Job hunting is a struggle by any measure. Entering the same information into apps over and over again, even more so. It feels like a process that’s ripe for a digital update, too Simplifyan early-stage startup is trying to do this by combining questionnaires, task scraping, task matching, autocomplete apps, and text-based question answering assistance into one program.
Today, the W21 YC grades are announcing a $3 million seed round as they continue to work with applicants and employers to try to build a business model around the idea.
The company’s CEO and co-founder Michael Yan says it’s long overdue to start applying for jobs smarter than we usually do today. “People spend dozens of hours scrolling through job boards, finding opportunities and often submitting hundreds of repeat applications. So what do we do? At Simplify we’re building what we like to call an ‘always on AI career practitioner,’” Yan told TechCrunch.
He likens it to a Hollywood agent, who understands your career, background and skills and salary requirements and helps you find the right match. You can take a quiz to help the algorithms understand your skill set. It probably works best for people with a technical background with a specific skill set like programming languages and programming tools.
You can also set preferences such as work/life balance, diversity or innovative technology, among others. Plus, you can set your salary expectations and the software finds jobs that match your answers. The company also offers a more detailed resume builder application on the site.
But it doesn’t stop at finding you potential jobs, it helps you fill out applications by auto-filling the most common information, the kind you have to fill in over and over again with the same information, and it’s easily handled by automation. The company is deliberately establishing itself as a separate tool from LinkedIn, which Yan says should make it more private because no one sees your information except potential employers.
As for job listings, it presents you with a set of matches pulled from the web that match your skills and requirements, or you can download the Simplify Copilot Chrome extension and apply for jobs automatically as you find them in job search tools other than Simplify. The Copilot tool can also help you answer questions in the app based on your background and skills.
The co-founders came up with the idea for Simplify a few years ago when they were in college, applying to hundreds of jobs and filling out the same information over and over again. They thought there had to be a better way and launched Simplify in 2021, joining the Y Combinator Winter 2021 team.
Today the company employs approximately 10 employees. It’s remote for now, but Yan said that could change in the near future. As a recruiter, she sees diversity as especially important for a company like hers, where bias could easily creep into a job search. “If you have a product designed by all men in a small room with all similar backgrounds, it’s probably only going to serve those men with that same background,” he said.
For now, the company has the runway to test the concept, but is still experimenting with monetization methods. Today’s $3M seed was led by Craft Ventures with help from YC, Hyphen Capital, GFC and several industry angels.
