The Recruitment Tech Founders Stories podcast is back. In this episode, host Jasper Spanjaart talks to Thijs Visser, co-founder of referral software provider Cruit. Listen to the podcast at the bottom of the article or watch the video.
The basement phase
With start-ups fits an idyllic image of struggling, coffee-soaked founders, busy filling up the entire garage with sticky notes. That image goes reasonably well with the founders of Cruit, an Amsterdam-based start-up that specialises in providing referral software. “But I unfortunately just missed the basement phase,” laughs Thijs Visser, one of the co-founders.
“The four of us founded Cruit,” Visser explains in an episode of Recruitment Technology Founders Stories (RTFounders). “The others [Yuri Sturkenboom, Steye Kaersenhout & Zenno Bruinsma, ed], previously worked together on Otellu, a job board. Cruit is actually a spinoff, born out of an issue from a client who literally asked the question: why isn’t there actually an app from which my employees can promote job vacancies?”
Referrals in an app
Meanwhile, the start-up has traded in its basement for a nice office building in downtown Amsterdam. “What we actually do is realise the true potential of referrals in a cheap, fast and efficient way,” explains Visser, who himself was involved in several tech startups: Kinly, ZIVVER and Wasteless. “Referrals are often still set up sub-optimally, while it is one of the most important recruitment sources.”
“We have built a fully integrated app that truly engages employees in the organisation’s HR and recruitment issues. Our app allows employees to easily share job postings via WhatsApp or LinkedIn – earning the employee credits. They can then redeem those credits a fully customisable shop, with products or cash rewards.”
Impact on retention as well as throughput
One of the big success stories is Crisp, the online supermarket. “They have a very nice story and you can see that our app only provides the sense of belonging. Under the guise: we help the business grow together. But actively promoting vacancies not only affects the employee’s wallet, it also helps improve staff engagement.”
The self-apply button: “We saw that even within the current workforce there were people who were eager for a new position.”
So Cruit was compelled, due to requests from the market, to also add a ‘self apply’ button to the app. “We saw that even within the current workforce there were people who were eager for a new position. Of course, that’s great: if you can ensure throughput and retention that way.”
The AirBnB of referrals
For the future, Visser has sky-high ambitions with Cruit. “We believe we can make a major contribution to in-house issues around retention and referrals. But we also see opportunities to throw the app open to people from outside, to promote job vacancies in networks that way.”
“Our hope is that the world will use the Cruit app in the same way people use AirBnB, but to do referrals.”
This is why the start-up decided to make the Cruit app accessible to everyone. “Our hope is that the world will use our app in the same way people use AirBnB, but to do referrals. So that even if you don’t work for a company, but you believe in the company, that you can earn a reward when you share the jobs.”
Listen to the episode
In Recruitment Tech Founder Stories (RTFounders), we speak to founders of recruitment technology start-ups across Europe. What drives them? How and why did they come up with their solution? Listen to the full interview with Thijs Visser.
