Massachusetts has a history of companies trying to become the primary connectors between people and jobs, with employment website Monster among its tentatives. In recent years, several local startups have tried to land a role as innovators in the job market: some focused on reducing bias during the hiring process (like TwelveJobs), while others made insights on companies' culture available to job applicants (like kununu).
While other ventures add complimentary services to job hunting, Skillist, a new local startup co-founded by Caroline Fay and Ananth Kasturiraman and based at GSV Labs Boston, is trying to change the very essence of the hiring process — at least for middle-skill jobs.
As its name suggests, Skillist is trying to reinvent the application process by giving priority to the skills job seekers have, turning the one-page, paper-based resume in a "list of skills" that employers can access on the Skillist's platform. A silver winner among the 2017 MassChallenge cohort, the company launched commercially in April 2018, right after closing a $550,000 pre-seed round led by Flybridge Capital Partners.
"We really help companies with chronically unfilled entry-level jobs to connect with relevant, but often overlooked talent," Fay explained.
The main point behind Skillist is this: the absence of a traditional education or job history does not necessarily mean that candidates are not qualified. On the Skillist platform, job seekers without a 4-year degree (two third of American adults, Kasturiraman pointed out) can list and prove their skills by answering questions from the employer; on the other hand, employers can access a broader pool of talent.
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Employers can use the Skillist platform to search for customer service representatives, sales representatives, IT technicians or administrators — in short, the jobs that may fall in the gray area between an high school degree and a college degree.
"It's not about your major, it's about how you can do the job," Fay said. "One of our hires, during our pilot, was somebody who used her time working at Dunkin' Donuts to express how she had every single skill that this insurance company with a customer service job was looking for."
To connect with potential applicants, Skillist gets in touch with community partners such as community colleges. Skillist charges employers with a fee, but it's free to use for job candidates and community partners. Currently, the company is working with Wayfair, Harvard Business School and DraftKings as employers.
One of Skillist's community partner is Duet, a non-profit that partners with Southern New Hampshire University to support selected students with career development services. As of April, they had three or four students applying through Skillist and one getting an interview, according to Michele Carroll, director of employment service at Duet. Duet started using Skillist last summer.
"My job is looking at job postings," Carroll said. "It is a breath of fresh air to work on the Skillist platform. When I'm sitting with young people who have had limited exposure to the workforce, it is much more helpful to decipher a job."
