Northampton father and daughter team up to create anonymous recruitment business where employees ‘set their worth’

A father and daughter duo from Northampton have joined forces to start a recruitment business and reinvent how companies hire new employees.

Matt and Lauren Stockdale both had jobs that were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns.

As Matt, who worked in the building sector, was offering his daughter advice on jobs, CVs, applications and the like, he started to notice issues with the recruitment system, which he says is ‘no longer fit for purpose’.

The 51-year-old said: “Mine and Lauren’s employment was affected by the pandemic, like millions of people’s and that made me start to see the issues with recruitment.

“So many people apply for jobs and many companies never respond to candidates.

“Then candidates are filtered and many of the best candidates will be wiped out in the filter process.

“Companies then interview but don’t find what they are looking for and have to recruit again.

“This is why many companies are recruiting full time.”

As Matt and 21-year-old Lauren, who worked in web design and videography, were both keen to enforce change in this area, the duo started brainstorming ways in which they could fit the best candidate for each role.

Matt added: “We decided to flip recruitment upside down.

“Once registered, candidates can come onto the site and select exactly what they want.

"There will be no more CVs or job adverts.

“Candidates will be anonymous until the interview and there will be a list of their experience, education, values, personality traits and they can select what they want in terms of salaries and benefits.

“For an employer to interview a candidate, they have to agree to the salary the candidate has asked for hence the name ‘Set Your Worth’.

“It matches the perfect candidate to the right role without 200 people having to apply.”

By making the site anonymous, the duo is also tackling societal issues, such as racism, sexism, ableism and ageism.

Matt and Lauren looked into the effect of low pay on mental health and are keen to address this issue too.

Each candidate will have to pay a fee to register to the site, but then they will have unlimited access. A similar system is in place for employers.

‘Set Your Worth’ will also donate 20 percent of its profit to Mind.

The system is currently pre-launch, but when it launches later this year, the recruiters expect to have 100,000 candidates registered within 12 months.

To find out more search ‘Set Your Worth’.