We should be ready to launch in about two weeks. Our content is complete, the software almost ready and our marketing materials at an advanced stage. So looking good!
So what is this new business?
I started the new year with a blank sheet of paper. I had sold my company and this meant I was not under financial pressure. But equally I had lots of time and energy but little to do and meanwhile the economic news was dreadful. We weren’t just facing recession; failed banks and years of depression were on the cards.
With my blank sheet of paper I started meeting with lots of people I know and respect, chatting about possibilities and sharing ideas. Two themes converged. The first was how much organisation is required to organise contact and follow-up with a large number of people and the second was how very different the recruitment market, a sector I know very well, had become.
What struck me was that the many people now looking for jobs were facing some interesting challenges. It was no longer a matter of quietly mentioning that one might be open to a new opportunity and people would come knocking at the door. Now job-seekers must leave no stone unturned in finding opportunities and attending interviews in order to secure a role and this ‘numbers game’ requires significant organisation.
So the germ of an idea was born. Could one use technology to deliver the knowledge a job-seeker requires to compete effectively in a jobs-scarce environment, to provide tools that can automate many of the activities they need to carry out, to organise and manage high volumes of job-seeking activity and to provide progress reports? Working with a fellow recruitment professional we started exploring this. We partnered with a software company that I had previously worked with and before long a business started to take shape.
I’ll cover more on what we built, how and why in my next blog.
All the best
Richard
