Jacksonville, FL-based Path.To, a platform that matches applicants with jobs in tech and design, announced that it’s expanding to 13 markets in the U.S. over the next month, starting with Seattle and Portland today. They’ll then be launching in other U.S. cities including Dallas, Boulder, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. by early September. The company, which launched in April 2012 in San Francisco and expanded to New York, Boston, and Chicago in June, is exclusively focused on positions in interactive design, software engineering and IT.
The company has $1.5 million in funding from staffing company Adecco, and has 10,000 users and 400 businesses using the platform, a 50 percent increase in both users and businesses since mid-June, with software engineers and designers making up 80 to 90 percent of the user base. The company is primarily focused on helping startups with their hiring needs, though founder Darren Bounds said there is a big opportunity to expand to enterprise-level companies. “The needs of small startups are different from the needs of large enterprise, so we’re working hard to focus on our user and build products that cater to them,” he said. “In the coming months you should expect to see a product that’s focused on large enterprise as well.”
The company, which calls itself the “eHarmony for jobs,” aims to give employers a complete picture of job applicants by gathering information from their resume, as well as from social networks like Facebook and Twitter, and technology and design communities like Dribbble, Behance, Forrst, and Github. The company gives each applicant a Path.To Score, which is a number out of 100 that shows how compatible a person would be with a specific position. In June the company added new features, including visual social portfolios of users’ work, and Business Profiles for brands, which allow companies to showcase their positions, and list employee testimonials and social profiles.
Path.to has been free for job applicants and employers for early users, but last week the company debuted its premium accounts and features. Job postings are now $100 each for the first five postings, with discounted rates available for volume posting, or for renewing a post after their 30 day initial posting period. The company also offers employers the ability to get custom recommendations on candidates that are a great match for a specific position based on their Path.To score. Businesses pay $25 for each recommendation, and can then proactively reach out to them about a position even if they haven’t expressed interest. Bounds said it’s inevitable that not all employers will make the move from free to paid accounts, but that he believes the company is priced competitively. “There’s no question that there’s going to be some drop-off rate, and I think part of the strategy with expanding now is designed to maintain the momentum and the growth we’ve been seeing,” he said.
As mentioned in an article about Path.To’s new features in June, the company is competing with a multitude of hiring and recruiting platforms, from general tools like LinkedIn, to recruiting startups like TalentBin and MatchFWD. The company’s Path.To Score competes with WorkFu’s score, while their business pages are similar to Daily Muse’s company profiles (though that company charges up to $1,500 to create a profile). But Bounds said what sets them apart is trying to give a more complete picture of employers. “The most important differentiator today is our focus on culture,” he said. “It’s as important as as assessment of your education and your work experience.”
Bounds said by the end of 2012 the platform should be available across the U.S., and then they will start to expand internationally (they’ve had interest from users in Europe and Asia). While they will keep their focus on technology and design, Bounds said eventually they want to expand to other industries. He said they’ll also be looking to partner with companies that visualize data, and they’ll continue to expand their business profiles section.”Whether it’s the user or the business, we want to be able to provide the most complete picture of what it’s like to work there.”