The recruiting market needs change

You hold a solid degree, perhaps backed-up with a lot of experience, but finding a life sciences job that really suits you remains a struggle? Vacancies are scattered throughout the web and job descriptions are vague and incomplete. Often the company is not even mentioned. At the same time, managers face the challenge of finding that one dedicated life sciences professional with the right expertise. Jef Van Rompay, CEO at BrightOwl (Mechelen), is determined to change all of this.

A new approach for recruiting

BrightOwl is a start-up matchmaking company for job seekers and companies, focused on life sciences. ‘Yet another recruitment office’, you might think, but BrightOwl is determined to make a change. Van Rompay explains: “Generally, when recruitment offices and headhunters receive a vacancy, they search their database and hunt for selected candidates. We invert this process. We share all information about available jobs, including the name of the company and let the experts determine which jobs they want to pursue. This results in a more efficient service. We just facilitate the matching process. We highly value openness to both parties. This is a unique approach.”

Our model is based on the principle of crowdsourcing; it’s not the recruiters who pick the candidates, it is the candidates who choose the jobs.

“Too many players are active in the recruiting market,” continues Van Rompay. “We offer an efficient model to unite job seekers and employers in the life sciences’ industry in one place. BrightOwl wants to avoid the need for companies  to have to contact several different recruitment offices and to reduce a job seeker’s need to browse through a plethora of ambiguous information on different recruiter’s websites. We created an online platform directly matching experts with jobs in life sciences. By placing a vacancy on the platform, employers reach out to many experts, both nationally and internationally. They can count on our service to make the right match. Job seekers make a profile and then get access to the different job opportunities that have been posted by the companies that work with us. The candidate’s profile only becomes visible to a company when the candidate chooses to apply with that enterprise. There’s no need to push candidates, but those experts who struggle and want help in finding the perfect job can count on our assistance. Companies can follow-up on the entire recruitment process and immediately see who solicits the job and candidates can always check the status of their different applications.

A self-learning recruitment platform

“Creating a profile does not require a huge effort. A job seekers’ data can easily be imported from LinkedIn. In August, we will launch a self-learning algorithm that proposes your skills, based on your job title and experience. In a later stage, the algorithm will be able to recommend matching vacancies,” says Van Rompay. “You can compare it to a dating site. After making your profile, you see all the options, but we match you with the ones that suit you most. The algorithm will continuously update itself by comparing other candidate’s data.”

No cure, no pay

Van Rompay explains: “There are two major ways for companies to compensate us for our matchmaking process. The first one is ‘no cure, no gain’. We put vacancies on our platform for free and the company only pays a finder’s-fee if they manage to hire someone through BrightOwl. The other option is that the company pays to place the vacancy online, but no finder’s-fee is charged. The first option contains no risk for the company, but if a match is made, the fee that has to be paid is higher than the fee that is charged for placing a vacancy via the second option. The service is entirely free for job-seekers. Furthermore, different partnering options adapted to a company’s needs are possible. We offer outsourcing services and the option to use our platform as a white label system.” Van Rompay and his team are dedicated to changing the recruitment business: “It has been a very exciting time. Since we started at the end of 2013, we have received a lot of positive feedback from both job seekers and companies. This gives us an enormous boost every time. We are working hard to make a difference and to profoundly change the recruiting market. Our goal is to become THE platform that brings all life sciences companies and experts together!”