Two young Indian-American entrepreneurs are attempting to make the traditional paper resume a thing of the past by connecting the job seeker and the employer through video resumes.
The Palo Alto Mayor, Yiaway Yeh, and several other top corporate leaders of the city – which is known as the heart of the Silicon Valley -- lined up last Thursday in its downtown to inaugurate the new office of GetHired.Com, which currently has just 14 employees.
Less than three weeks ago, on January 30, the duo Suki Shah and Naresh Patel announced having raised $1.75 million in an oversubscribed round of seed funding for their GetHired. Com; which is said to be the most comprehensive video-based social recruiting platform and job board.
Shah argues that GetHired.Com is the first job board to embed video capabilities directly into its social recruiting platform so that job seekers can record and submit personal, dynamic responses to an employer’s most pressing pre-screening questions at the start of the hiring process.
As a result, employers are able to quickly find top candidates with good communication skills who are a culturally fit for their organisation, he notes.
"Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, businesses in Palo Alto have always been at the forefront of innovation when facing today's most challenging problems," Yeh said.
"It is exciting that a local company has reinvented how employers and job seekers connect in today’s digital world," he added.
"Palo Alto is an incubator of leading growth companies," said Suki Shah, co-founder and CEO at GetHired. com. "We're honoured to launch in the same office that Intuit started out in – and in the same town that Facebook, Google, Sun Microsystems and PayPal got their start.
These companies have been game-changers in their respective industries, and I am confident that GetHired. Com will make a significant mark, as well," he said.
A serial entrepreneur who co-founded his first company in 2008, Shah, 28, explained that open positions on job boards like Monster.Com or Craigslist is time-consuming and expensive – and may elicit hundreds of email inquiries per post.
Employers must then spend time sifting through these resumes to find the best candidates, sometimes with no insight into who is really best for an open position, he observed.
In response, Shah said he worked with Patel – a software architect – to launch GetHired.Com which he says has reinvented the way that employers and job seekers are connecting in today's digital world.
"GetHired.Com combines the visibility of a job board with the functionality of an applicant tracking system – allowing employers to find and pre-screen candidates using audio and video, conduct interviews in real-time and manage the entire on boarding process," he said.
On Thursday, Shah was recognised for his entrepreneur skills when Palo Alto Downtown Business and Professional Association executive director Russ Cohen presented Shah with a 'Downtown Crown' award.
"GetHired has recognised—like many other companies have recognised—the power of being in Downtown Palo Alto. They know that they can find talent just by walking out in the street and going to lunch," Cohen said.
Paul Wright, CEO of Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce, said GetHired.Com will be a great platform for job-seekers and companies alike. I think it's an excellent fit. If you think about the technology businesses that are in this space, they're perfect for serving that market," he said.
GetHired has received its funding from a host of angel investors, including CEO of the Global Environment Fund, Jeffrey Leonard, former CEO of Discovery Communications and the former Under Secretary of State For Public Diplomacy And Affairs, Judith McHale, CEO of LegalZoom.Com, John Suh, and Mack Capital CEO, Ralph Mack.
