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Andrew Feinberg
White House Correspondent
An innovative careers site which aims to help one million young people into employment by matching them with their ideal job looks set to take-off after it received more than £530,000 in equity crowdfunding – just ten weeks into its launch.
Spear-headed by its founder and CEO, Duncan Cheatle, Rise To appeals to anyone between the ages of 16 and 24, and with any level of education or work experience, to have the chance to be matched with jobs, paid and unpaid work experience, training, and mentorships with over 700 businesses.
The site also provides a learning platform to help candidates with their skills as well as their CV.
By replacing the traditional CV, Rise To also allows job-hunters’ extra-curricular achievements to shine through in their profile, by giving them the chance to upload videos or certificates which showcase their personality.
The site also handles references and says it will provide valuable feedback to all applicants.
The Rise To process then matches candidates to companies and opportunities based on values, qualifications, experience, and skills and is driven by two factors: the basics – such as location, sector, and qualifications – along with machine-learned data in-line with an employer's needs.
Mr Cheatle – who has worked with fast-growth businesses for 15 years – saw a pattern emerge where small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) had a need for staff with particular soft skills – but were unable to invest in traditional recruitment, or employer-branding, to make this happen.
The CEO described how he was thrilled to see the small business grow so quickly and receive the amount of positive interest it has at such an early stage.
He added: “By focusing on soft skills, we’ve created a platform that lifts aspiration and provides top job opportunities for young people who may not necessarily have achieved well academically.”
With 700 SMEs already signed-up to Rise To, the company said it currently has 2,000 young job-seekers eagerly looking for opportunities with some of the UK’s most dynamic entrepreneurial businesses.
With the aim of providing one million opportunities for young people, the Rise To team’s next aim is to take the company further by developing a mobile phone app.
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