CareersCrossroad

We are a job marketplace focusing on helping people of non-traditional background and underrepresented community get jobs in tech while helping companies achieve their diversity and inclusivity initiative with more diverse candidates to their talent pool

Demand for programming skill is at a all time high, while coding bootcamps are on the rise to keep up with the growing demand especially now during this pandemic where most traditional institution are catching up on the transition to online learning while most bootcamps are already online. Most graduates that go to coding bootcamps are people who are of non-traditional background(different degree/no college degree) or transitioning career. However, bootcamp graduates are having a hard time to getting notice and getting jobs as compared to others with non-traditional background. This is because current recruitment systems keyword filter search will favor someone with a 4yr traditional CS degree from an expensive well known school than someone from a non-traditional background that is switching career and gone to a programming bootcamp who might be just as good or even better. Pre-COVID, Career Fairs and networking event were their only secret weapon to get noticed but with COVID it is now harder or near impossible with no events happening. Moreover, companies today are trying to hire diversely as numerous studies have shown the importance of diversity and inclusion but there are no tools out there specialized for search of people of non-traditional background.

We created CareersCrossroad to help increase the much needed diversity for companies with candidates from non-traditional background. We help showcase bootcamp graduates and underrepresented people of non-traditional background to get them matched and discovered by companies which would otherwise get lost in the sea of traditional 4yr degree CS candidates as with other platforms. In addition, with our AI engine, we are able to match candidates to companies based on their passion and interest for a better fit. We see these hybrid diverse background as an asset to a company rather than a baggage as with other platform. For example, with our help, we can help discover someone with a music major that went to a bootcamp that is just as skillful in programming as someone who came out of a traditional 4yr program as an asset or greater fit for a company that is making software for the music industry due to his combined hybrid background in music and programming. This helps many of these underrepresented communities which would traditionally not able to afford college get a chance for a better life with better job opportunity breaking into tech with the more affordable bootcamp education.

Online education like bootcamps are growing in popularity and affordability and no longer limited by geography as traditional institutions. Coursereport2020 research have shown that nearly half of these bootcamp graduates did not have a degree previously. This means that to many of them, this is their first access to an affordable solid education which could get them a high paying job that is at par to their degreed counterparts and potentially move them out of poverty (A $616Million boost to these community in US when hired). Education access is opening up to these underrepresented low-income communities around the world which is fantastic! However, the tools to hire them after graduating have not catch up and are still looking for keywords of those prestigious insitutions. We researched and found a pattern from talking to these graduates who ultimately got a tech job was due to the hard work of attending numerous networking events and career fairs which helped them get the visibility they needed. Now with COVID, these events and career fairs are gone. This platform will be able to help them get the visibility back in order to realize their aspirations of breaking into tech in this post-COVID world.

Many smaller companies do not have the resources to create events or career fairs to access or fight for top talent from traditional insitutions. While they are missing out on an untapped network of large diverse pool of non-traditional underrepresented talents that is being filtered out due to how current platform works out there at the moment. While large companies with the resources spent a lot to create diversity and inclusion events just to funnel these candidates in. Imagine if we could help showcase these non-traditional candidates with better jobs and help companies discover them easilly with a platform. 

There are a lot of job marketplace out there but there is none that is focused on helping the bootcamp graduate niche which are growing exponentially. Recruitment have been a lucrative market and companies have been focusing on making the big bucks off those talent from traditional institution that they are missing out this growing talent group with traditional tools. Where others see the different non-traditional background as baggage that doesn't fit the usual mold, we see it as an asset especially with the growing trend on on-demand skill learning online. We use AI to better find and match how these non-traditional background would actually be an asset to companies for a better fit. This also eliminates the need for physical in-person networking events and career fairs which bootcamp graduates have been relying on prior to COVID which are no longer possible now with COVID.

We use AI to help better match these non-traditional candidates with diverse background which would be a better fit to companies which would see it as an asset.

Many companies are already using big data/machine learning to improve their processes and matches. This is also been used in recruitment for better matches. We are just using it for a different niche that is still underserved.

Activities: create a profile as a job-seeker

Output:Getting a job in tech

Short term: Save time from applying on numerous company websites/ platforms and from long agonizing job search 

Medium term: Reduce depression and anxiety from not hearing back from companies, build self confidence, more time to live life and spending time with friends and family than fighting the broken ATS bot

Long Term Outcomes: Better health, better economic outcome and societal impact especially those in low-income/poverty communities. As research shown from Course report, nearly half of the graduates do not have a degree, which means to many of them this is the first affordable real education they have that would make a difference and would give them a better job and life. As the report stated it helps salary increase of 128% of low-income student. With an average starting salary of $67,000 thats bringing in over $616Million dollars to these low-income communities a year alone if they were all to get jobs. With a yearly growth of 1.5x this would be more and more significant over the years. 

Number serving now: 1000

Number serving in one year: 2000

Five years: 200000

Bootcamp graduates is just a starting point which is underserved. once we proof this works, We will expand to other areas and a larger market which is already underway.

Financial: We already have a lot of interest from volunteers to want to help in this project as they resonates with its mission, we will hopefully be able to afford to turn these volunteers into full-time employees eventually. So we need connections to investors, mentors and fundraising help

Legal: we have no legal expertise on the team and will really need help there

Marketing and partnership: We need to get the word out and have strategic partners.

Its a chicken and egg problem. As a marketplace we need to solve both the supply(candidates) and the demand(jobs) side.  Currently we have been approached by bootcamps and institutions on the severity of the problem they are facing and are partnering with them to have their graduates on our platform. We plan to partner with many other institutions across the nation and also with companies which especially those who are into diversity and inclusion.

Fulltime: 2

Part-time Volunteers: 20

We practice what we preach, many of us experience this problem ourselves as bootcamp graduates so we know the pain of it well. The founder is a serial social impact entrepreneur that has spent many years in the recruitment space himself and identified the problem personally throughout the years from the numerous people he interviewed and researched. With mentors and advisors who had decades of experience in the space and numerous exits in recruitment. 

Several bootcamps and institutions like Hackbright, HackReactor, COOP, kickstart coding and several more in the process.

We charge a 15% of first year salary of a successful hire to hiring companies. This is a pretty standard and proven model in the recruitment world.

We plan on raising investment capital to help speed and jumpstart our first year of operations. Once we are fully operational, we should be able to  generate enough revenue from the services we provide to companies and be profitable. Take Vettery.com(one of the competitor in a different niche which was acquired for $100mil)as an example, we are folowing their path very similarly.

• Funding and resources
• Access to network of mentors and advisors
• Access to peers, partners and experts
• Help getting the product out to the community

Partners in helping to get the word out and marketing

Connection to funders, advisors and legal help

Connections to partners like institution who need their graduates hired

Connection to organizations who are looking to hire diverse non-traditional talents

• Connections to partners like institution who need their graduates hired
• bootcamps in the network
• Startups and organization looking to hire talents
• Other solve members looking to recruit
• Access to MIT faculty as mentors and advisors

https://www.coursereport.com/reports/coding-bootcamp-job-placement-2018

As research on course report shown above. Bootcamp have a much higher percentage of women at 34% than traditional CS degree which is at only 19%. We are helping this group of people get jobs in tech and hence increases their representation in tech  

We are basically building the access to these well-paying jobs by helping them get showcased to these jobs in tech by leveling the playing field with our platform. We are the last piece of the puzzle to see their return of investment after these working adults spent all their investment learning the new skills.

We are the last piece of the puzzle to see their return of investment after these adults spent all their investment upskiling themselves. We advance the inclusive economic growth by helping them get the jobs by showcasing them to these jobs in tech by leveling the playing field with our platform. 

We use AI/machine learning as our main component in our matching algorithm by analyzing the data of the background of candidates that make these non-traditional diverse candidates stand out from their traditional degreed counterpart.

Bootcamp and online skill learning like growing exponentially as research have shown and this number have jumped exponentially with the Pandemic worldwide. The millions of people who are being educated now will need to eventually put what they learn to good use. We will need a way and a platform dedicated to showcase these diverse non-traditional talents to employers.