Unrabble

From June to October of 2010 I worked on a really interesting project that a whole new spin on the hiring process: Unrabble. What made this so interesting was the way it automated the hiring process to cut down on the time spent shifting through a ream of resumes. In a way, it’s like the ‘iTunes of job boards’ as it ranks candidates based on skills that the hiring manager decides are most valuable — so if you’re looking for that mysql admin with java skills and cobol experience, that applicant would be pinned to the top of the heap.

It also incorporates google searches and social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn directly in the hiring process as applicants’ experience and information would be right there for the hiring manager to see. Along with a great visual timeline of experiences is what they call ‘Brags’ — little boasts about achievements (i.e. “I singlehandedly brought in 3 million of revenue to my company”) — the candidate can ask colleagues to confirm as true and verified bring a whole level of micro-referencing to the application process. It’s quite brilliant actually.

Even at the onset of the application process from the applicant’s perspective Unrabble asks all those questions that aren’t *directly* part of a job but have a huge bearing on a company culture — if they prefer to work in large vs smaller companies, or what they’re passions lie.

Much like iTunes the hiring manager can continually rate an applicant through questions and interactions, changing needs of the job, sharing an applicant’s information with a colleague or finally through meeting. The best candidate will always bubble up to the top.

The interest in Unrabble has been hot; along with being named one of the hottest startups at DEMO Fall 2011, the Next Web named it as one of their favorite startups. It’s also been featured in the Financial Times, Venture Beat and Portfolio — you can read more about these at Unrabble’s blog.

Here’s Kevin Watson speaking at DEMO Fall 2011: