In late 2016, friends and entrepreneurs Adam Jacobs and Chaz Heitner spent a month hiking in the Himalayas with a specific goal. Impact-driven in life and seeking their next business opportunity, they hoped the time away would help them establish the sort of world they’d love to see in 100 years’ time, and what part they could play in realising it.
They are ambitious goals, but when you consider the founder experience they have between them – Adam co-founded The Iconic while Chaz co-founded Zip Co – you can’t help but sit up and listen.
Clearly the hike worked, as in 2017 they founded Hatch. An AI-powered digital jobs marketplace, Hatch works predominately with Gen Z to help them find meaningful work using a reimagined profile creation and search experience that is turning the jobs space on its head.
The Sydney-based tech company recently closed an oversubscribed $7 million seed round to scale its business, which already has a community of 150,000 candidates and more than 120 leading Australian companies using the site, including Qantas, News Corp, Domain, Hello Fresh, Nine and Woolworths.
Rather than a flat one-dimensional CV, Hatch creates a multi-media profile for job seekers that takes skills, values and motivations into account when recommending a role; while giving employers an opportunity to provide a more well-rounded view of their workplace and company culture.
“We’re really focusing on the candidate side of the marketplace. If you look at Seek, LinkedIn and other jobs boards they’re very employer-centric and we’re trying to build the best candidate experience possible,” says Chaz.
“And we’re looking to help people find work that aligns with their values and skills no matter what their background is, where they studied, their last job title or where they grew up,” adds Adam. “If you can help people find work that aligns with that they’re more likely to find arcs of meaningful work in their life.”
Hatch co-founders and entrepreneurs, Adam Jacobs (left), and Chaz Heitner.
They seem to know what they’re talking about. A 2023 Deloitte survey shows 39 per cent of Gen Z professionals have turned down job offers because the organisation isn’t a good values fit; while employers who have used Hatch rated more than 90 per cent of their hires as ‘high performers’, meaning the process of applying and hiring through Hatch is working for both sides.
Currently Gen Z-focussed in Sydney and Melbourne (Hatch plans to expand nationwide and accommodate older candidates too), Hatch recognises this generation is more values-driven, and that extends to their workplace. For a generation that has grown up not only as digital natives but social media natives, Gen Z also has very different expectations of a jobs board. Rather than respond to a newspaper or LinkedIn ad, they are far more comfortable with an interactive jobs board where they create a profile that gives them a chance to introduce themselves on video, talk about their values, show their skills in action and an example of past work. This more well-rounded view ensures they’re not overlooked based on CV biases.
But it’s not just aimed at job seekers. The employer seeking to fill vacancies can give candidates a better understanding of the workplace itself through creating a profile – not only of the company, but the teams the position will work with.
“Often it’s the specific team you’re joining that shapes your experience at work so you want to know a little about those people and their values,” says Adam, adding that once the company has created the profiles and posted the roles they will receive candidate matches they can then review, and provide feedback for the candidate. For employers it’s a paid service, while its free for candidates.
Alberts Impact Ventures joined lead investor Rampersand and other local venture funds, including private investor and former Australia Post boss, Ahmed Fahour, in the February raise.
Alberts CEO, David Albert, says the company was impressed by Hatch’s dedication to fostering equal opportunities for young workers.
“At Alberts, we’re focused on promoting equality and creating meaningful impact, and this aligns perfectly with how Hatch is reducing traditional bias and barriers in the hiring process by empowering diverse candidates to match with employers based on personal values, team fit and motivation,” David says.
In addition to a financial investment, Alberts aims to provide guidance on measuring impact in this employment platform, which promotes equality and diversity.
“We’re excited to partner with Alberts because since we started we’ve wanted to partner with an impact investor. We’re both second-time founders and our motivation for building Hatch is social change, so we felt an impact investor could help us stay focused on that goal, structure how we measure it and give us the guidance on that journey.”
