The Direct route to the best job

MBA Direct is a one-stop shop for any firm that is keen to attract high-calibre employees

Companies are finding it increasingly hard to recruit suitably skilled executives. A new service, however, is poised to help corporations find the top-flight managers they need globally via the internet.

MBA Direct has been set up by Rod Younger, a Cranfield MBA, to match the executive needs of international corporations with senior managers and MBA graduates working throughout the world.

Executives with postgraduate business qualifications from the world's leading business schools will be able to lodge their qualifications, skills and career profiles in a secure, centralised database.

They will say whether they are actively, selectively or passively looking for a job. The database will then be searched by international corporations and head hunters on the hunt for staff. The result will be an anonymous list which gives details of everyone on it without giving their names.

The way the service works is that the recruiter asks MBA Direct to contact all or some of those listed, usually via e-mail, to see whether they would be interested in responding to a job approach. If they are interested, they supply a CV which is forwarded to the recruiting company. At this stage candidates have to agree to lose their anonymity. Search-listed candidates are under no obligation to reply to any approaches. But a recruiting firm can ask MBA Direct to go beyond its initial search and conduct a more refined sweep.

When the firm asks MBA Direct to make an approach to candidates or when it asks for a more refined search it is required to pay a flat rate fee. Whether a candidate is identified during a search depends partly on whether he is registered as actively, selectively or passively looking for a job. A point score is allocated for candidates' activity status and affects how likely he or she is to be contacted.

For example, someone passively seeking a job would have to score 90 per cent of the total job suitability points to be identified. So they would rarely be approached for a job, but when they were contacted the job would likely be ideal for them.

MBA Direct, in which Independent Newspapers is a major investor, is to invite students at, and alumni from, the world's leading business schools - for example schools in AMBA, EQUIS, CEMS (Community of European Management Schools) and leading US and Far Eastern schools - to register on its database. This service is free to schools, students and executives.

An on or off-line software questionnaire/registration form asks detailed questions about management roles, sector experience, and qualifications. It will also ask about roles sought and if you are prepared to travel or live abroad.

Candidates are asked to give their salaries, but are not obliged to do so. The software deploys sophisticated search and match algorithms to provide accurate matches and gathers information about executive recruitment trends.

Mr Younger says that some 70,000 business school alumni will be invited to register in mailing shots from May to June. It is estimated that some 250,000 alumni from more than 100 top business schools are eligible to register.

At present, he adds, high-flying executive posts are advertised in expensive newspaper appointment sections. Such adverts reach only a limited number of people who are actively seeking new jobs and the response rate is poor.

Searching the new database will take just 10 minutes, costs less than an advert and will identify more relevantly qualified executives from a global pool of candidates. MBA alumni wishing to register should go to the MBA Direct website at www.mbadirect.com.

Any recruiters wishing to search the database for candidates will first need to apply for a password by e-mailing info@mba-direct.com