Co-founded in July by Tom Lipczynski and James Farrell, Vpply aims to connect companies and job seekers through quick, engaging videos.
The concept of the technology stemmed from the problem space; lack of human connection in the first stage of the hiring process – job search. Finding a job is challenging, and Vpply allows job seekers to make an impactful first impression through applying with a short video instead of the traditional CV and cover letter. With the ABS reporting that in September, 2020 at least 937 400 people were unemployed in Australia, this problem area is affecting a large group of people.
Not only does Vpply serve as unique value for the job seeker, it also allows talent acquisition managers and recruiters to make more informed decisions. Co-founder Tom says “We are inspiring people to connect and reducing the time to hire”. HR bodies can now easily sort, search and shortlist candidates from a video based database that is transparent and connected.
Tom’s main urge to become an entrepreneur sparked from his experiences as employee number 3 at Adzuna and employee number 20 at Indeed which he has seen both grow in the Australian job search market. Tom says “I learned a lot during my 8 years at those companies but I always wanted to have more input in the direction of the businesses which was hard to enforce with UK and US headquarters respectively. I see video as an important tool for the future and wanted to implement as the core of the business. I also wanted to challenge myself and get out of my comfort zone.”
These experiences evidently lead to the launch of Vpply and since July, the platform has already had applications and placements through the platform. On top of this, Tom and James were thrilled to announce they have recently secured a partnership with JobAdder. Job Adder is a smart recruitment software which has now been made even better as thousands of employers can automatically post on Vpply.
Additionally, the pair noted they have confirmed other integrations are on their way which will significantly drive more jobs and jobseekers to the site. Vpply are now in the middle of a pre-seed investment round so this is another key focus for the rest of the year.
The co-founders noted that Fishburners has been catalytic in their success as they have taken on the advantage of the community and are humbled by the like-minded people around them. Co-founder Tom added that “I have also taken advantage of the perks also which was a nice bonus and attended various Thursday workshops”.
From here, with COVID restrictions hopefully easing, Vpply will look at partnering with numerous companies in affected sectors such as hospitality and retail in Victoria. Keeping the unemployment rates in Australia in mind, Vpply are certainly looking to offer an alternate solution to jobseekers and shorten the recruitment cycle for employers. Which in turn, will offer a small help to boost the economy recovery post Covid.
Written by Hannah Johnston, Fishburners.