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Whitetruffle Blog
Whitetruffle matches the best tech jobs with the right talent.
www.whitetruffle.com
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Education in the New Age
Peter Thiel has predicted that education will be the next bubble to burst - comparing it to the housing bubble that left many with loans they were unable to repay, the investment they had made in their security lost. There are many startups currently considering the problems around education. A quick canvas of the companies on Whitetruffle looking for engineers provides a glimpse into the wide range of approaches:
K-12 Education:
ClassDojo and Lecture Smart are both working on tools to help classroom instructors share lesson plans and best practices.
IXL Learning has chosen to focus on math education: giving teachers drills and practice sessions that can be easily calibrated and quantified - resulting in a better sense of where a student’s strengths and weaknesses are and providing valuable resources to homeschoolers.
United Classrooms is building a social network to help classrooms around the world connect with each other.
ThinkSprouts and Motion Math are focusing on early childhood and learning through play.
Tinkercad is helping younger people discover the joy of 3d modeling.
Adult/Continuing Education:
LearnRev is a platform for professionals to teach each other personal, professional development classes.
Coursio is a Swedish startup offering a service to help people create fully featured online courses on any subject they like.
Coursera is leading the way towards accredidation for massive open online courses, or MOOC’s.
Codecademy is closely focused on teaching people the essentials of web-based programming.
Let 2013 be the year you make a difference in a field that has the potential to positively impact the lives of many. If you are interested in working with one of the many companies changing the face of modern education, register with Whitetruffle.
The Difference Between Action and Intention
In 2012, 64% of people who are currently employed reported being open to a new job (Bureau of Labor Statistics). 52% of these people we would classify as “passive” candidates - but what does that really mean?
When a candidate creates a profile on Whitetruffle, they are give the option to choose an intention: “Active” or “Passive.” We take this stated intention into account, but we have found that what people say is nowhere near as important as what they actually do.
So - how do we decide the best, most appropriate, “active” matches for the companies that use Whitetruffle? We let peoples’ actions speak louder than their words. We prioritize candidates who have shown a high level of involvement on the site - regardless of their stated intention.
Does that mean that there is no difference between an active and a passive candidate? Not really. While a candidate marked “passive” may still be looking at matches, they generally require a different approach if you want them to join your team. For more information on how to tailor your messaging approach to active and passive candidates, read on…
Introducing Specializations…
We’ve introduced a brand new feature that make it even easier to choose, list, and organize your many skills - leading to a fuller picture of who you are and what you do - in addition to creating better matching. “Specializations!”
Engineers and Product Managers who have already been using Whitetruffle are already familiar with using “Domains” when you created your profile. “Specializations” expand and improve upon Domains. Now, instead of having to choose between frontend, backend, fullstack, and product, you can select multiple fields and associate skills, languages, and tools with each of them.
For companies: This means that Whitetruffle will have an even greater ability to target the right matches for you.
This has changed the UI just a bit. Now, instead of general domains you are asked about what you specialize in:
Do you specialize in mobile development? Maybe games? Both?
Upon choosing a field, you are given the option to add likely skills to it, or add custom skills as needed:
Our new Specializations are launched, live, and ready to go! As always, we welcome feedback!
Have you had a chance to try Whitetruffle? We’d love to help you find the perfect match: https://www.whitetruffle.com
“All the recruiting emails I ever received via different websites seemed to be the generic mass emails spammed out to any and every engineer whose email address was somehow gifted/sold/leaked/auctioned to a recruiter and I was fed up of those. Then I was introduced to Whitetruffle by a friend and it is the only way I’d job hunt ever again. I was matched with companies that I would really like to work for and had a background applicable to. Wish dating websites could learn from Whitetruffle. Soon enough, I was contacted, interviewed and hired by Room 77. It’s been a few weeks here and everything and everyone is awesome. Thanks Whitetruffle!”
Whitetruffle ran into Bloodhound at a game developer’s party last Friday. They are so excited about Paul Kim, their newest engineer, starting this week. Congratulations Bloodhound and Paul Kim!
Whitetruffle found me a great job that is a perfect match for my skills.
The matching process was delightfully simple and couldn’t have been more
pleasant!
- Dan Girellini, Dropcam
Bridging the Employment Gap
Right now, Whitetruffle is focused on job matching in the tech industry, but our vision is much bigger. With jobs waiting to be filled, and people looking for work - we are building what is essentially a recommendation engine to help bridge that gap.
Right before we came out of alpha last August, the Clinton’s Global Initiatives Jobs Summit in Chicago reported that there were over 3 million posted job openings available in the United States, and that they were “being filled only half as fast as they had been filled in every previous recession since World War II.” It is surprising to hear information like this when reports are still being made about high unemployment among the middle class. The chart below illustrates the month-by-month unemployment percentage:
We’ve examined the problem from many angles, and have found that effective solutions need to be able to measure, predict, and act on two basic variables: relevancy and intent. There are currently many tools out there trying to solve this same problem. Most address only one of these variables well:
Relevancy: Services that focus on high relevancy generally serve companies well, but can do so at the expense of the job candidates. Companies have an easy time finding people with the skills they need, but those people end up having little to no control over when, how often, or whether they are contacted.
Intent: Services that can promise high intent generally require a high level of commitment from the job candidates to keep them from getting lost in all the noise. Companies can end up hearing from many people not as qualified as they need - and filtering through to find a good fit can be daunting.
Whitetruffle makes it simple for people to create an employment profile, advertise their intent, and passively allow the right matches to come to them. Companies never see people who are a poor fit for what they are looking for, and candidates don’t have to battle their way through a glut of applicants to be seen.
If those 3 million posted job openings were filled, the unemployment rate would fall by at least 3 percentage points - which would make a lot of difference to a lot of people.
Students - Building a Profile that Works!
Joining Whitetruffle can be a great way for students to find jobs in software engineering and web design. We can easily connect you with companies interested in you - but convincing them that you are the right fit is up to you. The first step is to create a glowing profile. Here’s what to include in a profile if your experience, thus far, has been more academic than professional…
Technical Skill
You know what you know - so make sure everyone else knows that you know it! Make sure your work history field includes projects you’ve worked on, advanced courses you’ve taken, and other applicable experience. What languages and tools did you use? What have you built?
Omit the Unconnected
You may have been the best darn dishwasher at Denny’s ever - but it has nothing to do with software development. Nobody cares. Take it off your profile.
Enthusiasm for the Field
Whatever you lack in work experience - make up for it with your excitement and enthusiasm. You’re driven, passionate about what you do, and are determined to succeed. Communicate this in your description field, and you are much more likely to have companies interested in talking to you.
