While layoffs typically evoke attention and sympathy for the affected employees, rarely does anyone talk about what happens to the recruiters, who are sometimes asked to leave when a company decides to downsize. In fact, tech companies cut up to half of their hiring teams during mass layoffs in 2022 and 2023.
Paraform, a recruiting platform for startups, taps a pool of laid-off recruiters who started their own businesses to help startups source talent and access a broader talent network I feel there is an opportunity to do so. To fund its efforts, the company recently raised $3.6 million in a seed round led by venture capital firm A*, founded by Kevin Hartz, co-founder of Everbrite and Xoom and AirBnB's original investor. Procured.
“A wave of tech sector layoffs in 2022 and 2023 saw 100,000 recruiters laid off, prompting many to branch out and start their own recruiting businesses,” Paraform CEO John Kim said in an exclusive interview with TechCrunch. “This has given many independent recruiters access to valuable skillsets and high-quality networks, making them open to new ways of working.”
“To date, we have thousands of recruiters on our platform and have helped over 200 companies hire talent,” he added.
Startups charge a posting fee (subscription fee) for posting jobs on the platform, as well as a success fee when a hire is made. “Publication fees ensure buy-in from startups to the two-way marketplace and commitment to the recruiters they work with,” Kim said.
Kim said that in addition to early- and late-stage startups, the platform also works with large in-house talent teams to fill challenging roles. “More than 50% of our customers have great talent teams in-house, but they still post roles on Paraform. , and have the flexibility to increase or decrease hiring,” the company's CEO explained.
This new funding, which brings Paraform's total raised to $5 million, comes one year after Paraform's pre-seed raise in March 2023. Kim said that since the pre-seed round, Paraform's revenue has increased 10x and the company has welcomed more than 100 new hires. We gained customers and our team grew. He added that the company generated more than $1 million in revenue in its first year with a team of three.
Other investors in the seed round include DoorDash co-founder Evan Moore and leaders from companies such as Affirm, Hightouch, Palantir, and Ramp. Previous backer Primer Sazze Partners also participated.
Paraform plans to use the new capital to expand across the United States and hire more engineers and operators to meet growing customer demand. It also aims to enter new countries and markets. We currently have four members on the team, and we aim to double that number this year.
Screenshot of Paraform's Recruiter Management screen.Image credit: Paraform
“We have supported several customers in the EU, South Korea and Australia, and the way each company works with headhunters has been homogeneous and worked very well. We are excited to be able to expand globally. doing.”
The startup is rolling out an enterprise product and plans to expand its platform to accommodate roles beyond software engineering and go-to-market jobs at startups.
“In response to demand from potential customers, we have already expanded into the fields of research, science, manufacturing and defense,” Kim said.
Paraform believes recruiting remains “a very human-to-human process” and will use technology such as AI to help recruiters and startups make hiring easier on its platform. By doing so, we want to strengthen that human element.
Kim said AI will help recruiters understand what recruiters are looking for. AI technology can now provide a summary of the “most common reasons for passing a candidate,” ultimately giving recruiters a better understanding of how to identify the best candidates. Become.