HigherMe, a startup founded out of Babson College, in March was chosen to give the first pitch (out of 108 startups) at the Demo Day for the prestigious West Coast accelerator Y Combinator. Maybe that's because there's something different about the company. In a time when startups are tempted to make their pitch about the advantages of their sophisticated technology, HigherMe has taken a different route by emphasizing what’s human about their company—and in particular, a personal story about a former employee who helped to inspire the creation of HigherMe (more on that below).
Briefly, HigherMe is a site that aims to help job applicants—especially retail and hourly workers—produce the information that matters most to potential employers. Along with answering questions tailored to the specific employer, job candidates can also create a video to give a sense of their personality. HigherMe works with individual employers to find out their wish list for what they’re looking for in an employee, and comes up with custom questionnaires for the employer, said Rob Hunter, the co-founder and CEO of HigherMe.
The goal is for potentially critical human qualities of a job candidate to come through louder and clearer.
Finding a match
Most employers just don’t know whether they have a Kendra on their hands while they sift through job applications.
The idea for HigherMe is informed in part by Hunter’s prior life, in which he ran a chain of ice cream shops in Ontario. In one of those shops, he met a young woman, Kendra Stirrett, who was applying for a job with a terrible resume—no relevant experience, spelling errors, and so on. But Kendra’s personality was wonderful and she conveniently lived right around the corner—and because Hunter got to meet Kendra in person, he was able to tell that she might be a match for the job. He was right—and she turned out to be a hugely important employee, Hunter recalled.
While attending Babson, Hunter found himself thinking back to Kendra, and realizing that most employers just don’t know if they have a Kendra on their hands while they sift through job applications.
HigherMe, thus, wants to “facilitate that happening much more frequently," Hunter said. “We are a marketplace focused on finding more Kendras for employers, and more opportunities for Kendras.”
Since launching the site three months ago, HigherMe has brought on a number of employers, including Burger King franchisees and venture-backed startup Magic. Meanwhile, nearly 10,000 individuals across 17 states are using the site.
Following the end of Y Combinator, the four-person team at HigherMe has returned to Boston and taken short-term space at WeWork South Station. Hunter's co-founder on the venture is Evan Lodge, who was his roommate at Babson.
HigherMe—which hasn’t announced funding so far—also hasn’t made a final decision about where to plant its office going forward, and Hunter said “there’s strong arguments for both” Boston and returning to the West Coast.
But wherever the startup lands, expect to hear more about HigherMe and its plan to make the modern online jobs site less about resumes, and more about the people themselves.
