Danielle Weinblatt was tasked with helping out on a recruiting initiative when she was working in private equity. From that moment, she realized how painful the interview process was. Three minutes in, Weinblatt knew if she didn?t like a candidate. Yet, she?d be forced to sit there for a remaining 27 minutes anyway, because the interview was slated in a half-hour slot.
Weinblatt called Andrew Paradise, whom she?d met in Harvard Square while at Harvard Business School. At the time, Paradise was building AisleBuyer, which was acquired by Intuit back in April. He told Weinblatt he was tired of being on the phone screening candidates all the time, and she relayed her experiences to him, as well. They agreed video screening would be ideal.
Suddenly, a startup sparked.
Paradise had already tried getting Weinblatt to start a company with him months prior. She remembers him saying, ?You know, I?m a hacker, you?re a hustler. It would be a perfect pair.? So, when this dilemma presented itself, he knew they were onto something. ?We should call it ?Take the Interview,?? Paradise had said. ?People could just press this button.? And so, in the March of 2010, after Weinblatt and Paradise invested some capital, everything changed.
Take the Interview is now an online video interview software that allows employers to screen candidates, conduct job interviews online and reduce their costs per hire.
?I had no clue what I was doing or what it was going to become,? Weinblatt says. ?It was my pet project at HBS, yet somehow turned into this company with employees, a New York City office and investors.?
Since launching, Take the Interview has helped conduct about 16,000 interviews. The company started building a customer base in the tech industry, partnering with HR teams who want to reduce their screening time from 30 minutes to three, opening up the ability to screen even more candidates. When they see a candidate they do like, they can share the interview with senior-level management with the click of a button, making the decision process all the faster.
Take the Interview also boasts they can reduce a company?s cost by over 90 percent. ?A major company we work with in Boston has reduced their travel cost by 25 percent month by month,? Weinblatt says. No longer do companies need to fly applicants out for in-person interviews. The video component also makes HR more willing to set up interviews.
To Weinblatt, it made sense to partner with the startup, tech and software world first, because the company ?plays well into the millennial generation.? Those fields also understand the importance technology can play in automating processes. Since launching, Take the Interview has started partnering with hospitals, as well, who not only have the budget for the service, but are looking for younger people to take on administrative roles.
Weinblatt admits their current goal is to increase the number of companies they work with and improve the service for those companies. She?s quick to say they won?t lose their focus, though. Weinblatt referenced a conversation she had with investor and serial entrepreneur Bill Warner. She asked, ?Why do you think big startups fail?? His response was, ?Trying to do too many things at once.?
Weinblatt does say she?ll soon try and go back to Harvard Business School, though. After raising $775,000 in seed funding, it became apparent to Weinblatt she needed to build a company, not just a product. ?Capital was contingent on my commitment moving forward,? she says. Weinblatt announced she?d be leaving HBS on stage during her DreamIt Ventures Demo Day. ?I felt like I owed it to myself to at least test the waters.?
Apparently, those waters, and the startup community, were welcoming.
Photo Courtesy of Projective Space
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