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The financial services industry has a problem. It wants to hire more than 400,000 skilled, knowledgeable technologists in 2015, according to Ed Donner, CEO and co-founder of untapt.
That’s quite a few technologists.
Donner told Benzinga he thinks his company, a recently launched recruiting platform that automates the hiring process in financial technology (fintech), could be a solution to that problem.
Why Recruitment Is Difficult
According to Donner, recruitment and job placement in fintech faces two major challenges.
First, he said, demand is “off the charts,” driven in large part by a combination of disruption, innovation and the regulatory environment.
In addition, Donner said, talented developers are exiting financial services and heading to core-tech companies like Google Inc GOOGGOOGL, Facebook Inc FB and others.
Many of those who leave do not realize the innovation they seek elsewhere is going on in fintech, Donner said, “but the message isn’t getting out there.”
A Fully Automated Process
“Our thinking here,” Donner told Benzinga, “is that the entire process can be fully automated.”
He added, “We think that at an executive level for organizational leaders, the human touch of a recruitment agent is needed. Below that level we believe the process of finding dream jobs for technologists is something that can be fully automated.”
Scalability
“Traditional recruiters,” he said, “are somewhat limited by what people call the ‘Recruiter Rolodex’ – that book of contacts or immediate links and connections.”
Untapt, Donner noted, has a much wider reach when it comes to the talent pool.
“We can attract candidates from all sorts of different backgrounds,” he said.
Much Lower Cost
The service provided by untapt is free to candidates. Companies can also post as many jobs as they like and pay only after they have successfully hired a candidate.
Donner said the overall cost ($10,000 with discounts for volume hiring) is three to four times less than by using a traditional recruiter.
“That pricing makes it something of a no-brainer for companies.”
Working With The Best
“We want to work with the very best companies,” Donner noted, adding, “We spend a lot of time with our clients working with what we call the company page.”
Hiring managers record a short video designed to highlight and explain the company.
This, he explained, helps candidates understand what it is they would do if they worked for that company.
Currently, untapt has 27 clients covering the full spectrum from top-tier banks to fintech startups.
Long-Term Goal
The company’s long-term goal is simple – for 100 percent of job seekers to get at least one interview out of the process once they join untapt.
As of the last few weeks, that data point stood at about 50 percent and continued to grow as more job seekers and companies took advantage of the newly-launched platform.
An Experienced Team
In addition to Donner who was a former Managing Director in technology at JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, co-founders include Geoff Massam, a former CIO at Deutsche Bank AG DB and Max Kantelia, an entrepreneur in recruitment and banking.
“I’m very proud of the strength of the whole team,” he said, “but particularly the founders because of our connections and experience in this space.”
An Apple Connection
The simple uncomplicated interface that makes up the untapt desktop is likely no accident. One member of untapt's impressive Advisory Board may have seen to that.
His name is Tim Kobe, a name familiar to Apple Inc. AAPL fans everywhere. Kobe worked with Steve Jobs for more than a decade. Among Kobe’s accomplishments, the design of the Apple Retail Store.
“Tim is considered something of a luminary in the world of customer experience and branded user experience,” Donner said.
“He is extremely passionate about the need for simplicity in the user experience and has impressed on us how important it is to keep everything as simple as possible.”
At the time of this writing, Jim Probasco had no position in any mentioned securities.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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