Everybody knows that talent is everywhere but opportunity isn’t. Can’t we just fix it already? Our investment in RippleMatch
Today, we are thrilled to announce our investment in RippleMatch, the early career recruiting platform, that has the opportunity to drive workplace diversity and economic mobility for an entire generation.
The data is beyond obvious that diverse teams perform better and where you went to college has little-to-no impact on job performance. However, the current resume and job fair system completely fails to accomplish the goal to hire more diverse skills-based teams. Creating a diverse employee base with the right skills takes work to achieve and many early career recruiters are limited by the number of colleges they can physically visit.
RippleMatch solves these problems and more. RippleMatch’s platform allows college students and soon-to-be graduates to create a profile based on their values, motivations, and skills rather than past jobs. It provides exposure to opportunity beyond the recruiters that come to their job fairs and suggests jobs and companies that they may have never known about otherwise. The platform also allows recruiters to broaden their reach and meet candidates at more colleges than they could ever visit while also enabling them to build and nurture recruiting pipelines that better represent the underlying demographics of the US.
At Renegade, we talk about investing in movements. Companies that have the ability to become verbs. There are three hallmarks that all movements possess:
Attacking a market at a tipping point. Our current cultural and business climate are screaming for RippleMatch. How do we increase economic mobility and boost the earning potential of a broader range of college graduates? How do companies build a diverse workforce with the tangible skills and shared values to excel? COVID has not only exacerbated these issues but has also created an incredible opportunity for this generation of college graduates. Many companies have discovered the advantages of remote or hybrid workforces, and this will survive far beyond herd immunity. RippleMatch recruiters have an edge in this new world with the ability to recruit virtually and gain access to a much broader candidate pool, not just who is local or has the ability to relocate. But don’t take it from me, ask the recruiters that love the product, like Alicia Roebuck at NielsenIQ:
“Diversity and Inclusion are essential to our work at NielsenIQ. Having RippleMatch as an "always on solution" where diverse, university candidates are consistently seeking open opportunities, has further enabled our teams to quickly hire interns and full time associates with different backgrounds, across a variety of colleges. We look forward to continuing to work together to bring more top, diverse talent to NielsenIQ."
Building a compounding advantage. While RippleMatch is currently focused on college students and graduates looking for internships and first jobs, these candidates will spend the next 30 to 40 years in the workforce and change jobs many, many times. College educated 45 to 53 year olds have changed jobs 12.4 times in their lives on average; college educated 18-24 year olds are already at 6.4 times! RippleMatch has the opportunity to be the trusted partner for these candidates throughout their careers, not only their first jobs.
Purpose-driven. RippleMatch’s founders, Andrew Myers and Eric Ho, met and started the company when they were in college! In fact, Andrew dropped out to grow RippleMatch! They understood the issues of being an early career job candidate personally and were embedded in their user base. They bring unique insight, nuance, and empathy to create an experience that incumbent platforms can’t match.
We are thrilled to partner with Andrew, Eric, the entire RippleMatch team, and Work-Bench’s Jessica Lin, who is joining the board. We believe that not only will RippleMatch create a giant business, but they will impact the opportunities and career trajectories of an entire generation.
Want to be part of this massive opportunity? RippleMatch is hiring! Key roles include Head of Finance and Head of Growth. To learn more, visit ripplematch.com/careers.