RiseSmart, a $100K+ job site and HR services provider, has announced that it has secured $3 million in
Series A financing from Norwest Venture Partners (NVP).
The company was founded in February 2007 and received $1.5 million in seed funding across 2007.
Sanjay Sathe, CEO of RiseSmart, said that while traditional job boards are struggling, RiseSmart is seeing success because their model is built around the job seeker.
“The biggest problem for jobseekers is that finding the right job using job boards is extremely time-consuming and inefficient.,” Sathe said. “It’s like searching for a needle in a haystack. This is the problem RiseSmart was created to solve.”
RiseSmart’s Job Concierge identifies and screens job openings for $100K+ job seekers. For corporations, they offer RiseSmart Transition Concierge, which bundles their Job Concierge service with resume preparation and other transition management services to assist a corporation’s laid-off workers.
Sathe said, “We believe our RiseSmart Transition Concierge service will be a winner in this environment, since we are able to deliver results-oriented outplacement at a fraction of the cost of the big-name transition management firms. We call RiseSmart Transition Concierge ‘Outplacement 2.0′ for this reason; it’s a disruptive innovation in a marketplace that has been paying too much for outplacement services for too long.”
Sathe also said they have many plans after this infusion of funds.
“We’ve already built a strong technology foundation, so our biggest focus will be on marketing: getting the word out to $100K+ jobseekers about RiseSmart’s services, adding veteran sales personnel to build market share for our outplacement offering, and so forth. Then, as we grow, it will be important to scale operations to ensure we continue to provide customers the high-touch service we promise.”
Sathe noted that RiseSmart has enjoyed a 15 to 20 percent increase in monthly signups over the past three months and said that more job seekers are turning to his site over competitors like TheLadders because it cuts back on their time spent on the Web.
“TheLadders is just like other job boards, the Monsters and CareerBuilders. It’s a self-search site; you have to find jobs yourself. It’s also built around companies listing jobs, and there are only about 70,000 jobs listed on the site. So people who use TheLadders typically must visit four or five other job boards to make sure they’re not missing out on something.”
In addition to the funding, RiseSmart also announced that NVP general partner Venkat Mohan has joined the company’s board of directors.
Popularity: 10% [?]
December 9th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Good timing for the outplacement product with all the layoffs and downsizing that’s happening.
December 9th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
What does this job board do that any other doesn’t? This site uses all of the same buzz words as other job boards. “finding a job is like a needle in a haystack” blah blah blah
For job seekers, The Ladders has a fee. Risesmart has a fee.
Risesmart has it’s “RiseSmart Concierge”. The Ladders has “RecruitLadder”.
In this economy are candidates really going to shell out the money to post their resume and search for outdated and duplicate job postings?
I guess the idea of getting a 100K+ job lures the multitude of unemployed executives out there who really believe that companies are going to drop 100K on a new employee when most executives are being asked to take a pay cut.
I just don’t get it.
December 9th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I know one difference is cost. I found coupon code RSHM5008 online and got the RiseSmart deal for $20. They also claim to have access to 1 million six-figure jobs, more than The Ladders. Aside from that, not much difference, but I’m a week in and am enjoying the extra time to network, interview (and travel).
December 9th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
How ironic is this in light of the massive slashing at CareerBuilder just one day earlier? What’s going on? Is it a matter of better networking and lower overhead costs?
December 10th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Thank you Jesus! A secret stash of over 1 million 6-figure jobs! All just $20 away! (if I use ’secret’ code RSHM5008!)
December 10th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Love all of the “real” postings with the “secret” code to get a discount on signing up. Hey Risesmart marketing intern, we know you are posting here posing as a “job seeker” to get that coupon code out on the web and profess how much time using the site is saving you. Old trick..
When it comes down to it, Risesmart is just another Ladders clone – plain and simple. People love to rag on Monster and CareerBuilder, but unless you are a complete moron, it is super-easy to find $100k+ jobs on the major job boards. They all have the ability to query by salary ranges.
December 10th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Hey, I really DID use the coupon code! Otherwise, RiseSmart is $10 more than The Ladders! And either option is cheaper than a career coach, with a lot of the same advice/services.
December 19th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
This just came to my attention and I wanted to set the record straight. Thanks to Vanessa and Cheezhead for this coverage. RiseSmart is different because a real person helps members revamp their resume and look for higher-paying jobs in more places. RiseSmart team members look on job boards, corporate hr sites, employment blogs and RiseSmart’s own stable of corporate recruiting clients to find and e-mail members the jobs best-suited for them. To find jobs, you check your e-mail instead of 10 different web sites.
Six-figure jobs may be a bit harder to come by now, depending on the industry, but not impossible. And it’s true that you can do this Internet searching yourself, but outsourcing the work saves time. Then you can network in person more while still accessing RiseSmart’s corporate recruiting clients and all other opportunities listed in all the nooks and crannies of the Internet.
So that’s what we’re all about, and as for the coupon code, it’s out there, not secret. I’ve been promoting it, though not on blogs, but thanks Paulette! While we’re on the topic, we also offer the standard free trial period. Happy job hunting to all!
-Hayli @ RiseSmart