Switch was a mobile-only job-matching app that connected candidates directly to hiring managers. Candidates could upload their resumes and connect their social and professional media profiles, but remain anonymous while searching.
Users received a daily set of job recommendations that fit their backgrounds and salary criteria, and swipe right to apply. Employers post many jobs on Switch directly, which eliminates the need for third-party job boards and recruiters, and connects job seekers to hiring managers. Switch reveals a candidate’s identity to one employer at a time, only after the candidate matches with that employer. When candidates and employers match, they can chat within the app. Switch is available for iOS, with an Android version in development.
History
Founding
Yarden Tadmor founded Switch in New York City in January 2014. For the first 10 months, Tadmor funded the company himself. By December 2014, Switch had raised $1.4 million in funding from venture capitals firms
Metamorphic Ventures
Compound (formerly known as Metamorphic Ventures) is a New York-based seed fund that invests in startup and early-stage technology companies. In March 2014, the company announced a new fund with close to $70 million. It also added Google vice pres ...
, SG VC, BAM and Rhodium. Tadmor's inspiration for Switch came after being frustrated by his experience both as a job seeker, and also as a supervisor hiring at numerous technology startup companies.
Tadmor has said of Switch, “We operate on the five-second resume principle, which is usually the amount of time a recruiter spends on a resume. They scan through the typical data points and move on.”
Switch was designed for passive job seekers to browse openings discreetly and connect quickly. Originally, Switch served only the New York metro area technology sector while in early beta, but Tadmor always intended to expand into national coverage. Soon, the company started including all major metropolitan markets across the U.S. In May 2015, Switch announced it would start sourcing tech and media jobs from all the job boards available online. Later in 2015, Switch began to post jobs in smaller urban areas. The company also expanded industries and jobs to include restaurant staff, retail sales, healthcare, nursing and education.
Tadmor subsequently founde
Livekick a one-on-one private fitness and yoga instruction company, based in New York.
Operation
In May 2015, Switch reported generating over 400,000 job applications. The company said that nine of the 50 largest websites in the U.S. were using the service. It had grown its customer base to thousands of companies in a few months from launch including
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
,
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
,
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
,
IBM,
Yahoo!
Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Man ...
,
eBay
eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...
,
DropBox
Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by the American company Dropbox, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, U.S. that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and Client (computing), client software. Dropb ...
,
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...
, and
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...
. John Cline, software development manager at eBay, told ABC’s
Good Morning America
''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...
that Switch is now his “main way of finding new prospective employees.”
Switch uses a double opt-in technique, meaning job seekers and employers must both say yes before moving forward. They also use swiping technology and intelligent matching algorithms to connect job seekers and employers. The user experience is different for each group, but the major attraction for both sides is the speed at which they can be connected.
Features
* Swipe is a major aspect of the Switch user experience. Job seekers swipe to apply to jobs, or left to pass on positions. Employers respond and swipe right to reciprocate interest, or left to eliminate the candidate.
* Direct connection between job seekers and employers allows hiring managers and job seekers to start an immediate conversation. Hiring managers can message with job seekers within the app, and both parties can quickly vet one another and decide whether to move forward.
* Easy profile creation from social media and in-app profile editing helps job seekers focus on finding a job.
Users
* Job Seekers can either load their profile manually or pull in professional credentials from social media. They can post validated photos on their Facebook account. Switch’s matching algorithm analyzes the job seeker’s location, experience, and skills to bring them jobs they may be interested in. Job seekers swipe to apply and, if the employer shows interest too, only then does Switch’s system reveal the job seeker’s identity to the corporate recruiter or hiring manager. The job seeker and hiring manager can then chat through the app.
* Employers behave similarly to job seekers. Hiring managers or corporate recruiters sign up online, add open positions, then view Switch-recommended candidates or wait for job seekers to swipe right. Employers can select relevant job seekers by swiping right on their profiles, then chat directly in the app.
Subscriptions
The app is currently free for users and employers.
Company overview
Financials
Switch closed out its seed round in May 2015 with $2 million in seed round funding. Investors include Marker VC, Metamorphic, Rhodium,
500 Startups
500 Global (previously 500 Startups) is an early-stage venture fund and seed accelerator founded in 2010 by Dave McClure and Christine Tsai. The fund admitted a first "class" of twelve startups to its incubator office in Mountain View, California ...
, BAM, SG VC and Marcel Legrand. In a July 2015 interview with Tadmor, he claimed that Switch had raised $2.4 million to date.
Reception
Thanks to its swipe technology and double opt-in make-up, the media often refers to Switch as the
Tinder
Tinder is easily combustible material used to start a fire. Tinder is a finely divided, open material which will begin to glow under a shower of sparks. Air is gently wafted over the glowing tinder until it bursts into flame. The flaming tinder i ...
for jobs. Switch has received features in lists and app reviews as an effective tool to improve your digital job search, particularly on the mobile platform.
“It’s minimal effort to connect with relevant matches,” said Good Morning America workplace contributor Tory Johnson. “Which is what everybody wants to find.”
References
{{Reflist
Application software
Professional networks
Companies based in New York (state)