LinkedIn has taken the world by storm, offering some 260 million users a professional way to advertise their résumé to potential employers both easily, and efficiently. Many – including me – have bought into the branding, the idea that by using LinkedIn to build your profile, you will get a better job. But while that seems to be working for some, it doesn't work for everybody.
These days recruiters are looking for more than just that Type A personality with a good work ethic and an impressive slew of work experience to boast of at interviews. They want somebody that they can personally invest in, somebody that has the pedigree, but also the demeanor necessary to excel at their job. They need a more holistic view of job applicants prior to hiring them on to ensure they've made the right choice, and that's where YouFolio comes in to play.
A platform that enables students to showcase themselves via an online portfolio, YouFolio is just as it sounds. It's a collection of your skills, accomplishments, passions, interests and professional work – or "folios" – all located in one place.
"YouFolio also serves as a Match.com for employers and employees," Nick Pinero, founding partner and COO of the social productive network, added as we sat down to chat about his product. YouFolio matches companies looking to hire the best talent with students equipped with the skills, expertise and special requirements necessary for job openings that need to be filled. With a dynamic filtering system, recruiters are able to search, check out and engage with qualified candidates.
But YouFolio wasn't always the useful tool that it is today, attracting clients like General Dynamics. The startup was originally launched as just an idea that was entered into the 2012 Virginia Tech Business Competition by co-founders Kayvon Kaviani and Matthew Moore – and won.
It was later when they brought on Wes Lincoln, VP of Product Development, and Pinero that their formative concept transformed into a fully functional company. They were selected to be a part of the Kairos Society, accepted into IBM's Global Entrepreneur Program, raised $300,000 in seed capital over the summer, hired their own dev team in July and that's when everything started taking off.
While now at the helm of an innovative entrepreneurial venture, Pinero said that he was never interested in launching his own startup until he found his way onto a college campus. After joining the military right after high school and being medically discharged for a football injury, he received a scholarship to Virginia Tech. It was there he found out just how difficult the traditional job recruiting process can be for students.
"In college I realized it was about who you know, not what you had done," he said. "I was one of the few exceptions at Virginia Tech where I didn't know anyone and didn't have connections. So I made it on my own, getting an internship based on what I had done." That's when he bought into Kaviani and Moore's idea, understanding how YouFolio could really change the job recruiting process for the better.
Pinero spent junior year going through 15 or so interviews, attending career fair after career fair only to find that the whole shebang was a mess. "Thousands of people waited in line to speak to a company for 30 seconds. It just wasn't really effective," he explained. "A lot of highly qualified talent slip through the cracks because they can't represent themselves well in 30 seconds. That amount of time doesn't allow employers to view you holistically by learning about what you're interested in and your hobbies."
So he, along with his fellow founding partners, came up with a solution to fix common recruiting problems for students and employers: YouFolio.
