Nederlands MediaNetwerk doet een serie interviews met startups. De beste startups krijgen een uitnodiging om te komen spreken op het Cross Media Congres 2017 op 19 april in het Compagnietheater in Amsterdam. Vandaag spreken we Karim Akhal, oprichter van Recrout.
What is Recrout?
Recrout is an intelligent online career platform where employers can match with highly educated students, graduates, and young professionals based on personality profiles — without the involvement of unnecessary intermediaries.
In contrast to the traditional approach, where a non-descriptive résumé takes center stage, we focus primarily on matching based on talent and personality. We do not ask whether someone has the right keywords on their résumé; instead, we ask the objective question of whether a person possesses the right competencies and attitude to successfully perform a specific role and demonstrates the behavior that fits a particular company culture.
Why did you start Recrout?
Many young talents find it very difficult to determine what they are good at, where their strengths lie, and which organizations can and want to offer them the best chances of success. At the same time, many employers struggle to reach, recruit, and retain the right young talent. Additionally, both job seekers and employers spend a huge amount of time, energy, and money on recruitment and selection.
Young professionals often find application processes overly complicated and outdated. They spend months sending out cover letters, struggle to create a strong résumé, and are not always adequately prepared by their educational institutions for interviews. In the end, they often discover that they haven’t chosen the right place, because the company culture doesn’t suit them or the work isn’t fulfilling. The feedback process for applicants consumes unnecessarily many valuable hours, and then, based on traditional systems, you still have to decide who to interview and offer a contract to—based solely on a résumé and a gut feeling. It’s an outdated idea that we still select or reject people based on a single sheet of paper with a few keywords. Organizations are already planning to send people to Mars, while here on Earth we still don’t even know how to properly assess people.
Where is Recrout located?
Recrout is located in the Schiphol area. We will most likely be moving soon to a location within one of the largest organizations in the world as a startup in residence—very exciting, though unfortunately I can’t share many details about that just yet.
Who owns Recrout?
I am the founder of Recrout. Recrout has two shareholders, and I am the majority shareholder.
How is Recrout financed?
Recrout is entirely self-funded. We do everything we can to maintain this for as long as possible, until the moment comes when we can ask what we want from whom we want. We are not fond of investors who think they can take an opportunistic advantage with startups.
What can Recrout do that other companies in the industry cannot?
Recrout envisions a labor market in which people perform work that best fits their talents. We believe that individuals who work from their strengths are the ones who are most motivated, most productive, and ultimately the most successful. These are the people who make a difference—not a sheet of paper showing which educational institution awarded your diploma.
Unlike traditional methods, we use a much more scientific model to predict the best possible match between employer and candidate, based on intelligent data and smart software. This takes into account psychological traits and fit with the company culture. Through our simple platform, employers can save a tremendous amount of time, reduce costs by a factor of ten, and ultimately achieve more sustainable matches based on scientifically grounded theories.
What does Recrout need in order to grow?
Primarily, we need more interesting employers who have great opportunities for our young professionals. In the coming year, we also plan to seek more publicity to raise awareness among a wider audience. A media partner with a large reach could certainly help us achieve this goal.
What can we expect from Recrout in 2017?
Wij gaan het komende jaar duizenden gedreven young professionals met hun carrière proberen te helpen in samenwerking met internationale en nationale organisaties en onze samenwerkingspartners.
In 2017, we will start partnerships with several universities of applied sciences. We will also actively contribute to an adaptive labor market alongside our regional partners. We aim to help employers even more in selecting employees who will contribute most to their organizational goals. In 2017, the recruitment market will definitively discover that we are setting a new standard for helping people take targeted control of their careers.
What are Recrout’s ambitions?
We aim to be the standard in online recruitment within five years and, by that time, to have established a presence in several other European countries. The ultimate dream is a powerful, data-driven European platform that can compete with American tech companies—a platform that millions of people enjoy using.
