Small Business Spotlight – January 2023: Purpose Connect
Company name: Purpose Connect by DAMI
Person in charge: Racheal Dami Odunewu, Founder and CEO
Year founded: 2018
Tell us about the history of your business:
The idea of Purpose Connect came as a result of DAMI’s career consulting services in 2018. She found that her clients who had completed their career strategy development program hit a roadblock when it came to getting in front of employers which they have listed as a job interest. These clients typically have the passion and skills required for their job interest along with a clear vision to direct their job choices, but there seemed to be a disconnect when it came to submitting their job application and ensuring it reached the desk of the hiring manager.
DAMI discovered the culprit—the Applicant Tracking System. The ATS screens candidates when their resume is not formatted correctly or if they are lacking certain keywords. Job seekers don’t know this but resume components such as pictures, colors, lines, icons, are negative triggers for the ATS. Candidates simply want to create a beautiful resume but the key is to have a boring looking resume that is NOT boring sounding.
DAMI decided that there is a better way to support job seekers and employers who are looking to get in a productive employment relationship with each other. The idea of Purpose Connect began with an initial agenda to eliminate the need for a resume by creating a no-resume hiring platform. This will be replaced with a standard-formatted candidate profile which will not only support the job seeker but it will speed up the review process for the hiring manager.
Describe the services your organization provides and what makes you unique:
Purpose Connect is a no-resume hiring platform that uses a job seeker qualifying algorithm to match job seekers to job postings. Our platform is unique in the way it reduces the job applicant overwhelm by 96%.
With an average of 250 applications per job posting, recruiters and hiring managers are overwhelmed with the process which usually takes anywhere from days to months depending on the job and number of applicants. Recruiters find less than 10% of their applicant pool is really qualified after spending all that time reviewing 250+ applications. They lose hours and dollars searching for the right fit. Purpose Connect helps to reduce this overwhelm for employers using 5 transformative elements:
- No resume
- Personalized and targeted matching algorithm which qualifies candidates for employers
- Reference checks
- Fixed monthly subscription rates
- Direct supervisor reviews
Tell us something people might not know about your organization:
Hiring is what we offer. However, our WHY is to help transform the workplace. A personal desire of DAMI, founder of Purpose Connect is to look back years from now and to see transformed workplaces where employees view their role as a real partnership with their employers. 6 months - 1 year after hire, an increase in employee retention.
To support employee retention, employers foster a humanity-driven workforce that truly promotes diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and belonging, so that their employees are proud to be a part of a safe, inspiring, and productive workplace.
Our mission is to make hiring more human but also our vision is to create human-centered workplaces.
What is the biggest challenge facing your organization now, and how are you working to overcome that challenge?
Being a startup, our biggest challenge has been getting employers to see a different way of hiring and developing tangible team members who will come into their system and stay, especially diverse talents. To address this challenge, we have continued to educate and support employers with their Diversity, Equity, Inclusion initiatives.
What is the best business advice you've ever been given?
Community and relationships are key to developing a long-lasting business relationship.
