Paavo Heil is on a mission to make recruiters happy with his start-up, Estonia-based RecruitLab. We spoke to Heil for an episode of Recruitment Tech Founder Stories (RTFounders).
‘We didn’t find any suitable solution for our own needs’
For more than twelve years Paavo Heil has had a background in recruitment — but for him, it all started on the other side. “I was managing different companies and also doing marketing and sales. My recent experience from the recruitment field comes from my time in managing one of the Baltic states’ biggest job boards: CV Market Group. Then, along with Marie Evart, I founded an employer branding agency called Brandem.”
“We found that when we ran a recruitment agency, the search process largely relied on recruitment marketing activities.”
As Brandem looked for a recruitment software solution for its own use, it became clear what was missing. “I personally looked through twenty or more solutions, and we didn’t find any suitable solution that fit our needs. So perhaps this is how start-ups are often born, but it was primarily born because we didn’t find a solution for us. I think by now we’ve gotten used to the fact that you need to market your jobs, but if you go back ten years, you just posted a job ad, and the candidates came in. We found that when we ran a recruitment agency, the search process largely relied on recruitment marketing activities.”
“Recruitment software is generally high-priced, with a long learning curve. So instead we just kept testing marketing tools.”
Heil initially continued to look for a recruitment tool, however he was just not able to track down what he and his team longed for. “They’re generally high-priced, with a long learning curve. So instead we just kept testing marketing tools. We saw a huge problem with social media advertising. Everyone knows how to share a post, of course, but when it comes down to buying and running an ad campaign on Facebook — recruiters generally don’t understand it. Because it’s difficult.”
From Paint to test-link in three weeks
The idea for RecruitLab first really began to take shape in January 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic shook up the way the world behaved — and indeed recruited. As Heil and RecruitLab finally decided on a supplier for its recruitment software, he and his team quickly grew frustrated by its implementing issues. “We were really not happy with it”, he said. “So much so that finally I wrote to my former technical colleague Karl-Sander Erss, who was on vacation, but luckily had time.”
“I think we were really lucky to have a technically talented co-founder like Karl that we could lean upon.”
Heil send over an interface drawn in paint with a simple question: can you do something like this? “Three weeks later, Karl sent me a link to try out. And that turned out to be the basis for RecruitLab. “The video-interviewing tools followed about half a year later. We started using it in our own agency, and gave it to bigger organisations to test out and get feedback and develop it further. So I think we were really lucky to have a technically talented co-founder like Karl that we could lean upon.”
An affordable, all-in-one platform
RecruitLab prides itself on being an all-in-one recruitment software, with recruitment marketing tools and all sort of media recruitment tools that are needed for contemporary recruiters. “Everybody can say that their solution saves time, and that’s also true for RecruitLab”, Heil said. “But our main focus is quite simple. What we want to do is make recruiters happy. That’s our mission and why another recruitment software is needed in this world. When recruiters are happy, candidates are happy.”
“What we want to do is make recruiters happy. That’s our mission and why another recruitment software is needed in this world.”
In a recent press release wherein RecruitLab announced €1.9m seed round, the company announced it with a statement wherein it spoke of ‘arming SMEs with the tools that previously, only the big enterprises could afford’. “We want to create such a powerful tool that really enables you to optimise the recruitment process. There are such features that I haven’t found in any other low-priced tools, or within this segment of the market. We have actionable insights that can really boost a recruiter’s performance, along with easy-to-use interview-scheduling, and video-interviewing tools that are both easy to use and affordable.”
Making the world a better place for recruiters
While RecruitLab may not proclaim to be revolutionary in any way, behind its founder, Paavo Heil, shines a clear-cut mindset. “On a really high level, I’m just amazed that we have all these technical possibilities and options out there that help save time on routine things that can be automated. And so many people in the world don’t use them. If I could play some small part in changing that, particularly in the field of recruitment, I would be happy too.”
“I think it’s all about making the world a little bit better place for recruiters.”
“I don’t think that everyone would like to change the world, but I very much view it as my small part of making the world a happier and better place”, Heil concluded. “In this recruitment-related context, making more people happy. It may not sound that special, but I think it’s all about making the world a little bit better place for recruiters.”
Listen to the full interview
In Recruitment Technology Founder Stories (RTFounders) we speak to founders of recruitment technology start-ups throughout Europe. What drives them? How and why did they come up with their solution? Listen to the full interview with Paavo Heil:
