Don’t Just Look for Jobs, Find.Jobs

This Cleveland startup is tackling unemployment through technology.

Job hunting has evolved over time from the classified section of a newspaper to online job boards. Then, with the emergence of tools like Google and LinkedIn as reliable resources for employers, carefully cultivating your online presence became a critical component for  candidates. Now, Employ Media in Cleveland wants to take this evolution even further, leveraging advancements in artificial intelligence to help job posters and job seekers drown out the noise and identify their perfect match with find.jobs.

“The world of online job boards hasn’t been disrupted yet. Companies post their jobs online and hope that job seekers find them with the right keywords,” said Thomas Cooper, CTO of find.jobs. “We’re trying to break that mold with technology to intuitively match candidates with the correct job based on what matters to them. What are their commute preferences? How do their values align with the company’s? This helps employers find the right candidates and candidates find jobs they’ll love. There’s a huge opportunity here to shake up an entire industry.”

Cooper and Daniel Kraciun, find.job’s Chief Marketing Officer, found themselves searching for work after their previous company, Securable.io, was sold to KnowBe4 in late 2017. While helping to lead Securable.io’s growth, the pair were frustrated by the inefficiencies of finding the right candidates using existing job portals. Allocating resources—namely time and money—to bring in unqualified candidates to interview was a painstaking process that opened their eyes to the need for a solution.

When they interviewed as a package deal with Employ Media, LLC, in late 2017, their frustration with the status quo—and the visionary solution they proposed—shined through and landed them top management roles. Employ Media had been sitting on the .jobs top-level domain for years, unsure what to do with it—until Kraciun and Cooper proposed creating the ultimate job resource—find.jobs—complete with matching tools, company-specific sites (e.g. amazon.jobs), tips and tricks for job seekers, and more.

“Now, you have big companies like Facebook rolling out job searching tools, LinkedIn and Google doing the same,” said Kraciun. “The need to find jobs will never go away, so we’re confident that as we match the right jobs with the right people faster and more accurately, we’ll carve our names into this industry.”

The find.jobs team is growing rapidly in MidTown Cleveland, attracting glowing press after the announcements of a partnership with Google’s advanced artificial intelligence software, Google Job Discovery, as well as landing heavyweight clients such as Amazon, CNN and Home Depot. With momentum on their side, the dynamic duo of Kraciun and Cooper consider Cleveland to be ideal for growing their internet startup.

“Startups are thriving around us, and that’s a testament to the talent pool and resources available to entrepreneurs here. We’re seeing major developments down the road at Cleveland State University, which continues to expand. We’ve tapped into Case Western, which produces some of the top engineering talent around,” said Kraciun. “And we’re surrounded by the vibrant, historic MidTown Cleveland in all its glory, with fantastic restaurants and theaters. The atmosphere in Cleveland is electric, and it’s the perfect place to grow this high-impact business.”