The Akron Legal News

Login | March 28, 2024

App that connects workers, companies, moves into Columbus

BRANDON KLEIN
Special to the Legal News

Published: November 9, 2017

Summer Crenshaw's startup technology company, Tilr, has been referred to as the "'match.com of recruitment.'"

But that description fails to employ the full scope of how the company's app will disrupt the current job recruitment practices.

"We are much more than just a marketplace for jobs," said Crenshaw.

The app is designed to connect companies with independent workers.

Businesses can use the Tilr web app to enter the job's brief summary, requirements, hours, location and pay rate.

When the job post goes live, the system goes to work matching the job requirements to the skills needed.

On the flip side, the workers, branded as "community members" by Tilr, can download the app to fill out their skills profile.

After a quick talk with a Tilr team member and a background check, the community member can receive job offers for review.

The member can then accept or decline offers with a simple click on the app.

If they accept the offer, the member gets the job and the app becomes their lifeline to the company providing the ability to clock in and out and to receive payments.

"Our algorithm matches workers skills to the company's job requirements," Crenshaw said. "On average, we see at least seven people match with each position posted on our company web app."

Founded in 2015, the Cincinnati-based company is now expanding into Columbus.

Tilr is actively expanding sales to organizations throughout the market, while simultaneously attracting community members to the platform, Crenshaw said.

Tilr's app has been downloaded more than 7,500 times in the Columbus market with more 1,900 users compared with 6,700 users in Cincinnati, she said.

"However, Columbus users have downloaded and signed up at a much faster pace than we saw in the beginnings of the Cincinnati market," Crenshaw added.

Tilr was founded in 2015 by Crenshaw and Carisa Mikluksak, two CareerBuilder alumnae who have more than a decade in digital recruitment, along with Luke Vigeant, who worked at IBM before he transition to the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

They officially launched the app in September 2016.

"We are passionate about answering the call to create a solution for the changing workforce. We feel that there is a crisis ahead if companies do not have a way to connect with workers in the way they want to work as we see 50 percent of the workforce transition to contingent," Crenshaw said. "Tilr was created to connect workers to companies differently so that the true breadth of our talent pool is revealed, and create a sustainable system so that workers that are independent can be cared for in the same way as their full-time employee counterparts are while on site."

Tilr has built an association to care for independent worker rights, she said.

The company has also secured partnerships with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield to provide health insurance to its community members and with Honest Dollar, Goldman Sachs company, to provide a way to save for retirement.

"We are launching a tilr private label pre-paid debit card to ensure those that are un-banked have the opportunity to work through the app And we have partnered with Cengage Learning to offer training and development," Crenshaw said. "This ecosystem will continue to grow and expand creating the first true ecosystem to solve for the evolving workforce needs."

But as the case with any new technology that disrupts an industry, the co-founder of Tilr said the company had to devote time to educate communities and independent workers.

She added that job seekers have been conditioned "to jump through many hoops" to reach the offer stage.

"One of the more interesting challenges has been community members expressing the system was almost too easy to use in order to receive job offers," she said. "In addition, we have found often times we are coaching community members to expand their skill profile because much of what they have as a past experience is omitted. This is also a conditioned response from writing resumes. Our technology does not allow companies to view profiles prior to a match and acceptance occurring, so we encourage community members to enter their full amalgamation of skills."

The company plans to expand to more than 26 markets by 2020, while its also launched an enterprise solution to integrate its algorithm with a company's systems allowing to reallocate talent regardless of geography.

Copyright © 2017 The Daily Reporter - All Rights Reserved


[Back]