A Boston startup is working as a matchmaker for companies and freelance human resource representatives looking to get “hytched.”
Hytched, launched in 2017, was founded by Tracy Burns and Mim Minichiello. The service connects companies to human resource representatives that they need for temporary projects or to cover a maternity leave, for example.
Burns, who also serves as the CEO of the Northeast Human Resources Association (NEHRA), said she found herself making these matches already with calls from companies asking if she could find them them a temporary human resources representative who had a high expertise level.
Around the same time, Burns said she was getting televisions mounted on the wall of her new home using the app TaskRabbit, which provides on-demand services for things like handy work, cleaning and moving.
“Just around the same time that I used TaskRabbit, I was getting more and more calls around this need in the Boston market, and I guess a light bulb went off,” Burns said. “I tried to conceive an app or some sort of technology that would support making these matches.”
Burns knew Minichiello professionally for a number of years. Minichiello worked in the health insurance field for 20 years and has worked with NEHRA. Burns said she knew she would be a great co-founder because of the overlap and extension of their circles of contacts.
“Tracy had a real pulse on what I thought was a genuine problem,” Minichiello said. “It’s similar to IT when you say 'I need someone from IT,' really what you need is a very specific skill set.”
Minichiello said that because of human resources specializations, you wouldn’t want to hire someone whose speciality is international human relations when your project requires an expert on executive coaching.
Users on the app specifies these things. Companies answer around ten questions about the needed project, such as how long they need someone, if the person needs to be present in the office or could be remote, among others.
Similarly, human resource representatives in the database answer their own set of questions, such as their skill sets, how often they would like to work and whether they would prefer to work remotely, among others.
The matchmaking service relies on human decisions, with Burns and Minichiello working nights and weekend to match each company with three potential options. The company will have 72 hours to get in contact with the potential collaborators. If none are the right fit, Hytched will provide more options.
For companies, Hytched saves time as they don’t need to do a job posing or comb through resumes to fill a temporary position, Burns said. For freelancers, it allows them to work in the specifications they want, further adding to the gig economy.
The company so far has been a bootstrap funded company staffed with the two founders and a project manager. Burns said they are looking to add on to their staff and potentially expand into other markets.
“There are search engines inside of Google and Indeed that tear it down for you, but this is just a little bit of a higher touch,” Burns said. “It will increase the chances that it’s going to be the right fit for you.”
