Magnet.me, the online career network for students, marked its fifth anniversary in style this month. Achieving record success in numbers but, more critically, driving change in the stagnant graduate recruitment process.
Growth over the past six months, when Magnet.me announced raising €1m in an investment round, has been quite significant. The number of students registering on the platform has increased more than 43% (from 70,674 to 101,072) and the number of businesses posting jobs has increased 25% (from 1,009 to 1,257) in the brief period between February 2017 to July 2017.
Magnet.me opened the platform to UK students in 2015 which has rallied growth. Over half the students (52,871) are from the UK and almost a fifth of the businesses (223) listed are from the UK including Rothschild, Vodafone and Unilever. In 2016, Magnet.me was decorated with the Best New Entrant Award by the UK Government, Department of International Trade.
The Rotterdam-based start-up connects students with potential employers using intricate algorithms. Magnet.me launched in 2012 when the founders, applying for graduate roles themselves, were stuck and frustrated. They were faced with poorly functioning job sites which only listed companies with huge recruitment budgets, aggressive recruitment agencies and a long list of careers fairs.
In launching Magnet.me, the aim was to break away from the traditional means for students in applying for work (in most cases for the first time in their lives) and for businesses in sourcing the best talent. Over the past 5 years, more than 2.5m connections between students and prospective employers have been established with 78% of students invited to an interview and 58% securing a role.
In managing recruitment costs, we believe that firms will move away from traditional, expensive and arduous recruitment channels opting for smarter solutions such as Magnet.me.
Vincent Karremans, founder of Magnet.me commented: “It’s been a whirlwind journey over the past five years and it’s amazing to celebrate this landmark with such remarkable success.”
“The funding round earlier this year certainly helped. We experimented with diverse ways of raising awareness to both students and businesses. The response has been overwhelming and we’re thoroughly excited to be supporting more students and employers navigate each other to create the best experiences”
“Participation from students and businesses in the UK has been significant. Anecdotal feedback suggests that this in part an impact of Brexit but also a broader trend among UK students to branch out of the UK for work.”
“There are clouds of uncertainty about what the UK will look like after Brexit, but Magnet.me stands to benefit in both positive and negative outlook scenarios. Businesses will take prudent measures and examine their cost bases. In managing recruitment costs, we believe that firms will move away from traditional, expensive and arduous recruitment channels opting for smarter solutions such as Magnet.me. We have observed this trend, first-hand, in the Netherlands launching in 2012 in the midst of an economic crisis.”
Vincent Karremans adds: “Students are only exposed to a handful of potential employers via the traditional recruitment channels. They have no idea which companies are interested in them and are forced to navigate through careers fairs, generic job sites, and face being bombarded with generic emails from the companies that have the budget to pay for them. We have set out to change this by turning the whole process on its head and so it revolves around the student, instead of the company.”