Newcastle-based Haystack has brought together more than 30,000 techies and companies. We spoke to Chris Bone, the company’s co-founder, for an episode of Recruitment Technology Founders (RTFounders).
‘A safe-space for techies’
When a shortage of talent is discussed in any way, shape, or form — the tech sector usually isn’t too far behind in the discussion. In other words: techies have been tough to find. With Haystack, Newcastle-based Chris Bone wants to serve as a safe-space for techies who may be interested in a new job, but aren’t keen on getting spammed by recruiters. “From the candidates’ side, it was all about how they were being approached”, Bone told Recruitment Tech.
“I think they have been turned off looking for alternative work because the process of looking for that work is so painful.”
It would be easy to dismiss the issue of tech scarcity as just that: scarcity. According to Bone, there are deeper underlying issues with the way developers and data scientists have traditionally been approached for jobs. “I think they have been turned off looking for alternative work because the process of looking for that work is so painful”, Bone said. “And I know this because I’ve had these conversations as part of problem surveys or as part of user feedback.”
“From the outside looking in, that was incredibly frustrating for me to look at. You’ve got people who were in maybe six out of ten jobs or six out of ten companies, and you had the skills to move on and move up into an eight out of ten job with a ten out of ten company. But they’ve been turned off looking for a new job because of the way they’ve been approached by the actual market. Then there are also just techies who turn their back on it, and think it’s just not worth the hassle. I’ll just stay where I am.”
Meeting in the middle with Haystack‘
So what Bone, alongside co-founders and software developers Mike Davies and Rob Simmons set out to do, is build a product that would serve as the safe-space for techies. “It was all about them”, Bone added. “We wanted to give them what they felt was missing, which was this ability to explore the tech landscape as they view it. It’s a tech insight and careers marketplace built by a team that knows techies are the ones in the driving seat. A TripAdvisor style product, to be able to only hear and see companies that are relevant to them.”
“Candidates and companies were passing each other, but there was no way for them really to meet in the middle in a fun and interesting way.”
On the employer side of things, Bone noticed companies were simply struggling to get candidates to interview. “And that’s an issue of discovery”, Bone said. “So in the same way that candidates were looking for these types of companies, companies were looking for those types of candidates. But they were passing each other, there was no way for them really to meet in the middle in a fun and interesting way. I think the whole process had become a bit of a slog, and often described to me as ‘necessary evil’. And I think once you hear that phrase, it may be time for some disruption. So that’s what we’ve tried to achieve with Haystack.”
‘I met some of the brightest minds in recruitment’
While Haystack is built predominantly with techies in mind, Bone knows what it’s like to be on the other side. “Prior to Haystack, my background was entirely in recruitment agencies”, Bone told Recruitment Tech. “So I worked for big players like Michael Page and Nigel Wright did a lot of international recruitment. So I worked in France and Switzerland for around five years and opened offices in those regions. The companies I worked for and the vast majority of people wanted to do the right thing by their candidates. I met some of the brightest, sharpest minds that I’ve met in my life in working in those companies. So when people now tell me I’ve got it in for recruitment agencies by building a product like Haystack — I get quite defensive about it. Because I’ve experienced the other side”, Bone said.
3000 new users every month
While the company was initially founded in 2020, just before COVID, the company has seen tremendous growth in little time. “We’ve seen a real spike in user numbers”, Bone said. Right now, we’ve got over 30,000 techies on there, spread across five main job families: software engineers, dev-ops engineers, data scientists and analysts, QA Testers and UX/UI product designers. We’ve gone from attracting a thousand new users every month at the start of the year to closer to 3000 a month now.”
A pivot in outreach
But as the company grew in terms of its total number of users, Bone noticed something among them. “What we saw when we looked at user activity was that there were a lot of people who used Haystack quite a bit in the first two to four weeks and then stopped using the product. We wanted to find out why. So instead of assuming, we actually went and spoke to the users. And we had a couple of hypotheses in mind that maybe they found a job through the app, which would obviously be good. And the bad scenario would be that they just didn’t like the app.”
“Candidates thought that because they were visible, companies would reach out — because that’s what they were used to.”
“It turned out to be neither”, Bone said. “In the vast majority of cases people said to us: ‘Well, we really like using the app. But ultimately, we were on three or four weeks, and we never heard from any companies.’ So we were well: ‘You haven’t taken any actions in terms of applying for a job or joining a talent pool. So you’re not going to hear from companies because you make the first move the power’s in your hands.’ They thought they were visible, but they weren’t. They were expecting companies to reach out but they couldn’t. That’s what they were used to and actually what they wanted.”
So Haystack pivoted. Rather than everyone retaining anonymity, they gave users the option to be available for offers — while remaining hidden from their current employer. “Now about 40% of people are making themselves visible. And if you’d asked me a year ago, I wouldn’t have believed you. It turns out that half of them really do value Haystack being a safe space, but similarly, half of them, if it’s done correctly and the outreach is coming directly from the employee, they’re happy to receive offers from employers. That was a bit of a surprise to us and not part of our original plan at all really.”
On the roadmap: ATS integrations and a web app
So far, Haystack has only worked as a mobile-first application. But that won’t be the case for much longer, Bone said. “But we’ve found that there can still be a little bit of reluctance to apply for a job on a phone. So we’ve asked our users and the common consensus is: please could you build a website as well? So we’re building a web app at the moment, and that’s scheduled for release at the end of November.”
“If you’ve spent a lot of time and money to get an ATS in place, they don’t want this standalone system.”
“Then there’s ATS integrations, something bigger companies have been asking for for a while. Because of time and resources, we haven’t made it a priority — but I get it. If you’ve spent a lot of time and money to get an ATS in place, they don’t want this standalone system. So we will probably start with the best-known ones, the Breezy’s and Greenhouse’s of this world.”
‘Chase the vision, not the money’
Earlier in 2022, Bone and Haystack secured a £500k investment, which brought the total raised by the company up to £1.5m. With it, the company has its eyes set on the US market. “We’d like to be overseas”, Bone said. “I think Haystack would go very well in America. All of our customers are based in the in the UK now. So there’s clearly a big market in Europe this year. The same problems exist in the EU, and in the US just on a much bigger scale.”
“Maybe I’m a bit romantic, but I would like to think that a lot of the people who started on the journey with us can see it right through.”
But I think for us — it’s all about a simple mantra: chase the vision, not the money. And that vision is to solve this problem, which enables tech professionals to find the best work for them, and for them to be fulfilled in their work. So if I had to look down the line, in twenty years from now, I hope we’ll have achieved that vision. And achieve our mission to give great career development opportunities for people who are here as part of our group at Haystack. Maybe I’m a bit romantic, but I would like to think that a lot of the people who started on the journey with us can see it right through.”