Portland startup Merify wants to fundamentally change the tools for getting a job. Specifically, it wants to end the use of the resume — and potentially other aspects of the hiring process.
As a resume replacement, the startup has developed a platform for creating a skill-based profile that is compiled by a user inputting profile details and some job history plus an assessment of their skills. Peers are then invited by the user to anonymously contribute their own assessment of the users’ skills. The platform vets the results and determines performance data by skill.
“It’s a new language for skills-based hiring and career growth,” said founder and CEO Greg Gasperin, a seasoned senior software engineer.
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Gasperin, who built the API the product is built on, has been working on it since January 2020. A beta version for job applicants is expected to be released in February. People can join the beta test on the company’s website.
Along the way, he enlisted the help of his husband Shaun Thomas and friends Jarod Courtney, Missy Capone and Michael Russo. Several of the team are Nike alums who all worked in different brand functions for the footwear giant. There are also a handful of contractors.
The company raised $300,000 from friends and family last summer. It also filed a patent for its vetting and workflow process. Gasperin expects to raise another round later this year.
The initial concept for revamping the hiring process came from Gasperin’s own anxiety around job interviews. He’s an accomplished developer but his own nerves, which manifest in facial ticks, could convince him to walk away from an interview.
“You start with zero, no portfolio and just a resume. You are exposed to a battery of tests and distill a career to an hour of questions,” he said. “It felt like an anxiety-ridden process. If you are a good (skill) fit for the job the interview process should feel like you will be a good fit.”
With Merify, candidates can bring their profile to an interview and hand over a better source of skill information to a hiring manager. The product is free for job candidates.
“Once you replace resumes with an effective data source you can go after everything that uses resumes as a starting point,” Gasperin said.
For candidates who apply for a job at a company that uses Merify, the data can also offer vital feedback about what skills need to be improved or where a candidate ranked in terms of other applicants. Whereas currently candidates send resumes into a black box of hiring software that sorts by keywords and feedback on why someone was rejected is a rarity.
The team is also keenly aware of not exacerbating existing biases in the hiring process with this new platform. As soon as the company raised a bit of money it hired diversity, equity and inclusion firm Smith & Charles to help shape the platform.
The company has done extensive user research and found that not only are job candidates looking for something new but recruiters, companies and career coaches are looking for some sort of skills-based system that current tools aren't accomplishing.
Capone, who is head of insights, noted she also sees great opportunity with Merify’s ability to help candidates and recruiters better see skills transference between roles that are seemingly unrelated. Or, the ability for a company to scan skills of workers and easily see who could move up based on certain training.
