At the National Achievers Congress 2015 in Sydney this Week, Richard Branson said entrepreneurship was about “creating something that makes a difference to peoples lives” and that if there is something to be frustrated about in the market, entrepreneurs ask whether they can “bring some competition and shake it up.”
For company secretary, Carolyne Burns and psychologist, Glyn Brokensha, these sentiments would certainly ring true.
As far back as 1996, Carolyne employed a survey created by Glyn to identify and recruit staff with the ‘right attitudes’ and ‘fit’. Impressing senior management with the results, Carolyne and Glyn collaborated to convert the survey into a web form for the business.
“I immediately saw the benefits for growing businesses and believed in the superior efficacy of the survey for staff selection,” said Carolyne.
Having made a difference to one business, the partnership sought to share the concept with the recruitment industry, but it wasn’t that easy.
“I approached recruitment firms to no avail as the technology proved too disruptive to their processes and fee model,” said Carolyne.
Frustrated as they no doubt would have been, Carolyne and Glyn decided to bring the competition to the market themselves and indeed, shake it up.
Carolyne said “I decided to sell everything and invest in Expr3ss!, taking it directly to businesses.”
Blending psychology with algorithms, Expr3ss! software delivers a process where clients can recruit on ‘fit’ rather than skills alone. Understanding the difference between the person ‘on paper’ and the person ‘in person’, Expr3ss! ensures that businesses are better placed to hire staff they are more likely to retain and who are more likely to succeed.
The software allows HR teams to cut down the time spent reading multiple CVs by filtering applications based on attitudes and cultural fits specific to the business.
Since approaching businesses directly in 2012, Expr3ss! now has 4,500 users and has grown from a company of 2 people to 11. Year-on-year revenue growth is currently 34 per cent.
“Some of our customers include Ray White, Krispy Kreme, Beaumont Tiles, Kennard’s Hire and Nick Scali to name a few. These customers have seen a huge impact in retention rates, for example Beaumont Tiles have cut staff turnover from 20 per cent to 2.5 per cent in the last five years,” said Carolyne.
With a ROI of 300-400% in an almost limitless market, Expr3ss! pledges to ride the wave of new technologies to continually innovate the selection and recruitment process for business.
Is there moral to this story? Carolyne and Glyn have a product that works, yet the industry didn’t welcome it with open arms. Often, the market doesn’t want it – because it works. So what do you do? Go on in and disrupt it.
