Our Patent
#8,200,584
In May of 2003, our Founder and Creative Director, Carl Brickman, filed a provisional patent application for his Online Job Tour® invention. At the time, less than 100 million people in the world had a high speed Internet connection. Carl envisioned today, when almost all target jobseekers of our prospective clients have broadband and are now tapped into the “virtual Internet.” What Carl invented was a development system of placing content in categories traditionally-needed by jobseekers onto a single website protocol – as a medical recruiter, he wanted to make the jobs he was representing more competitive, deliver the needed information quickly to jobseekers in order to eliminate waste and uncertainty, and shorten the hiring timeline for his clients.
As technology changed regarding the use of digital photography, video and web design, and through an extensive test market among hospitals in 15 states, our company, Promo Web® Innovations, grew the invention while staying true to Online Job Tour's patented method of development.
The results of our work have been remarkable – there are obvious benefits to employers in providing a “virtual visit experience” to all jobseekers which is 20X more comprehensive than the expensive and limited real interview trip for very few. And jobseekers can “re-visit” an Online Job Tour as often as they need. It is mistake-free and with no time or money limitations. Unlike other recruiting products, Online Job Tour can be updated and added to – it never gets old or requires being remade/repurchased.
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Almost seven years from the official May 2003 application date, of our “Notice for Allowance” arrived in 2011, which meant a patent award was forthcoming, and it arrived in June 2012.
The patent application and following waiting period, have been a truly remarkable “journey.”
In 2000, Carl’s father died due to a mistake made during a post-operative procedure. Carl was a sales trainer and consultant who left that career after he decided to become a medical recruiter. It was during that time he invented Online Job Tour by using his knowledge of technology and competitive selling, and imagining the future impact of the Internet. Our company mission continues to be making productions as though we are helping our clients recruit physicians and staff for our own families
When Carl first introduced healthcare employers to his invention, they viewed it with skepticism and they did not yet put together how our culture was evolving toward the use of the internet as a solution to many of our problems. They were still the days of AOL and the modem sounds when you tried to “dial up” the Internet. No mobile phones – although Carl was telling everyone, “one day your phone is going to talk with you!” Most all websites were nothing but text, due to Internet speed and few website development tools. Web design was in the hands of people with specialized skills.
Employer clients, however, noticed how much the candidates liked Online Job Tour and how they gravitated to their jobs, both because of the attractiveness but also because our productions answered all their questions while the traditional approach still doesn’t. (See a letter written to Carl in early 2004 from a jobseeker at NIH in Bethesda, Maryland. See another letter written to Carl in 2004 from an professional at Duke University)
Today, Online Job Tour is also viewed as a “makes sense” approach by HR professional and recruiters trying to get the most out of their efforts, time, and budgets. Today, everyone understands the competitive component, and hospitals are focused on efficiency measures, faster starts with better hires, and on retention, which Online Job Tour improves.
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The patent reviewer had difficulty understanding Carl’s invention. He continually had problems differentiating Online Job Tour from online job boards – the early algorithm-based inventions that allowed people to sign up for jobs and then get banked into databases.
In the early 2000s, there were many job board services, now evolved into applicant tracking systems (ATS). However, the job postings on them, were text-based, appearing like newspaper ads. Carl’s invention wasn’t made for that time but for the future when Internet broadband speed would be omnipresent – today our clients place their Online Job Tours wherever they advertise and communicate their career openings.
The patent process of seven years or so, allowed for our organization to thoroughly test the invention and work with clients and jobseekers.
Unlike some inventions which peter out over this timeframe because they lacks viability or because they become outdated, we are fortunate that the online classified employment market is now an $11 billion industry, and many corporations spend millions for their recruiting. Along with hard work, it takes good fortune for many things to work out, and we appreciate every new opportunity!
See news of our patent release, seven years after the letters above from jobseekers.
The Best Product: It’s not just that Online Job Tour is a federally-protected investment that gives you a competitive advantage, but our years of continually growing it, gaining valuable experience and learning development secrets that produce content and materials right the first time and give our productions maximum staying power. We have also seen how technology has changed, and made adaptations to our product, as well as produce it in a manner that works well with other HR and recruiting tools.
We have seen how video has impacted web content development. We have observed how social media and other factors have influenced recruiting. So our enthusiasm, this protected invention, and how we have seen all these changes impact recruiting, and how we have adapted and grown – these make us a formidable ally for clients who truly want to maximize their recruiting efforts, results, and budget.