LinkedIn acquires data recruitment firm Careerify
For anyone who has ever filled an open position, the referral process can be a pain. Even when businesses incentivize their employees to recommend attractive candidates for an opening, results can be mixed. To fill this space in the human resources market, Careerify has emerged as a solutions provider that uses data to connect employers with the best talent from the candidate marketplace. Recently, it was announced that the company was purchased by professional social network LinkedIn.
This partnership is one that could produce major gains for both companies' missions. As a professional connection site, LinkedIn needs to expand its footprint in the recruiting space. Conversely, Careerify finds itself in a competitive marketplace without the reach it needs to make an impact.
"We decided to join LinkedIn due to what we lacked – massive scale," said Careerify CEO and founder Harpaul Sambhi on the acquisition strategy. "More than 30,000 companies across the globe leverage LinkedIn for recruitment, and with more than 347 million members, LinkedIn offers an opportunity to make a much larger impact on job seeking and hiring."
By combining the solutions of Careerify with the goals of LinkedIn, the social network could become more useful for professionals to find employees. According to TechCrunch, Careerify uses data from other social networks like Twitter and Facebook to ascertain who among a person's contacts might be appropriate for an open position. Instead of relying on employees to populate these referrals themselves, Careerify allows executives to cut out the middleman.
As a result, LinkedIn will probably continue its dominance as the go-to platform for job and candidate seekers. Enhancing service offerings is critical to competing with sites like Monster and Indeed, which offer less personalized solutions for companies on the lookout for employees.