable organizations large and small is to get potential donors to feel the need for help in an immediate and personal way. By selling t-shirts imprinted with the stories of the specific individuals in need of assistance, Rosa Loves raises the necessary funds while also giving donors a tangible connection with the people they have helped.

Each Rosa Loves t-shirt is created to help a specific person, family or community, and 60 percent of its sales go directly to providing that assistance. The story of those in need is told on each t-shirt through not just a graphical design on the outside, but also a written description of that story on the shirt's inside, just over the wearer's heart. T-shirts are hand-numbered and created in limited runs; once the needed amount has been raised for a particular cause, Rosa Loves stops printing and selling the associated t-shirt. A series of t-shirts over the holidays, for example, was designed to provide holiday meals to 10 families in the St. Augustine, Florida, area, where Rosa Loves is based. In just two weeks, the shirts sold out and Rosa Loves had enough funds to supply the needed meals.

The site's founders explain: "It's usually thoughts like, 'those people over there,' that perpetuate a sense of complacency and lack of concern. Rosa Loves wants to shed light on the stories around us, to give them a real face, a real name."

Rosa Loves was founded in 2006, and is still operating with just a part-time staff. But there's no arguing with its success stories. We've written before about companies that have begun to publish the "life stories" of their products (see, for example, Dole Organic's product life story labels), tapping into consumers' increasing demand for authenticity, transparency and information, and Rosa Loves brings that trend into the social arena. One for other socially focused organizations to emulate!

Website: www.rosaloves.com
Contact: info@rosaloves.com

Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann