Why I joined WorkHere

I recently joined WorkHere, an Indianapolis area HR Tech startup, as Director of Business Development. Having met and known one of the founders, the discussions and opportunity to join the team evolved over a couple of months as they made some changes and tweaks to their product and team. The concept for WorkHere spoke to me and of what most of my career experience has involved within the staffing and recruiting industry to this point. WorkHere was created to address a gap and improvement that I also believe needed to be addressed in the industry (both locally and nationally).

Below you will see a couple of reasons why I joined the WorkHere team and why I believe the future is big and bright!

The Founders

Rick Wehrle, Mike Seidle, and Howard Bates reached out to me a couple of years ago with a new approach to online job search.

Rick, co-inventor of the first job board, Online Career Center (OCC), which later became Monster.com, had worked in the job advertising industry just about his entire career. He not only created some of the first technology, but he had also headed analytics teams that examined troves of online job search data.

Rick and Mike worked at Direct Employers developing the National Labor Exchange. They sifted through data to see how people really searched for jobs, and they saw a much bigger picture.

Rick and Mike learned:

• Location is the way people search for jobs.
• No one had solved the mobile candidate experience.
• No new HR tech focused on the worker market in 15 years.

They decided to build a gps-powered social network app that serves the wage-earning worker—the majority of the workforce.

Location Matters

Mobile device usage now exceeds desktop computer usage worldwide. Mobile users are not using the same applications they do on their desktops. Instead of word processors and spreadsheets, mobile users are using geo-centric apps. Apps like Zillow, Uber, Waze, WhatsApp, Airbnb and Pokemon Go are just some of the thriving geolocation-powered platforms that people interact with every day.

Let’s admit it, the current job boards and networks have failed to take advantage of this new technology!

WorkHere is different.

WorkHere is the latest HR technology. It’s a social app that instantly connects workers to nearby employers through its geolocation-powered, map-based interface. WorkHere is the only tool on the market that is GPS accurate when it comes to job locations—meaning it is the only tool that is hyperlocal. Zip codes cover too large an area when you are walking, riding a bike, or taking public transportation to work. WorkHere knows that location matters.

WorkHere knows that helping local workers connect to local employers is a win-win situation.

Workers who work close to home experience a whole range of benefits:

• Reduced commute time and cost
• Greater job satisfaction
• Greater quality of life

Employers who hire local workers also experience benefits:

• Reduced turnover
• Greater employee satisfaction
• Less absenteeism

WorkHere is one of the newest and largest worker networks in the US. There isn’t a product in the market that works like WorkHere.

Real World Application

As business owners and leaders, we know it is becoming harder to attract and retain employees. In fact, it is hard for workers to connect and get to know employers. According to the DOL, there are less than 1.2 job seekers for every opening. So, WorkHere built a mobile app and network like Zillow or Uber that enables workers and employers to not only efficiently find one another, but to engage with one another.

The app is free to users. There is a monthly platform fee with a nominal coached-candidate success fee for employers, which enables employers to directly engage with users and followers and build talent pipelines over time.

WorkHere’s partners include local and national businesses like Lyft, Uber, Domino’s, FedEx, Kelly Services, Amazon, and Golden Living in addition to veteran and civic organizations, colleges, and high schools—all of which complement our growing network of employers and job seekers.

Our WorkHere team is devoted to creating greater opportunity for workers and employers alike. The majority of workers work to live, not the other way around. We understand that employers want satisfied, happy workers with little turnover. Hiring workers from local communities is the answer. We continually evolve our powerful discovery tool that enables workers and employers to explore, build, connect, and share so they can create meaningful work-life relationships.