Vestiigo.com: Connecting tech companies with top talent
From startups to established corporations, the difference between success and failure rests on the shoulders of its people. It’s the reason why Zappos pays new employees a $1,000 “bonus” to leave after a week if they so choose. Your company thrives on the talent and energy of its people, and it can get held back when you either can’t find the right person or you hire the wrong one.
So where does talent live and importantly how do companies reach out to them? There’s certainly no shortage of career services on the market, but one Toronto-based start-up is challenging some long-held beliefs when it comes to finding and landing top talent. Vestiigo.com focuses on connecting young professionals – people with at least 2 years of experience – with the best and brightest companies in Canada.
“Whether you’re the job-seeker or the hiring manager, the entire recruitment process is extremely personal,” Vestiigo’s founder Tim Ryan says, “Yet most resources are still very impersonal and offer little support or personalization.”
Current offerings don’t make it very easy for companies to specifically target groups of professionals with similar work experience and educational backgrounds. The result: HR inboxes filled to the brim with mostly unqualified applications and lots of disappointed applicants.
For its part, Vestiigo is trying to change this. They focus only on talent with backgrounds in technology, marketing, sales, and business development, and review their profile before they become a member. What’s more, they also direct their energy towards uncovering opportunities at great small-to-medium sized companies that don’t necessarily have the big recruitment budgets of larger corporations, but often offer great experience for those eager to make an impact early in their career.
Vestiigo takes a far more personal approach than traditional online career sites. They characterize their service as a community and its users as members, and encourage them to reach out to the team through a variety of means.
“Our members contact both myself and our community manager regularly through email and social media,” Ryan says. “The interaction is a great way to build a rapport with our users and gives them confidence when submitting an application.”
The company notes that it’s seen a big increase in opportunities with the tech sector, and a lot of interested members looking for careers in this area.
“We’re seeing more and more opportunities in this field, especially around Toronto and Vancouver. It’s becoming a big niche for us and it’s also reflected in our member base,” comments Ryan.
Vestiigo says about a third of its members have strong backgrounds in technology, IT, and software, with companies ranging from Google to Research in Motion. It’s been helping place them with some of Canada’s brightest companies, including Medgate, BOLDStreet, Public Mobile and Eloqua.
Even as a start-up, Vestiigo.com has seen tremendous success already.
“At the end of the day, we don’t judge our success by the number of hits on our site,” Ryan maintains, “Our clients are finding and hiring great people with our service – That’s what matters.”
