When you feel it’s time to start looking for a new job but don’t want the people at your current job to know, you won’t broadcast your hunt on social media, LinkedIn or online job boards. More likely, you will feel out the market by discreetly approaching friends in the industry.
Now there is a more efficient way to leverage your social connections in passive job searches.
Workey launched in Israel in late 2015 as a marketplace for employees and potential employers in high-tech to find one another anonymously. Based on its success and fresh funding from American angel investor Marcy Simon, Workey is setting up an office in the United States to fill an unmet need in the $40 billion recruitment market.
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“With Workey’s technology, the search is much easier and we are able to identify the exact right people who match our job requirements.”
The company’s founders are boldly going against the likes of Monster.com and Hired.com in the belief they have something different to offer.
“We are sure we are unique, ” VP Marketing Danny Shteinberg tells ISRAEL21c.
Founded in late 2014 by Intelligence Unit 8200 veterans Ben Reuveni and Amichai Schreiber, Workey uses proprietary algorithms to analyze the candidate’s skills and career history according to nearly 7, 000 parameters.
It then notifies the candidate of appropriate matches at partner companies (in Israel, these include small startups as well as major players such as EMC, Wix, HP and SanDisk). And it identifies any people in the candidate’s social circles with connections in those companies.
“We don’t use the word ‘applicant.’ You express your willingness to work in a company that needs someone with your skills, and if they want you we propose you as a candidate, ” he explains. “We take out the embarrassing part because you don’t actually apply for the job.”
From thepotential employer’s perspective, Shteinberg continues, “you get really amazing recommendations for candidates, and for each candidate we say, ‘He knows five of your employees.’ It’s completely anonymous until the candidate asks to be revealed.”
Workey has tens of thousands of users and is partnered with about 100 companies in Israel. “Our customers are mainly in the HR departments, and in some companies managers have direct access to the system because candidates sometimes prefer direct contact with the person who would be their manager.”
Case study
Dana Aharon, HR director at Travel Global Systems (a subsidiary of the $1.5 billion travel distribution companyTravel Holdings) turned to Workey in November 2015.
“TGS is facing a major growth in manpower due to the decision to rebuild its entire product line from scratch and develop the company’s next generation of products, ” Aharon tells ISRAEL21c.
“Today, in the competitive market we operate in, it was obvious to us that working in the standard channels would not be enough, especially because we demand a very high level of professionalism as well as exceptional technical skills, ” she says.
“We understood that the best manner in which to get excellent people on board was through our own employees. However, since the workload is huge, we cannot expect people to actively search for friends to come on board, as that is a full-time position in and of itself. Workey offered a great solution to that problem. With their technology, the search is much easier and we are able to identify the exact right people who match our job requirements.”
TGS introduced the Workey system at a recruitment company event in its Petah Tikva offices. “The reactions were highly positive and we immediately started a pilot with a small group of our employees. Additionally, I started using the HR platform of Workey with a lot of support and assistance from Workey’s team, ” she says.
Within a very short period of time, TGS filled a front-end designer position through Workey. “In the following weeks, we plan on implementing the platform throughout the entire company to help us get much more relevant leads and quickly close all our open positions, which number approximately 40, ” Aharon concludes.
Based in Tel Aviv, Workey raised its initial $1.6 million from Magma Venture Capital and Wellborn Ventures. Currently employinga team of eight, Workey is planning expansion during 2016.
