Rob McGovern just can’t seem to sit still.

The serial entrepreneur started his career with a 10-year stint at Hewlett-Packard that included a rapid rise up the corporation’s ladder. He followed that by founding CareerBuilder.com, an ultra-successful job search Web site that was eventually sold for $400 million. While some people would take their millions and go sit on a beach somewhere, McGovern instead jumped right back into career-mode and launched Market10.com — a next generation job search site that focuses on quality employee/employer matches.

“The whole idea of sitting around, I have too much energy for that,” said McGovern, 45. “My passion is (that) I like getting up in the morning and working with really smart people all day ... and I get a big kick out seeing my technology change people’s lives.”

McLean-based Market10 is a job search site that takes what CareerBuilder.com started and brings it to the next level, McGovern said. Instead of just using the Web site to send resumes to potential employers, Market10 guides job-seekers through a series of questions (Think eHarmony.com for your career instead of your love life.) about their skills and what they’re looking for in an employer. Market10 then uses those answers to match clients up with the best potential jobs on the Web site.

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“The problem with job searching sites is you have to know what you’re searching for, but (Market10) tells you what’s possible,” McGovern said. “We tell you what jobs you’d be good at and we put you in touch with those employers.”

The site also has the capability to notify users when a potential employer has viewed their profile, a relief for job seekers who often feel their resume ends up in cyberspace.

“It’s a big black hole,” said McGovern of the current job sites that often get hundreds of resumes for one job opening.

Market10 launched in the summer of 2005 — the day after McGovern’s noncompete agreement from the sale of CareerBuilder.com ended — in Washington and Atlanta. In the last year and a half the site has attracted 200,000 job seekers and 300 employers, including SAIC and the University of Maryland. Market10 will roll out across the country in 2007.

McGovern has high hopes for the site and plans to grow its membership far beyond CareerBuilder.com, which at its peak had 8 million job seekers a month and 40,000 companies.

“I think (Market10) is going to be bigger,” he said. “I’m a big believer in (the idea that) the better product will win out and this product is so much better than we ever were at Careerbuilder.”

PERSONAL

» Date of Birth: 1961 (45 is the new 30)

» Hometown: Holland, Pa.

» Sports/hobbies: Cycling, flying, skiing, travel

» Transportation: Trek 5500 Bike (Lance’s bike), Beechcraft Bonanza

» Computer: Dell’s lightest laptop of the moment

» Favorite clothier: The Northface

» Vacation spot: Nantucket

» Role model: Steve Jobs

» Quote: Ben Franklin: “Definition of Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”

» Worst fear: A West coast seat next to the dreaded seat belt extender passenger

BUSINESS

» Current job: CEO, Market10.com

» Last job: CEO, CareerBuilder.com

» Number of e-mails a day: 100

» Number of voice mails a day: 10

» Essential Web site: adds.aviationweather.noaa.gov

» Best perk: Hanging out with my smart employees

» Gadgets: BlackBerry, Razr, iPod Nano, Beechcraft Bonanza airplane

» Education/credentials: University of Maryland, Business Marketing

» First job: Paperboy, Bucks County Courier Times, Pennsylvania

» Original aspiration: Ice cream man

» Career objective: Grow Market10 to be big enough to afford a cafeteria managed by the Grateful Dead’s personal chef (We’re planning to hire him away from Google).

kwilmeth@dcexaminer.com